The 50 most underrated colleges in America

Location: Stillwater, Oklahoma

Median mid-career salary: $86,700

The Stillwater campus is the flagship of the Oklahoma State University System, and the school is in the top 25% of universities by return on investment. While athletes and sports enthusiasts flock to OSU for its championship-winning teams, the school is also a prominent research university and offers 200 undergraduate majors through its six colleges.

Location: St. Paul, Minnesota

Median mid-career salary: $91,300

There are plenty of opportunities available on St. Thomas' main campus in St. Paul, Minnesota, where students take advantage of the school's 90 undergraduate degrees or work toward a self-designed specialty degree. St. Thomas encourages students to get off campus too — the school offers 150 study abroad programs in 50 countries.

Location: College Station, Texas

Median mid-career salary: $98,300

The largest university in Texas is home to more than 49,000 undergraduate students who choose from 139 majors. The College Station campus is 5,200 acres and offers more than 1,000 student organizations and ample opportunity to study abroad in 103 countries.

Location: San Diego, California

Median mid-career salary: $84,000

SDSU is the only college in California to see graduation rates rise by more than 10% in the past decade. The school has also been widely recognized for its commitment to diversity, earning a Higher Education Excellence in Diversity award from Insight Into Diversity magazine and a top-20 ranking on CampusPride.org for LGBT-friendly campuses.

Location: Santa Barbara, California

Median mid-career salary: $91,900

The small, Christian liberal arts school is defined by its rigorous academic standards. Most students at the suburban Santa Barbara campus major in parks and recreation, biology, or business and marketing. Westmont also offers generous financial aid, awarding $21 million in assistance to students this year.

Location: Auburn, Alabama

Median mid-career salary: $89,800

Though known for their intense school spirit, Auburn graduates also do well academically. The school is a land, sea, and space grant university and receives special funding for projects that benefit the greater good, such as developing a storage facility for nuclear waste or hosting the country's first wireless engineering program.

Location: Newark, New Jersey

Median mid-career salary: $85,300

The Newark, New Jersey, campus of Rutgers — part of the State University of New Jersey system — gives undergrads hands-on training that many students don't experience until their first jobs. Rutgers-Newark is also known for the racial, ethnic, and religious diversity of its student body.

Location: Las Cruces, New Mexico

Median mid-career salary: $84,600

NMSU is the oldest college in New Mexico and specializes in teaching, research, and public service. It's also a leading producer of online degrees. The school is also part of NASA's Space Grant Program and counts 12 agriculture and science centers across the state.

Location: Washington D.C.

Median mid-career salary: $87,700

The national university of the Catholic Church in the US, which Pope Francis visited on his recent trip to America, is home to 12 schools and 21 research facilities serving nearly 3,700 undergraduate students, who typically major in social sciences and business/marketing.

Location: Morgantown, Virginia

Median mid-career salary: $86,100

WVU counts an impressive 24 Rhodes Scholars, 22 Truman Scholars, and 40 Goldwater Scholars among its alumni. The school is a land-grant research university with hopes of attaining national research prominence by 2020, enhancing its quality of global engagement, diversity, and educational achievement.

Location: Corvallis, Oregon

Median mid-career salary: $86,200

Located 90 miles south of Portland, OSU is the state's largest public research university. It specializes in marine science, forestry, and sustainability and has been designated by the Carnegie Foundation as a Community Engagement university. Students can alternatively earn a degree via the school's Oregon State Ecampus program.

Location: Stony Brook, New York

Median mid-career salary: $98,100

Certain students at Stony Brook, a space grant university, receives state-funded support for research in space-related fields, including physics and astronomy, biomedical engineering, and marine and atmospheric science. The school has been ranked as one of the top-40 public universities by U.S. News & World Report.

Location: Worcester, Massachusetts

Median mid-career salary: $112,000

WPI graduates learn to solve real-world problems through the school's project-based learning curriculum. Within this system, students design and complete projects that combine what they're learning in class with larger social and environmental issues.

Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Median mid-career salary: $92,900

Drexel University students gain real-world experience through the school's co-op program, in which students spend six months working a professional job in place of their normal class schedule. Students also take advantage of Drexel's urban location — it's only a 10-minute walk to Center City, Philly's hub of activity.

Location: Manchester, New Hampshire

Median mid-career salary: $89,800

The Manchester, New Hampshire, campus was founded by the Benedictines in 1889 and has been named one of the country's "Colleges with a Conscience" by The Princeton Review. Students at Saint Anselm College typically major in health professions and social sciences.

Location: Kansas City, Missouri

Median mid-career salary: $80,100

As part of the University of Missouri System, the Kansas City campus offers more than 50 majors to its 16,000 students. UMKC has been ranked a Best Value College by The Princeton Review for the past three years thanks to its combination of affordable tuition and stellar academics.

Location: Springfield, Ohio

Median mid-career salary: $85,800

Wittenberg is home to a small liberal arts student body that offers pre-professional education through its specialized programs for undergraduates. The school's Lutheran heritage also encourages students to lead civic lives and continually explore the relationship between faith and learning.

Location: Baltimore, Maryland

Median mid-career salary: $84,800

University of Maryland at Baltimore County is an honors university that's frequently named one of the most innovative schools in the country. The university focuses on research and innovation, and it places an emphasis on allowing undergraduate students the same resources as those pursuing higher degrees.

Location: New York City, New York

Median mid-career salary: $91,600

New York City's The New School is home to seven creativity-based colleges including the renowned Parsons School of Art and Design. More than 130 programs and majors are available to the nearly 7,000 students.

Location: South Orange, New Jersey

Median mid-career salary: $91,600

Seton Hall's employment rate is about 84% — 20% higher than the national average, the school reports. Students at the Roman Catholic-affiliated college are involved in internships, community service, and more.

Location: Oneonta, New York

Median mid-career salary: $84,300

This small liberal arts college offers its student body of just 1,500 a unique three-year bachelor's degree program, getting them on the road to a successful career one year faster than at most other colleges.

Location: Pullman, Washington

Median mid-career salary: $87,300

Washington State's only land grant university is known for its outstanding honors college and top-rated reading and writing programs. The school is also generous to its students — last year WSU awarded $280 million in financial aid and scholarships.

Location: Denver, Colorado

Median mid-career salary: $116,000

UC Denver is a public research university with one campus in downtown Denver and another at the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. The most popular majors are biology, psychology, pre-engineering, music, and economics.

Location: San Francisco, California

Median mid-career salary: $93,000

Located in the heart of San Francisco, this Jesuit university specializes in service-learning courses, in which students volunteer around the city in addition to completing their coursework. Through this curriculum, USF has earned recognition by the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for eight straight years.

Location: Golden, Colorado

Median mid-career salary: $109,000

Devoted to engineering and applied science, the Colorado School of Mines (or "Mines," as it's known among students and staff) offers several specialized majors, such as geophysical engineering and environmental chemistry, so students can really dig into the area that interests them.

Location: Kingston, Rhode Island

Median mid-career salary: $84,900

Each year, more than 7,000 University of Rhode Island students participate in off-campus internships, gaining hands-on experience in their fields. Students also have ample ways to explore the world, with 215 study abroad opportunities at their fingertips.

Bonus: Campus is just minutes away from the beach.

Location: Stockton, California

Median mid-career salary: $95,400

Known for its small class sizes, University of the Pacific offers 80 varied majors across all subjects from sports medicine to music history. Students can also take advantage of the school's career counseling services, résumé and interview assistance, career fairs, and an online jobs and mentoring network.

Location: Lexington, Virginia

Median mid-career salary: $110,000

Virginia Military Institute is the the oldest state-supported military institute in the country. Though not required to enroll in the military after graduation, all students must participate in Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC). VMI offers 14 carefully crafted majors, along with numerous enrichment programs.

Location: Riverside, California

Median mid-career salary: $92,100

UC Riverside — located 60 miles east of Los Angeles — boasts small class sizes and accessible faculty. The public research university houses three colleges, and offers more than 30 diverse degree programs for students to choose from, including entomology, comparative literature, and public policy.

Location: Moscow, Idaho

Median mid-career salary: $84,800

This rural university offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees across eight colleges, including the popular Department of Psychology and Communication Studies, which serves more than 500 students. As a land-grant university, the school places a premium on conducting research that benefits the greater community as well as its students.

Location: Hoboken, New Jersey

Median mid-career salary: $120,000

Stevens Institute of Technology focuses on STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and math), especially research programs, and is ranked third in the country for its 20-year net return on investment, according to PayScale. Students can choose between 32 undergraduate majors, and if they opt to stay for their master's, Stevens offers more than 40 more options.

Location: Easton, Massachusetts

Median mid-career salary: $87,600

This Catholic school was named one of the best liberal arts schools in the country by U.S. News, as well as a top green school by The Princeton Review. Outstanding students can enrich their experience by enrolling in the school's honors program or by joining Stonehill's chapter of one of 22 national honors organizations.

Location: Portland, Oregon

Median mid-career salary: $103,000

Reed College has produced three MacArthur Fellows, 89 Fulbright Scholars, and 31 Rhodes Scholars. Notable alumni include best-selling author Barbara Ehrenreich and Zoloft inventor Kenneth Koe. Apple founder Steve Jobs also did a stint at Reed, though he dropped out before graduating.

Location: Fairfax, Virginia

Median mid-career salary: $89,700

George Mason University aims to produce well-rounded graduates who posses the skills they need to stay competitive in the workforce. And with 80% of graduates finding full-time employment within six months of graduation, GMU does just that. The school also hosts career events, fairs, networking opportunities, and an online jobs board for current students and alumni.

Location: Chicago, Illinois

Median mid-career salary: $98,300

Known for its business and engineering programs, IIT is one of U.S. News' best value universities, and it landed the No. 5 spot among Midwestern universities for undergraduate salary potential last year, according to PayScale.

Location: Houston, Texas

Median mid-career salary: $84,000

Known particularly for business studies, University of Houston's entrepreneurship program is consistently ranked the best in the country, taking the top spot in The Princeton Review/Entrepreneur magazine ranking in 2008, 2010, and 2011. More than 3,500 UH alumni are CEOs of companies or founders of their own companies.

Location: Lubbock, Texas

Median mid-career salary: $87,700

Students at Texas Tech can choose to study in any of the school's 10 colleges. The most popular fields of study include business, consumer science, and engineering. In fact, Tech has one of the largest petroleum engineering departments in the country. It opened a new $22 million, 42,000-square-foot facility on its Lubbock, Texas, campus last year, complete with specialized labs to prepare students for hands-on field work.

Location: Queens, New York

Median mid-career salary: $89,800

St. John's has three New York City campuses and two international campuses, in Rome and Paris. The most popular majors last year were business management and marketing, communication, and health.

Location: Houghton, Michigan

Median mid-career salary: $99,900

Michigan Tech grads earn the 10th-highest starting salaries in the country among public universities. The school specializes in STEM fields, and within six months of graduation, 96% of students are employed within their field of study, enlisted in the military, or enrolled in graduate school.

Location: Chester, Pennsylvania

Median mid-career salary: $86,300

The Widener experience includes an active involvement in civic engagement, Greek societies, and experiential learning. Located in suburban Pennsylvania, students are only 20 minutes away from internships and job opportunities in Philadelphia.

Location: Melbourne, Florida

Median mid-career salary: $89,900

Originally founded to provide further education to those working in the space program at what later became Kennedy Space Center, Florida Institute of Technology now offers programs in engineering, aeronautics, psychology, liberal arts, and more. Additionally, U.S. News named it the No. 1 university in the country for fostering international student experiences.

Location: Potsdam, New York

Median mid-career salary: $111,000

Named a top-tier national university and a best value school by U.S. News, Clarkson University excels in engineering, business, and the sciences. The school is best known for its advanced materials, biotechnology, environment and energy, entrepreneurship, and global supply chain management programs.

Location: Huntsville, Alabama

Median mid-career salary: $87,100

UAH students benefit from the proximity of federal employers like NASA, Redstone Arsenal, and Cummings Research Park for high-earning jobs in engineering, astronautics, and other science fields. Grads earn an average starting salary of $49,000, which jumps all the way to nearly $90,000 by mid-career.

Location: Ruston, Louisiana

Median mid-career salary: $86,200

Known for its Center for Applied Physics Studies and Center for Biomedical Engineering and Rehabilitation Science, Louisiana Tech offers more than 50 programs across five colleges, including sociology, aviation, and molecular science and nanotechnology.

Location: Hempstead, New York

Median mid-career salary: $102,000

Just a short train ride east of Manhattan, Hofstra is an arena for research, Division I athletics, and even presidential debates. The payoff for attending is great too: Hofstra ranks within the top 9% of colleges and universities nationwide for return on investment, according to PayScale.

Location: Lowell, Massachusetts

Median mid-career salary: $94,700

A top military-friendly school, UMass Lowell offers 100 undergraduate majors and is especially known for its science and engineering programs. The university places an emphasis on research at both the graduate and undergrad levels, and it has added more than 200,000 square feet of research facilities since 2007.

Location: Newark, New Jersey

Median mid-career salary: $101,000

The New Jersey Institute of Technology is a leader in job placement. Within six months of graduation 80% of the class of 2015 was employed full-time or enrolled in graduate school. Top employers for the class include ExxonMobil, IBM, and Prudential.

Location: Rolla, Missouri

Median mid-career salary: $102,000

Missouri S&T students make the most of their education, spending an average of 16 hours a week in classrooms or labs. The school also has one of the largest female populations among US technical schools, as well as a diverse student body from over 65 countries worldwide.

Location: New York City, New York

Median mid-career salary: $95,200

Located in the heart of NYC, with a second campus in Westchester, Pace University focuses on sciences and liberal arts, offering degrees in everything from physics to digital journalism to specialized management programs. While at Pace, more than 4,000 students gain hands-on experience in their fields through internships, practicums, and fieldwork.