Forbes Magazine's List of America's Best Colleges

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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 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 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] Since 2017, the magazine has ranked Harvard as the best college in America.

America’s Top Colleges (Top 50)[14][15][16]
Institution 3yr.Avg. 2017 2018 2019
Harvard University 1 1 1 1
Stanford University 2 2 3 2
Yale University 3 3 2 3
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 4 5 4 4
Princeton University 5 4 5 5
University of Pennsylvania 7 7 7 6
Brown University 8 9 8 7
California Institute of Technology 7 6 6 8
Duke University 9 8 10 9
Dartmouth College 10 12 9 10
Cornell University 13 15 13 11
Pomona College 14 10 19 12
University of California, Berkeley 19 29 14 13
Columbia University 14 14 15 14
Georgetown University 16 21 12 15
University of Chicago 17 16 18 16
Northwestern University 22 28 20 17
University of Notre Dame 22 26 21 18
Williams College 14 13 11 19
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 27 38 22 20
Rice University 24 22 28 21
Johns Hopkins University 26 30 25 22
Harvey Mudd College 21 18 23 23
US Naval Academy 25 20 32 24
Swarthmore College 23 19 24 25
Bowdoin College 22 23 17 26
Vanderbilt University 29 27 32 27
Amherst College 20 17 16 28
Claremont McKenna College 22 11 26 29
University of Southern California 35 44 30 30
Washington University in St. Louis 34 36 36 31
US Military Academy 28 24 27 32
University of Virginia 36 40 34 33
Tufts University 33 32 33 34
New York University 45 52 48 35
Middlebury College 36 39 34 36
Carnegie Mellon University 48 45 63 37
University of California, Los Angeles 44 46 48 38
Bates College 34 35 29 39
Wesleyan University 37 33 37 40
Boston College 47 49 50 41
Washington and Lee University 34 31 28 42
US Air Force Academy 41 41 40 43
Wellesley College 40 32 44 44
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 46 47 47 45
Colgate University 44 42 45 46
College of William & Mary 43 38 43 47
Davidson College 41 34 41 48
Haverford College 37 25 38 49
Barnard College 54 54 57 50

References[edit]

  1. ^ "America's Top Colleges". Forbes. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
  2. ^ "'Forbes' Boots 4 Colleges From Its Rankings". Inside Higher Ed. July 25, 2013. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  3. ^ "America's Best Colleges 2008". Forbes. August 13, 2008. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  4. ^ "America's Best Colleges 2009". Forbes. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  5. ^ Noer, Michael (August 3, 2011). "America's Top Colleges". Forbes. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  6. ^ Goldstein, Rachel (August 5, 2011). "Williams College Takes Top Spot in Forbes' University Rankings". Time. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  7. ^ "Forbes Publishes Rankings of America's Top Colleges: Princeton University is No. 1". Forbes. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  8. ^ Howard, Caroline. "America's Top Colleges 2013". Forbes. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  9. ^ Howard, Caroline. "America's Top Colleges 2014". Forbes. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  10. ^ Howard, Caroline (July 29, 2015). "America's Top Colleges Ranking 2015". Forbes. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ Rand, Jory (July 30, 2015). "Forbes ranks Pomona College as top college in US". ABC7 Los Angeles. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  13. ^ Howard, Caroline. "America's Top Colleges 2016". Forbes. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  14. ^ "America's Top Colleges 2019". www.forbes.com. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
  15. ^ "Here Are America's Top Colleges for 2018". www.forbes.com. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  16. ^ "Forbes Releases Tenth Annual Rankings of America's Top Colleges". www.forbes.com. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
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