Many college undergraduates today already have an idea about what kind of company they want to work for when they graduate. Some even have specific companies in mind before graduation. What make certain places more desireable? Company culture, stock option, salary, etc.

Business Week profiles some of the top 25 companies to work for.

Where is the best place to start your career? The answer, of course, depends in part on your goals, personality, and ambitions. Yet there’s an elite group of organizations that consistently prove to be the most desirable destinations for young people coming out of college. They vary widely, from the investment bank Goldman Sachs to the Peace Corps.

This year, Google nudged out Walt Disney to claim the title of most desirable entry-level employer. That’s according to a 2007 ranking of the most desirable employers by researcher Universum Communications, compiled from a survey of 44,064 U.S. undergraduates and provided exclusively to BusinessWeek. Asked to list their ideal employers, students favored organizations where they felt they could make a difference whether through government (the State Dept., the CIA, and the Peace Corps) or through innovation (Google, Apple, and Microsoft).

Making money remains plenty popular, too. Goldman ranked No. 11, up from No. 23 in 2006. Lehman Brothers made an impressive, nearly 40-spot climb, to No. 48 from No. 85.

Students weren’t quite so charitable to many heavy hitters in industries like pharmaceuticals and consumer goods. Perennial top-10 finisher Johnson & Johnson dropped to No. 18 from No. 8, while Abbott Laboratories plunged from No. 54 to No. 102 on the list. Also falling as student favorites in the consumer-goods arena are Procter & Gamble (from No. 14 to No. 21) and L’Oréal (No. 27 to No. 35).