Modesty is a virtue, but not when you are looking for a job. It’s important to play up the value of your career assets, whether it be your experience, your connections or your education.

Fortunately, Lehigh makes it easy to brag about your education as the South Mountain university continues to be recognized for its academic excellence as well as ahem … extracurricular superiority.

Here’s a brief roundup of honors bestowed upon Lehigh in recent years. Feel free to drop these honorable mentions into your interviews about your educational background or research, or after winning a game of ‘ruit against your friends.

#41 Overall Best University in the Nation, US News and World Report 2014

In its just-released 2014 “Guide to America’s Best Colleges,” the news magazine ranks Lehigh 41st among 281 institutions across the United States (173 public, 101 private and seven for-profit) that offer undergraduate majors as well as master’s and doctoral degrees.

#6 Overall Highest Earnings for Graduates, Payscale College Salary Report 2012-2013

It pays to get a Lehigh education. Lehigh graduates came in at sixth place overall, and fourth place in the “Private School” category for highest earnings. The report measures the mid-career salaries of workers with undergraduate degrees from more than 1,000 schools.

According to PayScale, the mid-career median salary for Lehigh graduates is $118,000. And the starting median salary for a Lehigh graduate is $56,900.

Lehigh tied with MIT and edged out large schools, tech schools, and Ivies alike, such as Stanford, Stevens Institute of Technology, Notre Dame, Harvard, Dartmouth, and Colgate.

#30 Great Schools, Great Prices, U.S. News & World Report 2014

Lehigh not only tops the list for one of the top 50 universities in the country, but was noted for its best value for a quality education. The calculation used by U.S. News and World Report for this category takes into account a school’s academic quality, and the 2012-2013 net cost of attendance for a student who receives the average level of need-based financial aid. The higher the quality of the program and the lower the cost, the better the deal.

#12 Best Part-Time MBA Program, Bloomberg Businessweek

The part-time MBA program offered by the College of Business and Economics (CBE) has been recognized as the nation’s 12th strongest, and second-best in the Mid-Atlantic region. Furthermore, it was ranked #1 according to the student survey ranking.

This is the fourth consecutive time Lehigh has been ranked by the magazine as one of the highest performing part-time MBA programs at the national and regional levels.

#12 Most Fun Colleges in America, Business Insider2013

Higher education is certainly an opportunity to study and learn, but college can also be the most fun four years in someone’s life. There’s good reason for this – and at Lehigh, students enjoy study abroad programs, Greek life, community service, student council, and cherished sports teams to cheer on with fellow students.

#31 Best Undergraduate Business Schools, Bloomberg BusinessWeek 2014

This is the ninth consecutive year Lehigh’s College of Business and Economics has finished amongst the top in the nation. 132 schools were ranked.

Within this Business School Ranking, Lehigh once again scored highly in academic quality, finishing in 12th place. Based solely on student feedback, Lehigh was awarded an A+ for teaching quality and an A for job placement.

#45 Lehigh’s Engineering Graduate Program and #42 Lehigh’s College of Education, U.S. News and World Report Graduate School Rankings 2015

Lehigh’s engineering college was ranked 45th out of 193 grad schools eligible to be included in the survey. The College of Education was ranked 42nd out of 245 education colleges. Graduate programs in Lehigh University’s P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science, the College of Education and the College of Business and Economics were ranked among the best in the nation, according the 2015 U.S. News and World Report Graduate School Rankings.
And coming in at NUMBER ONE:

#1: Party School Most Worth Your Money, Business Insider

A degree from Lehigh (as we all know and remember) will cost you today $219,200, but the return-on-investment for the degree is going to be a whopping $526,900. Business Insider determined the ROI by looking at the total income a graduate with a bachelor’s degree would earn after working for 20 years, less their pay if they were just a high school grad, the cost of college and financial aid. All of that – and we manage to have a good time while in school!