Forbes Magazine's List of America's Best Colleges

In 2009 Forbes magazine, along with The Center for College Affordability and Productivity (CCAP), compiled its first annual list of America's Best Colleges based on "the quality of the education they provide, the experience of the students and how much they achieve".[1]

A focus on outcomes for the students is intended to distinguish the list from rankings that emphasize the selectivity and reputation of the schools.[2] Forbes uses a single set of criteria to rank the 650 institutions,[3] which include regional liberal arts colleges, nationally known universities, and service academies.[4][5] As of 2013, this methodology includes an analysis of data from RateMyProfessors.com, PayScale, the government's IPEDS database, and other sources.[6] Previous editions of the Forbes/CCAP list used Who's Who in America as one way to determine the success of alumni.[3]

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.[7]

2009 list

Rank[8] Name State Cost First-year class size
1 United States Military Academy New York NY 0 1,263
2 Princeton University New Jersey NJ 49,830 1,243
3 California Institute of Technology California CA 48,990 236
4 Williams College Massachusetts MA 49,530 540
5 Harvard University Massachusetts MA 50,250 1,666
6 Wellesley College Massachusetts MA 50,026 596
7 United States Air Force Academy Colorado CO 0 1,286
8 Amherst College Massachusetts MA 50,230 439
9 Yale University Connecticut CT 51,400 1,318
10 Stanford University California CA 51,760 1,703
11 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Massachusetts MA 50,100 1,048
12 Swarthmore College Pennsylvania PA 50,381 372
13 Columbia University New York NY 51,406 1,356
14 Centre College Kentucky KY 39,200 336
15 Haverford College Pennsylvania PA 51,637 327
16 Boston College Massachusetts MA 52,060 2,167
17 Northwestern University Illinois IL 52,120 2,078
18 Bowdoin College Maine ME 50,570 488
19 Vassar College New York NY 51,370 638
20 Whitman College Washington (state) WA 46,212 401
21 University of Chicago Illinois IL 53,310 1,306
22 Kenyon College Ohio OH 49,260 456
23 Carleton College Minnesota MN 50,000 489
24 Colby College Maine ME 50,120 482
25 Middlebury College Vermont VT 52,460 576

2013 list

Rank[9] Name State Cost Total Student Population
1 Stanford University California CA 58,846 19,945
2 Pomona College California CA 57,014 1,586
3 Princeton University New Jersey NJ 54,780 7,813
4 Yale University Connecticut CT 59,320 11,875
5 Columbia University New York NY 61,540 26,050
6 Swarthmore College Pennsylvania PA 58,481 1,545
7 United States Military Academy New York NY n/a 4,624
8 Harvard University Massachusetts MA 57,050 27,392
9 Williams College Massachusetts MA 59,412 2,126
10 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Massachusetts MA 57,010 10,894
11 University of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania PA 59,600 24,832
12 Brown University Rhode Island RI 58,140 8,768
13 Amherst College Massachusetts MA 59,060 1,791
14 University of Chicago Illinois IL 62,425 14,979
15 Northwestern University Illinois IL 60,840 20,959
16 Dartmouth College New Hampshire NH 61,398 6,144
17 Northwestern University Illinois IL 60,840 20,959
18 California Institute of Technology California CA 56,382 2,231
19 Cornell University New York NY 59,591 21,131
20 Bowdoin College Maine ME 58,200 1,778
21 Washington and Lee University Virginia VA 56,616 2,193
22 University of California, Berkeley California CA 55,766 36,137
23 Wellesley College Massachusetts MA 57,164 2,502
24 University of Notre Dame Indiana IN 57,805 12,004
25 Tufts University Massachusetts MA 58,800 10,777

References

  1. ↑ Richard Vedder; David M. Ewalt (5 August 2009). "America's Best Colleges 2009". Forbes. Retrieved 11 March 2010.
  2. ↑ Jacobs, Peter (24 July 2013). "Harvard Is Only The Eighth Best College In America, According To Forbes". Business Insider. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Grove, Allen (24 July 2013). "Forbes 2013 List of America's Top Colleges". About.com. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  4. ↑ "Forbes Magazine: Newest Player in the College Rankings Game". College Confidential. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  5. ↑ Altman, George (26 July 2013). "Service academies score high on Forbes' best colleges list". Navy Times. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  6. ↑ Howard, Caroline (24 July 2013). "Ranking America's Top Colleges 2013". Forbes. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  7. ↑ "'Forbes' Boots 4 Colleges From Its Rankings". Inside Higher Ed. 25 July 2013. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  8. ↑ "America's Best Colleges". Forbes. 5 August 2009. Retrieved 11 March 2010.
  9. ↑ "America's Best Colleges". Forbes. July 2013. Retrieved 23 April 2014.