Use LinkedIn University Alumni Search by Degree & Year with Python

Search a university's LinkedIn alumni by field of study, degree, graduation year, current employer, and location, and get each match's profile, current role, and detected education details. Needs your own LinkedIn session cookie.

1. Choose the data you need

Review the published README for supported collection modes, examples, and limits. The recipe below uses the current published input definition.

2. Prepare a source-based input

This JSON contains published prefills and required-field defaults. Review every value for your task before running it; it is not a promise of successful collection.

{
  "includeSchoolProfile": false,
  "maxAlumniPerSchool": 3,
  "maxSchools": 1,
  "mode": "schoolInsights",
  "schoolUrls": [
    "https://www.linkedin.com/school/mit/"
  ]
}

Download input.example.json and save your reviewed copy as input.json.

Field	Type	Required	Description
`mode`	string	optional	What to return: public school-level alumni insights, or individual public alumni profiles found by search.
`schoolUrls`	array	optional	LinkedIn school page URLs or bare slugs, e.g. https://www.linkedin.com/school/mit/ or mit.
`schoolNames`	array	optional	Plain university names when you do not have the LinkedIn URL, e.g. MIT or Harvard University. Names are resolved automatically.
`maxSchools`	integer	optional	Maximum number of schools to process in one run.
`maxAlumniPerSchool`	integer	optional	Maximum verified public profiles to return per school (mode=alumniProfiles). Values above 200 are clamped to 200 to keep runs bounded.
`degree`	string	optional	Narrow discovery toward profiles whose public text mentions this degree (mode=alumniProfiles). Degree is best-effort because LinkedIn hides it on most guest profiles.
`fieldOfStudy`	string	optional	School insights: a public field facet name or ID (e.g. Computer Science). Alumni profiles: searches and prefers this field (best-effort).
`currentFunction`	string	optional	School insights only: a public function facet name or ID (e.g. Engineering).
`currentCompany`	string	optional	School insights: a public company facet name or ID (e.g. Google). Alumni profiles: only return people whose public current employer matches.
`currentLocation`	string	optional	Alumni profiles only: only return people whose public location contains this text.
`graduationYearRange`	object	optional	Alumni profiles only: keep profiles whose public education end year is inside this inclusive range.
`includeSchoolProfile`	boolean	optional	School insights only: also fetch the school overview page for website, founding year, size, specialties and employee count. Adds one request per school.

3. Start an Actor run

Set APIFY_TOKEN in your environment. Python 3.10 or newer is sufficient; this recipe uses no third-party packages.

Execution may incur charges. Review current pricing on Apify. The request asks for a 120-second timeout and a charge limit; these settings are subject to Apify’s pricing and do not guarantee an all-inclusive spending cap.

import json
import os
import urllib.request

# Save the schema-derived example as input.json; review and edit it first.
with open("input.json", encoding="utf-8") as stream:
    actor_input = json.load(stream)

token = os.environ["APIFY_TOKEN"]
request = urllib.request.Request(
    "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/cjWVUgzowY5Z65q1C/runs?timeout=120&maxTotalChargeUsd=0.50",
    data=json.dumps(actor_input).encode("utf-8"),
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer " + token, "Content-Type": "application/json"},
    method="POST",
)
# This starts a potentially billable run. Do not automatically retry this POST.
with urllib.request.urlopen(request, timeout=40) as response:
    run = json.load(response)["data"]
print("Run ID:", run["id"])
print("Status:", run["status"])
# Inspect and download results in Apify Console once the run succeeds.

4. Inspect the actual results

Open the run in Apify Console and wait for a successful completion. Use the published output schema to locate results and the dataset schema to understand declared views. Missing or optional record fields must not be treated as guaranteed values.

One row per school insight (alumni count, top employers, fields and functions) or per public alumnus profile (location, current company, education, degree and years when public).

Questions before you run

Which inputs are required?

No top-level fields are marked required in the published schema. Conditional requirements can still apply; check the README.

What does this guide verify?

The fields, prefills, and schema links are rendered from the published build. This is a usage recipe, not a paid live extraction test. Source availability and collection results can vary.

What if the run request times out?

Check Apify Console before retrying. The first request may already have created a run. Do not automatically repeat a run-creation POST.

Open on Apify Full Actor reference

Generated from source build 6kZYH9Jt8iG3W1WUJ and its README and schemas. Source changes regenerate this guide; no third-party editorial claims are inferred.