Thought this was interesting. Washington Post took results from several major college rankings, and attempted to combine them into one. I’ve posted the top 50 universities below. They also rank LACs.
Stanford University CA private 1
Harvard University MA private 2
Massachusetts Institute of Technology MA private 3
Princeton University NJ private 4
Yale University CT private 5
University of Pennsylvania PA private 6
Duke University NC private 7
Columbia University NY private 8
University of California at Berkeley CA public 9
California Institute of Technology CA private 10
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor MI public 11
University of California at Los Angeles CA public 11
Rice University TX private 13
Dartmouth College NH private 14
Brown University RI private 15
Cornell University NY private 16
University of Notre Dame IN private 17
Vanderbilt University TN private 18
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill NC public 19
Georgetown University DC private 20
University of Chicago IL private 21
Northwestern University IL private 22
University of Virginia VA public 23
Johns Hopkins University MD private 24
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign IL public 25
Georgia Institute of Technology GA public 26
Washington University in St. Louis MO private 27
University of California at San Diego CA public 27
University of Washington at Seattle WA public 29
Tufts University MA private 30
University of California at Davis CA public 31
University of Florida FL public 32
University of Wisconsin at Madison WI public 33
College of William & Mary VA public 34
University of Southern California CA private 35
University of Texas at Austin TX public 36
University of Maryland at College Park MD public 37
Purdue University at West Lafayette IN public 38
Emory University GA private 39
Texas A&M University at College Station TX public 40
Wake Forest University NC private 41
University of California at Santa Barbara CA public 42
Carnegie Mellon University PA private 43
Boston College MA private 44
Michigan State University MI public 45
University of Minnesota at Twin Cities MN public 46
University of California at Irvine CA public 47
University of Rochester NY private 48
Case Western Reserve University OH private 49
Virginia Tech VA public 50
This is a fairly minor reshuffling of the top US News national universities.
Main differences: Berkeley, Michigan, and UCLA move up; UChicago, JHU and WUSTL move down.
Otherwise, the overall pattern is the same. Ivies (and other highly selective, private universities) dominate the upper half of the top 50; big state flagships dominate the lower half. Within those two groups, the exact order is mostly a question of what criteria you choose and how you weight them (although HYPS usually wind up at or near the top; Berkeley and Michigan often out-rank other state universities).
For purposes of building an initial college application list, IMO the US News or Forbes rankings alone are better. This one muddles together 6 different rankings that have rather different purposes. Better to first figure out what you’re trying to measure, then choose appropriate metrics. For many CC families, the most important concerns are undergraduate academic quality and net cost, not the features T.H.E. or Washington Monthly try to address. For those two factors, Kiplinger’s is a pretty good, clearly presented ranking (with click-sortable columns so you can tailor somewhat to your own needs).
Stanford University CA private 1
Harvard University MA private 2
Massachusetts Institute of Technology MA private 3
Princeton University NJ private 4
Yale University CT private 5
University of Pennsylvania PA private 6
Duke University NC private 7
Columbia University NY private 8
University of California at Berkeley CA public 9
California Institute of Technology CA private 10
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor MI public 11
this, rather, is the list people should use to guide them when they apply to college! (but, of course, a list should never, ever, fully let someone make a decision)
SCHOOL STATE SECTOR RANK
Amherst College MA private 1
Pomona College CA private 2
Williams College MA private 3
Wellesley College MA private 4
Bowdoin College ME private 5
Middlebury College VT private 6
Wesleyan University CT private 7
Swarthmore College PA private 8
Davidson College NC private 9
Colgate University NY private 10
Washington and Lee University VA private 11
Claremont McKenna College CA private 12
Hamilton College NY private 13
Colby College ME private 14
Vassar College NY private 15
College of the Holy Cross MA private 16
Bates College ME private 17
Lafayette College PA private 18
Carleton College MN private 19
Bucknell University PA private 20
Barnard College NY private 21
Haverford College PA private 22
Grinnell College IA private 23
University of Richmond VA private 24
DePauw University IN private 25
Union College NY private 26
Trinity College CT private 27
Denison University OH private 28
Smith College MA private 29
Franklin and Marshall College PA private 30
Kenyon College OH private 31
Macalester College MN private 32
Oberlin College OH private 33
Earlham College IN private 34
St. John’s University MN private 35
Gettysburg College PA private 36
Virginia Military Institute VA public 37
Mount Holyoke College MA private 38
Gustavus Adolphus College MN private 39
St. Olaf College MN private 40
Wheaton College IL private 41
Colorado College CO private 42
Bryn Mawr College PA private 43
Occidental College CA private 44
Kalamazoo College MI private 45
Muhlenberg College PA private 46
Lawrence University WI private 47
Skidmore College NY private 48
Hobart and William Smith Colleges NY private 49
Furman University
Interesting list. I like the overall concept of preparing a list based on all the other lists. It should have the effect of smoothing out the results by offsetting the different methodologies.
Not surprising that the popular Ivies once again dominate.
If UCLA truly ranks higher than the following schools, it would have been a lot harder to get in!
University of California at Los Angeles CA public 11
Rice University TX private 13
Dartmouth College NH private 14
Brown University RI private 15
Cornell University NY private 16
University of Notre Dame IN private 17
Vanderbilt University TN private 18
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill NC public 19
Georgetown University DC private 20
University of Chicago IL private 21
Northwestern University IL private 22
@Miliochie The Washington Post’s goal, presumably, was to integrate more factors into the ranking and to get away from ranking which weigh selectivity as a significant factor.
I presonally think acceptance rates of state schools are inflated. Most state schools have an obligation to their state for the taxpayer money. OOS tuition and lack of financial aid is a huge turn off for OOS students. Therefore, they have a lower overall applicant pool based on price.
Seems weird that Colorado College, which in 2016 accepted 15%-16% of its applicants, is so low compared to Union which accepted 30-something-percent. It’s sort of an under-the-radar school yet highly selective at the same time.