College and university ranking system
In 2008, Forbes.com began publishing an annual list of America's Top Colleges .[1] Post-graduate success (alumni salaries from PayScale and data from the federal Department of Education ) constitutes 35% of the score. Student debt levels constitute 20% of the score. Student experience (retention rates reported by the Department of Education and data from Niche ) constitutes 20% of the score. Graduation rates constitute 12.5% of the score. Academic success (using both the percentage of a school's student body that goes on to obtain doctorate degrees, and those students who have won one of a diverse array of prestigious academic awards) constitutes 12.5%. Public reputation is not considered, which causes some colleges to score lower than in other lists. A three-year moving average is used to smooth out the scoring.
Starting in 2013, four schools that had admitted to misreporting admissions data were removed from the list for two years. The four removed colleges were Bucknell University , Claremont McKenna College , Emory University , and Iona College .[2]
Rankings [ edit ]
Forbes rated Princeton University the country’s best college in its inaugural (2008) list.[3] West Point took the top honor the following year.[4] Williams College was ranked first both in 2010 and 2011, and Princeton returned to the top spot in 2012.[5] [6] [7] In 2013 and 2016, Stanford University occupied the No. 1 spot, with elite liberal arts schools Williams and Pomona College topping the rankings in the intervening years.[8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] The magazine ranked Harvard University as America's best college from 2017 until 2021, when the University of California, Berkeley topped the list, becoming the first public school to ever do so.[14] [15]
America’s Top Colleges (Top 100)[16] [17] [14]
Institution
2021
2019
2018
University of California, Berkeley
1
13
14
Yale University
2
3
2
Princeton University
3
5
5
Stanford University
4
2
3
Columbia University
5
14
15
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
6
4
4
Harvard University
7
1
1
University of California, Los Angeles
8
38
48
University of Pennsylvania
9
6
7
Northwestern University
10
17
20
Dartmouth College
11
10
9
Duke University
12
9
10
Cornell University
13
11
13
Vanderbilt University
14
27
32
University of California, San Diego
15
79
81
Amherst College
16
28
16
University of Southern California
17
30
30
Williams College
18
19
11
Pomona College
19
12
19
University of California, Davis
20
88
94
Georgetown University
21
15
12
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
22
20
22
University of Chicago
23
16
18
Rice University
24
21
28
University of Florida
25
70
68
Brown University
26
7
8
University of Washington-Seattle
27
64
72
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
28
45
47
US Military Academy
29
32
27
University of Virginia
30
33
34
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
31
68
56
Wellesley College
32
44
44
Washington University in St. Louis
33
31
36
Georgia Institute of Technology
34
65
88
Emory University
35
55
52
Bowdoin College
36
26
17
Johns Hopkins University
37
22
25
Tufts University
38
34
33
University of California, Santa Barbara
39
84
85
California Institute of Technology
40
8
6
University of Notre Dame
41
18
21
University of Maryland, College Park
42
63
61
Swarthmore College
43
25
24
Middlebury College
44
36
34
University of Texas at Austin
45
76
74
Claremont McKenna College
46
29
26
University of California, Irvine
47
87
96
Colgate University
48
46
45
Carnegie Mellon University
49
37
63
Texas A&M University
50
103
108
College of William and Mary
51
47
43
Barnard College
52
50
57
Brigham Young University
53
95
86
Wesleyan University
54
40
37
United States Naval Academy
55
24
31
Boston College
56
41
50
Davidson College
57
48
41
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
58
115
137
University of Wisconsin, Madison
59
69
75
Cooper Union
60
58
53
Purdue University
61
118
126
Stony Brook University, SUNY
62
176
182
Washington and Lee University
63
42
39
CUNY, Baruch College
64
174
178
Lehigh University
65
67
67
United States Air Force Academy
66
43
40
San Diego State University
67
181
219
Lafayette College
68
57
58
University of Georgia
69
99
103
University of Connecticut
70
130
144
Santa Clara University
71
51
76
George Washington University
72
78
90
Vassar College
73
61
51
Wake Forest University
74
56
62
Virginia Tech
75
108
110
Northeastern University
76
182
217
Binghamton University, SUNY
77
145
123
University of Rochester
78
82
83
North Carolina State University, Raleigh
79
139
141
New York University
80
35
48
Babson College
81
62
64
Trinity College (CT)
82
109
89
Boston University
83
74
78
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
84
98
106
California State University, Long Beach
85
272
286
Hamilton College
86
59
60
University of Miami (FL)
87
90
100
Bucknell University
88
73
73
Harvey Mudd College
89
23
23
Indiana University, Bloomington
90
131
132
George Mason University
91
177
169
Colby College
92
75
80
Michigan State University
93
159
135
Florida State University
94
151
163
University of Utah
95
187
212
James Madison University
96
136
143
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
97
113
111
California State University, Fullerton
98
300
317
University of California, Santa Cruz
99
183
185
Villanova University
100
72
70
References [ edit ]
^ "America's Top Colleges" . Forbes . Retrieved October 29, 2011 .
^ " 'Forbes' Boots 4 Colleges From Its Rankings" . Inside Higher Ed . July 25, 2013. Retrieved May 12, 2014 .
^ "America's Best Colleges 2008" . Forbes . August 13, 2008. Retrieved August 1, 2020 .
^ "America's Best Colleges 2009" . Forbes . Retrieved August 1, 2020 .
^ Noer, Michael (August 3, 2011). "America's Top Colleges" . Forbes . Retrieved August 1, 2020 .
^ Goldstein, Rachel (August 5, 2011). "Williams College Takes Top Spot in Forbes' University Rankings" . Time . Retrieved August 1, 2020 .
^ "Forbes Publishes Rankings of America's Top Colleges: Princeton University is No. 1" . Forbes . Retrieved August 1, 2020 .
^ Howard, Caroline. "America's Top Colleges 2013" . Forbes . Retrieved August 1, 2020 .
^ Howard, Caroline. "America's Top Colleges 2014" . Forbes . Retrieved August 1, 2020 .
^ Howard, Caroline (July 29, 2015). "America's Top Colleges Ranking 2015" . Forbes . Retrieved August 1, 2020 .
^ Bravo, Kristina (July 30, 2015). "Pomona College is No. 1 on Forbes list of best in US" . Southern California Public Radio . Retrieved August 1, 2020 .
^ Rand, Jory (July 30, 2015). "Forbes ranks Pomona College as top college in US" . ABC7 Los Angeles . Retrieved August 1, 2020 .
^ Howard, Caroline. "America's Top Colleges 2016" . Forbes . Retrieved August 1, 2020 .
^ a b "Forbes America's Top Colleges List 2021" . Forbes . Retrieved September 9, 2021 .
^ SFGATE, Amy Graff (September 8, 2021). "SF Bay Area college is the first public university to top Forbes list" . SFGATE . Retrieved September 9, 2021 .
^ "America's Top Colleges 2019" . www.forbes.com . Retrieved August 15, 2020 .
^ "Here Are America's Top Colleges for 2018" . www.forbes.com . Retrieved August 21, 2018 .
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