Top College Rankings

Williams College has once again landed the top college ranking by “Forbes.” Photo credit: Tim4403224246.

“Forbes” has come out with its annual top college rankings and for the second year in a row, Williams College has landed the #1 spot. The “Forbes” college rankings are different from other college rankings in that their algorithm is based on “quality of teaching, great career prospects, graduation rates and low levels of debt. Unlike other lists, we pointedly ignore ephemeral measures such as school ‘reputation’ and ill-conceived metrics that reward wasteful spending” wrote “Forbes'” Michael Noer.

And what other universities fall near the top of the “Forbes” college rankings? Princeton University has landed the 2nd spot followed by West Point, Amherst College, Stanford University, Harvard University, Haverford College, University of Chicago, MIT, Air Force Academy, Northwestern University, Claremont McKenna College, Caltech, Yale University, Swarthmore College, Annapolis, Notre Dame, Wellesley College, Colby College, Brown University, Duke University, Pomona College, Vassar College, and Washington and Lee University.

You may notice that the “Forbes” rankings, for the most part, tend to reward liberal arts colleges like Williams, Amherst, Haverford, and Swarthmore. Military academies like West Point, Annapolis, and Air Force also rank highly because the “Forbes” college rankings emphasize graduating with no debt. Specifically, the rankings focus on “five general categories: Post Graduate success (30%), which evaluates alumni pay and prominence, Student Satisfaction (27.5%), which includes professor evaluations and freshman to sophomore year retention rates, Debt (17.5%), which penalizes schools for high student debt loads and default rates, Four Year Graduation Rate (17.5%) and Competitive Awards (7.5%), which rewards schools whose students win prestigious scholarships and fellowships like the Rhodes, the Marshall and the Fulbright,” according to Michael Noer.

Check out our posts on college rankings and on college rankings and graduation rate.