One of the biggest decisions someone can make is where they go to college. That's why Business Insider recently released its annual list of 50 best colleges in America.

But there's also another factor that's important when it comes to choosing a school: location. So we narrowed the list down to shine a light on the best colleges the Northeast has to offer.

For the ranking, we decided to shy away from a school's reputation and selectivity and focused on the overall college experience for students and how well-prepared they are for the future. We looked at data made available by the government for post-graduate earnings as well as graduation rate. We then looked to Niche, a company that compiles research on schools, to find information about the student-life experience at each school. You can read more about the methodology here.

Scroll down to find out the 23 best schools in the Northeast.

SEE ALSO: The 50 best colleges in America

DON'T MISS: The 50 best law schools in America

23. Villanova University

Location: Villanova, Pennsylvania

Median salary 10 years after enrolling: $73,700

Average SAT score: 1316

Student life score: B+

Villanova University is a Catholic Augustinian university located west of Philadelphia. Inspired by the tagline, “Ignite change. Go Nova,” students are encouraged to take part in helping the community outside the classroom — students provide nearly 250,000 hours of community service annually. The school also offers 45 majors among its four colleges and the student-faculty ratio is 12:1, which allows undergraduates to really get to know their professors.

22. Babson College

Location: Wellesley, Massachusetts

Median salary 10 years after enrolling: $85,500

Average SAT score: 1258

Student life score: B+

A leader in entrepreneurial education, Babson College equips students with the skills to innovate, experiment, and lead in the business world and beyond. The private college has produced numerous successful entrepreneurs in its nearly 100-year history, including Arthur Blank, the cofounder and former president of Home Depot who is the eponym of the college's on-campus entrepreneurship hub.

21. Hamilton College

Location: Clinton, New York

Median salary 10 years after enrolling: $57,300

Average SAT score: 1384

Student life score: A

Hamilton College takes its name from founding father Alexander Hamilton, who served as one of the school's original trustees in 1793 when he was the US secretary of the Treasury. More than 200 years later, Hamilton is still going strong: One year after graduation, at least 91% of the class of 2014 had secured a full-time job or internship or were enrolled in graduate school. For those who entered the workforce, employers included companies such as General Electric, Amazon, and The New York Times.

Business Insider recently released its annual ranking of the best colleges in America, highlighting schools that provide a quality education and graduate students on time, set graduates up to earn well-paying jobs early in their career, and create a memorable and enjoyable campus experience. (You can read about the methodology in detail here.)

Location wasn't a factor in the ranking, but when we zoomed out on our data to look at the top-100 schools in the country, a number of them fell in the Midwest. 

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor (No. 12 on our overall ranking) topped the list of Midwestern schools, followed by University of Notre Dame and Washington University in St. Louis.

Continue reading to see which 14 schools not only shine as the best in the Midwest, but as some of the best in the country. 

SEE ALSO: The 50 best colleges in America

DON'T MISS: The 22 colleges that accept students with the highest SAT scores

14. Gustavus Adolphus College

Location: St. Peter, Minnesota

Median salary 10 years after enrolling: $50,100

Average SAT score: 1224

Student life score: A-

Founded on the principles of the Lutheran Church, Gustavus Adolphus College reflects its Christian heritage through weekly praise and worship services and 12 student-run religious organizations. On the academic side, the liberal-arts college offers 72 different majors across 25 departments, including art history, geography, and environmental studies.

13. Creighton University

Location: Omaha, Nebraska

Median salary 10 years after enrolling: $57,800

Average SAT score: 1214

Student life score: A-

Committed to Jesuit traditions and Catholic values, Creighton University challenges students to pursue justice for those in need, respect everyone, and aim for excellence in all aspects of their lives, among other core values. This sense of community engagement stands as a major part of the Creighton experience, as evidenced by the nearly 1.25 million service hours students racked up over the 2014-2015 school year.

12. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Location: Terre Haute, Indiana

Median salary 10 years after enrolling: $78,900

Average SAT score: 1310

Student life score: A-

At Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, the college’s 2,100 undergraduates can choose from 24 majors focused in science, math, and technology. The average class size is about 20 students, allowing them to have a hands-on experience and one-on-one mentorships. RHIT also prepares its students for life after college with its LEAD Program, a series of workshops and speakers to help students develop leadership skills to pair with their newly learned technological skills.

With over 20 million students expected to attend college in 2016, it's no wonder admittance to some of the nation's top schools is getting even more difficult.

Business Insider recently published its list of the 50 best colleges in America. Our methodology didn't give significant weight to selectivity — we instead focused more on graduation rates, early-career earnings, and quality student life experience — but a number of highly selective schools made it on the list.

To determine the toughest schools to get into, Business Insider sorted the colleges on our top 50 list by their acceptance rates — gathered from the US government's College Scorecard— using their overall rank as a tie-breaker.

Read on to find out the 20 top colleges that are the hardest to get into.

SEE ALSO: The 50 best colleges in America

DON'T MISS: The 24 smartest law schools in the US

20. Bowdoin College

Location: Brunswick, Maine

Acceptance rate: 15%

Median salary 10 years after enrolling:$54,800

Average SAT score: 1423

Student life score: A+

At Bowdoin College, the second-ranked liberal-arts school on our list, first-year students can choose from 35 first-year seminars and are required to take a course in each of five general subject areas. As for postgraduation, Bowdoin's 1,500-member alumni Career Advisory Network helps prepare students for their future careers.

19. Rice University

Location: Houston

Acceptance rate: 15%

Median salary 10 years after enrolling:$59,900

Average SAT score: 1454

Student life score: A+

Rice University is home to pioneering applied sciences programs, including nationally recognized nanotechnology and biomedical engineering departments. The only Texas college on our list was founded in 1912 and is the youngest of the 10 best colleges.

18. Amherst College

Location: Amherst, Massachusetts

Median salary 10 years after enrolling: $56,800

Average SAT score: 1434

Student life score: A

Amherst College offers an open curriculum— students design a schedule full of the courses that interest them, granting the flexibility to double major or explore multiple interests. Graduates join a bevy of nearly 23,000 living alumni whom they can network with directly even before graduation through Pathways, a mentorship program that helps students arrange one-on-one meetings and on-site job shadowing.

Business Insider recently released its annual list of the best colleges in America, which emphasized schools with high graduation rates, early-career earnings, and top-notch student life experiences. 

The ranking also took into account the annual net cost of each school — the average cost of tuition for all students that applied for financial aid, after accounting for the amount of financial aid received — according to the US government's College Scorecard.

Private colleges dominated the list, with 42 of the top 50 spots. While private schools typically have higher tuition, they also tend to award generous financial aid to students, effectively trimming annual net cost for students, leading to a higher ranking on the overall list.

Here are the top-25 best private colleges in America.

DON'T MISS: The 50 best colleges in America

SEE ALSO: The 22 colleges that have students with the highest SAT scores

25. Dartmouth College

Location: Hanover, New Hampshire

Median salary 10 years after enrolling: $67,100

Average SAT score: 1446

Student life score: A-

Annual net cost: $29,597

Dartmouth encourages students to pursue a globally focused education, and the school's flexible calendar— made up of four 10-week terms — lets students decide which seasons to spend on campus and which to take off to travel, volunteer, complete an internship, or conduct research. TheOffice of Undergraduate Research connects students with faculty mentors, helping any undergraduate interested in research find a project to pursue.

24. Claremont McKenna College

Location: Claremont, California

Median salary 10 years after enrolling:$63,600

Average SAT score: 1397

Student life grade: A

Annual net cost: $22,957

Just an hour away from Los Angeles, Claremont McKenna College belongs to the Claremont College Consortium, which allows students to attend small, close-knit classes while also having the option to take courses across seven colleges. CMC offers more than 30 majors and 10 sequences— a group of courses on a subject but not a full major. Its graduates go on to graduate school at top-tier universities such as Columbia, Harvard, the University of Chicago, and Yale.

23. Tufts University

Location: Medford, Massachusetts

Median salary 10 years after enrolling: $67,800

Average SAT score: 1428

Student life score: A

Annual net cost: $29,271

Tufts University is made up of three undergraduate schools: the School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering, and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts. Students have the option to choose from about 150 majors and minors and participate in one or more of Tuft's 341 student organizations. In the Experimental College, students go beyond the typical classroom environment, taking courses such as "Circus and Society" or "American Witches."

There's a lot of debate about the pros and cons of private versus public colleges. But when you get down to the numbers, many great schools exist both categories.

Business Insider recently released its annual list of the 50 best colleges in America, which emphasized schools with high graduation rates, early-career earnings, and top-notch student life experiences. The ranking also took into account the annual net cost of each school — the average cost of tuition for all students that applied for financial aid, after accounting for the amount of financial aid received — according to the US government's College Scorecard.(Read more about the methodology here.)

Business Insider expanded its scope to the top 100 schools and then filtered the ranking to highlight the best public institutions in the country — many of which provide an excellent education at a very low net cost. 

The University of Virginia topped the list, earning a top 10 spot on the main ranking as well. University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and University of California at Berkeley rounded out the top three.

Read on to check out the full list of the 14 best public colleges in America. 

SEE ALSO: The 50 best colleges in America

DON'T MISS: The 20 best colleges in America that accept the fewest students

14. College of William and Mary

Location: Williamsburg, Virginia

Median salary 10 years after enrolling: $56,400

Average SAT score: 1358

Student life score: B+

Annual net cost: $24,377

Chartered by King William III and Queen Mary II of England in 1693, the College of William and Mary stands as the second-oldest college in America, behind only Harvard. The school welcomes students from all over the world, including 49 US states and 68 different countries. Students end up exploring the world as well: nearly 50% study abroad during their tenure at the school.

13. University of California at Santa Barbara

Location: Santa Barbara, California

Median salary 10 years after enrolling: $52,000

Average SAT score: 1212

Student life score: A+

Annual net cost:$14,142

UC Santa Barbara is a global leader in science research and home to a well-established environmental studies program that’s had profound impact on the local, state, and national levels. Located on a 1,000-acre stretch of central California coast and serving about 19,360 undergraduate students, UCSB’s campus is the site of eight National Science Foundation-sponsored institutes, including the Southern California Earthquake Center and the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics.

12. University of Delaware

Location: Newark, Delaware

Median salary 10 years after enrolling: $54,300

Average SAT score: 1178

Student life score: A

Annual net cost: $15,998

Located halfway between New York City and Washington, D.C., University of Delaware is a place for students who want to experience a little bit of everything. The research-focused university was the first to launch a study abroad program when a group of UDel students set sail for France in 1923, and now over 30% of UDel students study abroad every year.

Stanford University once again claimed a top spot on Business Insider's annual ranking of the best colleges in America, coming it at No. 4 for 2016. Referred to as the Ivy of the West, Stanford earned a top spot for a number of reasons: it provides a quality education and graduates students on time, it sets graduates up to earn well-paying jobs early in their career, and it creates a memorable and enjoyable campus experience. (You can read about the methodology in detail here.)

Stanford is the best college in the American West, but it isn't the only school in the region to make the list. In fact, when we expanded our ranking to the top 100 schools in the country, 14 of the best colleges in the US are located in the West. What's more, California is home to 13 of those schools (the other is in Washington state), including several private universities and four University of California (UC) schools.

Read on for the full list of the best colleges in the West.

SEE ALSO: The 14 best colleges in the Midwest

DON'T MISS: The 23 best colleges in the Northeast

14. University of San Diego

Location: San Diego, California

Median salary 10 years after enrolling: $56,300

Average SAT score: 1228

Student life score: A-

The University of San Diego was established in 1949 when the San Diego College for Women merged with the College for Men, creating one of today’s leading Catholic educational institutions. Also a leader in international study, more than 70% of USD students live and study abroad through 135 programs in 44 countries.

13. University of California at Davis

Location: Davis, California

Median salary 10 years after enrolling: $57,100

Average SAT score: 1192

Student life score: A

UC Davis, the northernmost University of California campus, is located just two hours from the Bay Area and is considered one of the most popular feeder schools for Silicon Valley tech companies. Nearly 26,500 undergraduates attend Davis, 21% of which study in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, a top-ranking, nationally recognized program in the fields of agriculture and forestry.

12. Loyola Marymount University

Location: Los Angeles, California

Median salary 10 years after enrolling: $55,600

Average SAT score: 1202

Student life score: A

One of the largest Catholic universities in the West, Loyola Marymount University combines tradition and ministry with a rigorous academic curriculum. The 105-year-old school neighbors Silicon Beach, the Southern California counterpart to Silicon Valley, where students have access to internships and employment at hundreds of startups and tech companies, including giants like Microsoft, Snapchat, Facebook, and Google.

Finding a high-paying job right out of school is the dream for most college graduates. One that pays a healthy, competitive salary? That's icing on the cake. 

Luckily, there are a number of colleges in the US where graduates are pulling in high salaries early in their careers. 

Business Insider recently released it annual list of the best colleges in America, which focused on graduation rate, post-graduation salary, and overall student life experience. (Read more about our methodology here.) 

To find out where graduates earn the most early in their career, we looked at data from the Department of Education's College Scorecard and used the median salary of graduates six years after enrolling — two years after graduation, for most. Business Insider expanded its scope to include the top 100 colleges from our ranking, highlighting 14 schools where students earn at least $60,000 a year. 

Read on to find out the 14 colleges where students earn the most early in their career.

SEE ALSO: The 50 best colleges in America

DON'T MISS: The 22 colleges that have students with the highest SAT scores

14. Yale University

Location: New Haven, Connecticut

Median salary six years after enrolling: $60,200

The second-oldest Ivy League school, Yale aims to provide students with a strong liberal-arts education. Its undergraduate college puts an emphasis on four areas— arts, sciences, international studies, and writing — and offers more than 70 majors, including astronomy, theater studies, and economics. It's also one of the hardest schools to get into, with an acceptance rate of just 6%.

13. Johns Hopkins University

Location: Baltimore

Median salary six years after enrolling:$60,500

Considered by US News & World Report to be one of the top medical research schools in the US, Johns Hopkins University offers 51 majors and 44 minors to its undergraduate students, including dance, economics, and philosophy. JHU doesn't have a core curriculum, allowing students to dive straight into their academic interests. Some of its best-known alumni include President Woodrow Wilson, billionaire Michael Bloomberg, novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and film director Wes Craven.

12. Babson College

Location: Wellesley, Massachusetts

Median salary six years after enrolling: $61,700

A leader in entrepreneurial education, Babson College equips students with the skills to innovate, experiment, and lead in the business world and beyond. The private college has produced numerous successful entrepreneurs in its nearly 100-year history, including Arthur Blank, the cofounder and former president of Home Depot who is the eponym of the college's on-campus entrepreneurship hub.

Business Insider recently released its annual ranking of the 50 best colleges in America, emphasizing metrics like graduation rate, student-life experience, and post-graduation salary. 

Our top 25 schools feature a lot of familiar institutions — Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, and MIT all make the cut. But of the best schools in the country, whose graduates earn the most money after getting established in their careers?

To find out, Business Insider reranked its top 25 colleges by median graduate salary 10 years after enrolling, using data from the Department of Education's College Scorecard.

MIT, the sixth best college in America, grabbed the top spot — its graduates command a median salary of $91,600 a decade after enrolling.

Keep reading to find out how much people earn 10 years after enrolling in the top 25 colleges in America.

SEE ALSO: The 50 best colleges in America

DON'T MISS: Why Princeton is the best college in the US

25. Bowdoin College

Location: Brunswick, Maine

Median salary 10 years after enrolling: $54,800

Ranked 21st best college in America. 

At Bowdoin College, the second-ranked liberal-arts school on our list, first-year students can choose from 35 first-year seminars and are required to take a course in each of five general subject areas. As for postgraduation, Bowdoin's 1,500-member alumni Career Advisory Network helps prepare students for their future careers.

24. University of Michigan at Ann Arbor

Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

Median salary 10 years after enrolling: $57,900

Ranked 12th best college in America. 

Known for a stellar undergraduate business school, the University of Michigan counts business, psychology, and economics as its most popular majors. UM also reports that about half of all students who received a bachelor's degree go on to pursue a master's within four years of graduation. The school's notable alumni include New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and Google cofounder Larry Page.

23. University of Virginia

Location: Charlottesville, Virginia

Median salary 10 years after enrolling: $58,600

Ranked ninth best college in America. 

The highest-ranked public school on our list, the University of Virginia was founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819. UVA first-year students can choose from four undergraduate schools: arts and sciences, architecture, engineering, or nursing. UVA also has a "work hard, play hard" mentality. The university boasts more than 600 student clubs and 25 varsity sports.

At Business Insider, we have interviewed hundreds of job applicants.

We are usually impressed with the calibre of candidates. Most people we meet seem smart and accomplished, and applicants "get" our all-digital, fast-paced, antiboring way of handling business news.

But ... young people are human, too. They make mistakes. And the following mistakes have cost them the jobs their CVs and résumés otherwise said they were good for ...

23. Showing up 20 minutes early.

It may seem like a good idea to show up early, but it puts pressure on the interviewer to meet with you. A time was set for a reason. You should never be late, but five minutes is enough for showing up in advance.

Tip: Find a nearby coffee spot and hang out there until your interview time. 

22. Being too general.

You have one shot to demonstrate your knowledge and skills — so be as specific as you can when answering questions. Don't answer questions with "yes" or "no." The interviewer shouldn't have to feel as if he or she is carrying the conversation.

Tip: Review the projects you're most proud of before heading into an interview. It's easy to forget the details even if it's your own work. 

21. Not bringing a printed CV to your interview.

Bring a printed copy of your CV even if you previously emailed a copy. It shows that you're organised and prepared, and it's less work for the interviewer.

Tip: Bring several copies in case you are being interviewed by more than one person. 

For students with the travel bug, a college's study abroad program can make or break where they decide to go to school. But before students can jet off to their country of choice, they need to find a program that is the right fit for them. 

The Princeton Review recently released its 2017 college rankings, which included a list of the 20 most popular study abroad programsin the US.

To create the ranking, The Princeton Review asked 143,000 students at 381 schools "How popular is studying abroad at your school?" Students responded on a five-point scale ranging from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree."

Read on to learn why these colleges have the most popular study abroad programs.

SEE ALSO: The 20 colleges with the most school spirit

DON'T MISS: The 50 best colleges in America

20. University of Delaware

Location:Newark, Delaware

The Institute for Global Studies at UDel coordinates over 70 study-abroad programs annually. This fall, UDel is leading trips to a dozen countries including Japan, Italy, Portugal, and France.

UDel also offers winter and summer programs that last anywhere from three to five weeks, and offers one or two courses in a variety of disciplines.

19. Syracuse University

Location: Syracuse, New York

SU Abroad has more than 60 World Partner programs where students can enroll, pay tuition, receive grants, and retain scholarships and financial aid through Syracuse while abroad. These programs appeal to students interested in a specific school, country, or area of study, like attending film school in Prague or studying biodiversity in Madagascar.

Syracuse also has eight centers abroad that host SU students in five European countries as well as Turkey, China, and Chile.

18. Carleton College

Location: Northfield, Minnesota

Carleton College employs a faculty-led program model that extends "The Carleton Experience" off-campus. This year, the school is offering 18 study-abroad programs led by faculty and sponsored by a number of academic departments. Destinations include Ireland, France, and Russia.

America's best private high schools offer a top-notch education and have a reputation as feeders to elite universities. Though many congregate on the East and West coasts, great private schools exist across the country.

Niche, a company that researches and compiles information on schools, released its 2016 rankings of the best private high schools in the US earlier this year.

Niche looked at performance on the SAT and ACT, college-matriculation rates, quality of colleges that students consider and attend, school culture and diversity, and student and parent reviews. It combined these metrics to reflect "overall excellence," measured on a 100-point scale.

Business Insider searched the ranking to find the best in each state. Sufficient data wasn't available for Alaska, North Dakota, or Wyoming, so they do not appear on this list.

Read on for the best private high schools in each state:

SEE ALSO: The best public high school in every state

ALABAMA: Indian Springs School

Location: Indian Springs

Overall rating: 88.20

Student-teacher ratio: 9:1

"Because we have a student disciplinary panel, we are self-accountable,"reported one Niche user.

Another commented on the status of Indian Springs School alumni: "We've got astronauts, lawyers, and John Green. I'd say graduates are doing well."

ARIZONA: Phoenix Country Day School

Location: Paradise Valley

Overall rating: 92.19

Student-teacher ratio: 7:1

"The teaching staff is very well liked by the students and parents,"commented a Niche user. "They are very welcoming and available for the students when they need them."

A Phoenix Country Day School parent agreed: "The headmaster greets everyone with a handshake and a smile everyday and the teachers are phenomenal, the best of the best."

ARKANSAS: Pulaski Academy

Location: Little Rock

Overall rating: 84.68

Student-teacher ratio: 10:1

"The teachers, education, school spirit, sports, and friends have made my experience exciting and life changing," shareda Pulaski Academy senior. "I feel more than prepared for college and am excited that the faculty and teachers have guided me to graduation."

While it can be tough to get into elite law schools, the real challenge happens post-graduation: securing a good job.

Law-school enrollment remains high — 39,984 students graduated in the class of 2015— but the prestigious degree no longer holds the same clout that it once did, and an oversaturation of lawyers has left graduates struggling in the job market.

For the class of 2010, only 40% of graduates were working at law firms by 2015, and 20% of the class held jobs that didn't even require a law license.

Even many who do land at a law firm can struggle to pay off the crushing debt. Law students incur an average loan burden of $84,000 by the time they graduate from a public school and $122,158 by the time they graduate from a private school, according to the American Bar Association.

But only about 17% of 2014 graduates employed at law firms full-time were making the coveted $160,000 salary, while half reported salaries of $40,000 to $65,000.

So, to determine which law schools stand as the best in the country, Business Insider focused on the institutions that lead to top jobs in the legal world. Using data from the ABA, the ranking primarily homed in on the percentage of graduates who land full-time, long-term, highly coveted jobs, which includes positions at big law firms that pay well — those with over 251 employees — and federal clerkships, which are difficult to secure and frequently set up successful careers.

The ranking also took into consideration the percentage of graduates with full-time, long-term jobs that require passing the bar, the percentage that are unemployed but seeking employment, bar-passage rate, tuition, and median LSAT scores. You can read more about our methodology here. 

Placing a higher weight on jobs — and no weight on selectivity or reputation — yielded unexpected results. The University of Pennsylvania earned the top spot, followed by the University of Chicago at No. 2. The law programs at Yale and Harvard, perennially ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in other rankings, came in 10th and third, respectively.

Continue on to check out the full list.

Additional reporting by Kaitlyn Yarborough and Alexa Pipia.

Edited by Alex Morrell and Sara Silverstein.

SEE ALSO: The 50 best business schools in the world

DON'T MISS: The 50 best colleges in America

50. Seton Hall University

Location: Newark, New Jersey

Percent of graduates with highly coveted positions: 7%

Bar passage rate: 83%

Median LSAT score: 157

The only private law school in New Jersey, Seton Hall offers instruction in the areas of health, intellectual property, public interest and public policy, and social justice. About 80% of graduates secured full-time, long-term jobs requiring bar-exam passage.

49. Louisiana State University

Location: Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Percent of graduates with highly coveted positions: 6%

Bar passage rate: 84%

Median LSAT score: 155

In addition to a traditional law degree in common law, Louisiana State University's Paul M. Herbert Law Center also gives students the option to earn an additional degree in civil law, which the school describes as a "blend of Roman, Spanish, and French legal traditions." After graduation, 70% of LSU law students secure full-time, long-term jobs that require passing the bar.

48. University of Kansas

Location: Lawrence, Kansas

Percent of graduates with highly coveted positions: 10%

Bar passage rate: 86%

Median LSAT score: 156

Law students at the University of Kansas can complete dual-degree programs in several areas, including business, journalism, and communications. Tuition for the public school is the third-lowest on our list at $35,328.

Frugality is a subjective term. To the average Joe it could mean eating meals at home or scouring the internet for cheap flights.

But to a billionaire it means showing up to work in a T-shirt and jeans, driving a Toyota or Volkswagen, and, in some instances, foregoing the purchase of a private jet or lavish vacation home.

Surprisingly, some of the richest people on earth are incredibly frugal, each one with their own penny-pinching habits.

From eating lunch in the office cafeteria with their employees to residing in homes worth a fraction of what they could afford, these eight self-made billionaires — many of whom are also generous philanthropists— know the secret to keeping their net worth high.

DON'T MISS: After studying rich people for 5 years, I realized there are 10 critical habits the wealthy learn from their parents

SEE ALSO: The 50 richest people on earth

Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, still lives in the same home he bought for $31,500 in 1958.

Net worth:$68.1 billion

The "Oracle of Omaha" is one of the wisest and most frugal billionaires around. Despite his status as one of the richest people on earth, he still lives in the same modest home he bought for $31,500 in 1958, doesn't carry a cellphone or have a computer at his desk, and once had a vanity license plate that read "THRIFTY," according to his 2009 biography. And when his friend of 25 years Bill Gates visits Omaha, Buffett picks Gates up from the airport himself.

Buffett also has a decidedly low-brow palate, known not just for investing in junk-food purveyors like Burger King, Dairy Queen, and Coca-Cola, but also for filling up on them as well. The Buffett diet includes five Cokes a day, as well as Cheetos and potato chips.

At his annual shareholder's meeting in 2014, Buffett explained that his quality of life isn't affected by the amount of money he has:

"My life couldn't be happier. In fact, it'd be worse if I had six or eight houses. So, I have everything I need to have, and I don't need any more because it doesn't make a difference after a point."

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, drives a manual-transmission Volkswagen hatchback.

Net worth:$51.5 billion

Despite his status as one of the richest tech moguls on earth, Mark Zuckerberg leads a low-key lifestyle with his wife Priscilla Chan and their newborn daughter. The founder of Facebook has been unabashed about his simple T-shirt, hoodie, and jeans uniform.

"I really want to clear my life to make it so that I have to make as few decisions as possible about anything except how to best serve this community," Zuckerberg said.

The trappings of wealth have never impressed the 32-year-old, who in December 2015 announced he would donate 99% of his Facebook shares during his lifetime.

Zuckerberg chowed down on McDonald's shortly after marrying Chan in 2012 in the backyard of their $7 million Palo Alto home — a modest sum for such an expensive housing market and pocket change for a man worth more than $51 billion. In 2014, he traded in his $30,000 Acura for a manual-transmission Volkswagen hatchback.

Carlos Slim Helú, founder of Grupo Carso, has lived in the same six-bedroom house for more than 40 years.

Net worth:$31.6 billion

Rather than spending his fluctuating fortune, Carlos Slim funnels his billions back into the economy and his vast array of companies. He once mused to Reuters that wealth was like an orchard because "what you have to do is make it grow, reinvest to make it bigger, or diversify into other areas."

The 76-year-old is by far the richest man in Mexico, but he forgoes luxuries like private jets and yachts and reportedly still drives an old Mercedes-Benz. Slim runs his companies frugally, too, writing in staff handbooks that employees should always"maintain austerity in prosperous times (in times when the cow is fat with milk)."

The businessman has lived in the same six-bedroom house in Mexico for more than 40 years and routinely enjoys sharing home-cooked meals with his children and grandchildren. He's got a couple of known indulgences, including fine art — in honor of his late wife — and Cuban cigars, as well as an $80 million mansion in Manhattan, which he was trying to sell last spring.

Earning a law degree was once a sure-fire path to a successful and lucrative career. Law school enrollment remains high, but an oversaturation of lawyers has left graduates struggling in the job market. Even the grads who find jobs aren't guaranteed a six-figure salary, leaving many stuck under a mountain of student debt. 

Which is why Business Insider's recently released list of the 50 best law schools in the country focused on the institutions that lead to top jobs in the legal world. The ranking primarily homed in on the percentage of graduates who land full-time, long-term, highly coveted jobs, which we narrowed down to two things: positions at big law firms and federal clerkships.

Landing a spot at a large firm all but guarantees financial success — big firms pay significantly more than small ones. And the mega firms tend to play follow-the-leader when it comes to compensation: After a prominent New York City firm raised its base starting salary to $180,000 last month, many other big names followed suit.

We culled data from the American Bar Association to find the schools that funnel the highest percentage of graduates into the largest law firms — those with more than 500 employees. We used overall rank on our main list as a tiebreaker. Read on to see which law schools send the most graduates these companies. 

Additional reporting by Kaitlyn Yarborough and Alexa Pipia.

SEE ALSO: The 50 best law schools in America

DON'T MISS: The 50 best business schools in the world

25. Emory University

Location: Atlanta, Georgia

Percent of graduates who secure jobs at law firms with over 500 employees: 17%

Bar passage rate: 89%

Median LSAT score: 165

Seventy-five percent of Emory Law’s more than 300 graduates secured long-term, full-time jobs requiring bar passage. The private school, which is known for its public service law program, costs $51,510 per year.

24. University of Notre Dame

Location: South Bend, Indiana

Percent of graduates who secure jobs at law firms with over 500 employees: 20%

Bar passage rate: 84%

Median LSAT score: 164

The University of Notre Dame law school encourages students to extend their education outside of the US and offers several opportunities to study abroad, including stays at Notre Dame’s programs in London, Chile, or Italy. Grads join the ranks of successful alumni, such as Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan and Fox News senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano.

23. Washington University in St. Louis

Location: St. Louis, Missouri

Percent of graduates with highly coveted positions: 32%

Bar passage rate: 86%

Median LSAT score: 167

Post-graduation, a full 100% of Wash U Law graduates who were seeking a job secured one last year, with 76% of those positions requiring a law degree. This can be chalked up in part to Wash U's myriad of opportunities for students to gain real-world experience, including a selection of nine externship opportunities, 18 clinical courses, and six trial teams and moot courts where students can put their skills to the test.

Great music can be found all across these United States. And every state has a famous band that hails from it.

To determine the most famous band from every state, Business Insider looked at reputation, record sales, and awards, considering each band within its own era, so just because a band is popular now doesn't mean it's nudged out the biggest band from another decade.

We stuck to bands only — no solo artists here — but used the term "band" loosely, including any musical act consisting of more than one person. We focused mostly on the state where each band originally formed, but also considered where their music was popularized, as well as artists' hometowns.

Check out which band is making your state proud.

Christi Danner contributed to a previous version of this article. 

SEE ALSO: The 50 best movies of all time, according to critics on Metacritic

DON'T MISS: The 30 best movie endings of all time, ranked

ALABAMA: Alabama

One of the most successful bands of all time, Alabama has sold over 73 million records and has seven multiplatinum albums and two Grammys. The band sold more records during the '80s than any other band. Not only is their success impressive by any measure, but they also did a lot to make country music popular in the mainstream.

ALASKA: Portugal. The Man

Portugal. The Man released their debut album, "Waiter: You Vultures!" in 2006 and booked their first headlining tour the next year. The rock band released three more albums — including breakout record "The Satanic Satanist"— before signing with Atlantic Records in 2009. Danger Mouse, known for working with artists like Beck and The Black Keys, produced Portugal. The Man's 2013 album, "Evil Friends."

ARIZONA: Alice Cooper

The first of the many shock-rock bands of the '70s, Alice Cooper kept fans entranced with their gender-bending outfits and dark onstage theatrics — concert-goers could expect performances to include stunts like Cooper's faux-beheading via guillotine. But it's the music that kept fans coming back for more, and their riff-heavy brand of hard rock produced a string of hits including "School's Out" and "Be My Lover." Alice Cooper was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.

Frugality is a subjective term. To the average Joe it could mean eating meals at home or scouring the internet for cheap flights.

But to a billionaire it means showing up to work in a T-shirt and jeans, driving a Toyota or Volkswagen, and, in some instances, foregoing the purchase of a private jet or lavish vacation home.

Surprisingly, some of the richest people on earth are incredibly frugal, each one with their own penny-pinching habits.

From eating lunch in the office cafeteria with their employees to residing in homes worth a fraction of what they could afford, these eight self-made billionaires — many of whom are also generous philanthropists— know the secret to keeping their net worth high.

DON'T MISS: After studying rich people for 5 years, I realized there are 10 critical habits the wealthy learn from their parents

SEE ALSO: The 50 richest people on earth

Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, still lives in the same home he bought for $31,500 in 1958.

Net worth:$68.1 billion

The "Oracle of Omaha" is one of the wisest and most frugal billionaires around. Despite his status as one of the richest people on earth, he still lives in the same modest home he bought for $31,500 in 1958, doesn't carry a cellphone or have a computer at his desk, and once had a vanity license plate that read "THRIFTY," according to his 2009 biography. And when his friend of 25 years Bill Gates visits Omaha, Buffett picks Gates up from the airport himself.

Buffett also has a decidedly low-brow palate, known not just for investing in junk-food purveyors like Burger King, Dairy Queen, and Coca-Cola, but also for filling up on them as well. The Buffett diet includes five Cokes a day, as well as Cheetos and potato chips.

At his annual shareholder's meeting in 2014, Buffett explained that his quality of life isn't affected by the amount of money he has:

"My life couldn't be happier. In fact, it'd be worse if I had six or eight houses. So, I have everything I need to have, and I don't need any more because it doesn't make a difference after a point."

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, drives a manual-transmission Volkswagen hatchback.

Net worth:$51.5 billion

Despite his status as one of the richest tech moguls on earth, Mark Zuckerberg leads a low-key lifestyle with his wife Priscilla Chan and their newborn daughter. The founder of Facebook has been unabashed about his simple T-shirt, hoodie, and jeans uniform.

"I really want to clear my life to make it so that I have to make as few decisions as possible about anything except how to best serve this community," Zuckerberg said.

The trappings of wealth have never impressed the 32-year-old, who in December 2015 announced he would donate 99% of his Facebook shares during his lifetime.

Zuckerberg chowed down on McDonald's shortly after marrying Chan in 2012 in the backyard of their $7 million Palo Alto home — a modest sum for such an expensive housing market and pocket change for a man worth more than $51 billion. In 2014, he traded in his $30,000 Acura for a manual-transmission Volkswagen hatchback.

Carlos Slim Helú, founder of Grupo Carso, has lived in the same six-bedroom house for more than 40 years.

Net worth:$31.6 billion

Rather than spending his fluctuating fortune, Carlos Slim funnels his billions back into the economy and his vast array of companies. He once mused to Reuters that wealth was like an orchard because "what you have to do is make it grow, reinvest to make it bigger, or diversify into other areas."

The 76-year-old is by far the richest man in Mexico, but he forgoes luxuries like private jets and yachts and reportedly still drives an old Mercedes-Benz. Slim runs his companies frugally, too, writing in staff handbooks that employees should always"maintain austerity in prosperous times (in times when the cow is fat with milk)."

The businessman has lived in the same six-bedroom house in Mexico for more than 40 years and routinely enjoys sharing home-cooked meals with his children and grandchildren. He's got a couple of known indulgences, including fine art — in honor of his late wife — and Cuban cigars, as well as an $80 million mansion in Manhattan, which he was trying to sell last spring.

The richest people in Britain suffered from the worst fall in fortune since the credit crunch in 2007, according to The Sunday Times Rich List 2016.

And next year's numbers are likely to cause more pain for the super-rich considering the country voted for Brexit and oil prices still remain low.

The newspaper, which lists the 1,000 wealthiest individuals and families in the UK, said that the commodities-market crash has had such a pronounced effect on some of Britain's most wealthy people that they've seen their fortunes crater by over 50% over the last few years. 

Regular rich list member and steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal has seen his wealth crash by around 75% since 2008 — he used to be worth £27.7 billion but now he's worth £7.12 billion. Len Blavatnik, the London-based, Ukrainian-born US citizen who is the owner of Warner Music Group, dropped from the No. 1 spot this year. And the Queen has failed to make the top 300 for the second consecutive year.

Only those who have significant property investments have seen their fortunes grow due to the housing boom.

Take a look at who made the top 23 spots this year below:

(All the ages of the people who made the list correspond to the time their fortunes were calculated, which was as of April 24, this year. Since the data was released, the Duke of Westminster died and so the slide has been updated to reflect his heir's claim to his wealth):

23. Bruno Schroder

Net worth:£4.06 billion ($5.84 billion)

Age: 83

Schroder and his family own a £3.7 billion ($5.32 billion) stake in City-based asset-management group Schroders. He is the great-great-grandson of John Henry Schroder, who cofounded the Schroders businesses in 1804. He is still a nonexecutive director of the group.

22. Christo Wiese

Net worth: £4.33 billion ($6.23 billion)

Age: 74

South African retail mogul Christo Wiese is a newcomer to The Sunday Times Rich List, thanks to his range of investments in retail and property.

His active-property portfolio is alone worth £80 million and he has large stakes in seven publicly traded companies. He is also the largest single shareholder in Africa’s biggest retailer, Shoprite, and in 2015 he bought the New Look fashion chain in Britain.

21. Nathan Kirsh

Net worth:£4.37 billion ($6.29 billion)

Age: 84

Kirsh founded a Swaziland corn-milling business in 1958, which later led to his sizeable fortune. He controls Kirsh Group, which has a 75% stake in New York-based cash and carry operation Jetro Holdings.

The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.

A good book is a good friend. 

Book recommendation sharing website Goodreads just released its 2016 Goodreads Choice Awards, the only major book awards chosen by readers themselves.

Goodreads users rated books that were published this year in a number of genres; the highest-voted book in each was declared the winner.

Keep scrolling to see the 20 best books from 2016.

DON'T MISS: How to choose the right Kindle for you

SEE ALSO: 25 awesome and weird things we bought using Amazon Prime

FANTASY: "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" by Jack Thorne

Harry Potter returns! Garnering more votes than any other nominee in Goodreads Choice Awards history, this original play conceived by J.K Rowling, John Tiffany, and playwright Jack Thorne, has taken both the UK (where the play is sold out through February 2018) and the world (Cursed Child is Amazon’s best selling book of 2016) by storm. As for the plot: The action takes place nineteen years after Deathly Hallows and follows Harry’s son, Albus Severus Potter, as he navigates Hogwarts and life under Harry’s spotlight. Is he, too, cursed?

Read reviews on Goodreads here »

Buy the book here »

FICTION: "Truly Madly Guilty" by Liane Moriarty

Though she’s been nominated before for "Big Little Lies" and "The Husband’s Secret," Liane Moriarty scored her first Goodreads Choice Award win this year with "Truly Madly Guilty"—narrowly beating out Bryn Greenwood’s debut novel, "All the Ugly and Wonderful Things." It’s been a big year for Moriarty, as "Truly Madly Guilty" rose to the top of "The New York Times" bestseller list and the "Big Little Lies" miniseries (starring Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon) began filming. "Truly Madly Guilty" portrays the impact an invitation to an old friend’s barbecue has on a newlywed couple.

Read reviews on Goodreads here »

Buy the book here »

NONFICTION: "Hamilton: The Revolution" by Lin-Manuel Miranda

The blockbuster musical and cultural phenomenon "Hamilton" has won both a Pulitzer Prize and a Grammy Award. And the book about the musical, "Hamilton: The Revolution," from creator Lin-Manuel Miranda and co-writer Jeremy McCarter, is also a smash hit (its initial publication sold out on Amazon and second-hand copies were selling for hundreds of dollars) and is the clear winner in the Goodreads Choice Awards for best nonfiction book of the year.

Read reviews on Goodreads here »

Buy the book here »

Business Insider released its annual list of the best colleges in America, emphasizing schools with high graduation rates and early-career earnings, rather than focusing solely on glamour statistics, like reputation and selectivity.

But that's not to say that the caliber of the students doesn't play an important role in what makes a school great. So we expanded our ranking to the top-100 schools in the country and filtered our data, the most recent available from the Department of Education, to find which colleges boast students with the highest average SAT scores. For schools that traditionally accept the ACT, those scores have been translated to the equivalent SAT score. 

With an average score of 1534, CalTech topped the list, jumping 40 spots from its ranking on the main list. University of Chicago and MIT followed, moving up 21 and 3 spots, respectively, from their positions on the original ranking. Read on to see the full list of the schools with the highest SAT scores in the US. 

SEE ALSO: The 50 best colleges in America

DON'T MISS: The 24 smartest law schools in the US

22. Brown University

Location: Providence, Rhode Island

Average SAT score: 1425

Brown students have the freedom to personalize their liberal-arts course study, a practice the school calls "open curriculum." Brown was founded in 1764 on the then-unprecedented idea of accepting students regardless of religion. It was also the first Ivy League school to establish an undergraduate engineering program in 1847.

21. Tufts University

Location: Medford, Massachusetts

Average SAT score: 1428

Tufts University is made up of three undergraduate schools: the School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering, and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts. Students have the option to choose from about 150 majors and minors and participate in one or more of Tuft's 341 student organizations. In the Experimental College, students go beyond the typical classroom environment, taking courses such as "Circus and Society" or "American Witches."

20. Carnegie Mellon University

Location: Pittsburgh 

Average SAT score: 1432

Located in the heart of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University carries on the traditions of Scottish founder and steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. Besides academic excellence, that also includes Pipes and Drums, a bagpipe-only band, and Kiltie Band, a quirky marching band that dons kilts for every performance. The school is also known for its top-notch engineering program, and offers majors in everything from chemical engineering to engineering and public policy.  

Business Insider released its annual ranking of the best colleges in America, highlighting schools that provide a quality education and graduate students on time, set graduates up to earn well-paying jobs early in their career, and create a memorable and enjoyable campus experience. (You can read about the methodology in detail here.)

Location wasn't a factor in the ranking, but when we zoomed out on our data to look at the top-100 schools in the country, a number of them fell in the Midwest. 

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor (No. 12 on our overall ranking) topped the list of Midwestern schools, followed by University of Notre Dame and Washington University in St. Louis.

Continue reading to see which 14 schools not only shine as the best in the Midwest, but as some of the best in the country. 

SEE ALSO: The 50 best colleges in America

DON'T MISS: The 22 colleges that accept students with the highest SAT scores

14. Gustavus Adolphus College

Location: St. Peter, Minnesota

Median salary 10 years after enrolling: $50,100

Average SAT score: 1224

Student life score: A-

Founded on the principles of the Lutheran Church, Gustavus Adolphus College reflects its Christian heritage through weekly praise and worship services and 12 student-run religious organizations. On the academic side, the liberal-arts college offers 72 different majors across 25 departments, including art history, geography, and environmental studies.

13. Creighton University

Location: Omaha, Nebraska

Median salary 10 years after enrolling: $57,800

Average SAT score: 1214

Student life score: A-

Committed to Jesuit traditions and Catholic values, Creighton University challenges students to pursue justice for those in need, respect everyone, and aim for excellence in all aspects of their lives, among other core values. This sense of community engagement stands as a major part of the Creighton experience, as evidenced by the nearly 1.25 million service hours students racked up over the 2014-2015 school year.

12. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Location: Terre Haute, Indiana

Median salary 10 years after enrolling: $78,900

Average SAT score: 1310

Student life score: A-

At Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, the college’s 2,100 undergraduates can choose from 24 majors focused in science, math, and technology. The average class size is about 20 students, allowing them to have a hands-on experience and one-on-one mentorships. RHIT also prepares its students for life after college with its LEAD Program, a series of workshops and speakers to help students develop leadership skills to pair with their newly learned technological skills.