<p>Forbes just released their list for Top Colleges America's</a> Top Colleges
You can find the methodology, or sort by States in case your college does not appear in the Overall Top 100.
Top 10:
1. Princeton
2. Williams College
3. Stanford University
4. University of Chicago
5. Yale University
6. Harvard University
7. US Military Academy
8. Columbia University in NY
9. Pomona College
10. Swarthmore College</p>
<p>What do you all think? Like all college rankings, I am sure there will be much debate! For me, I believe there is no such thing as the "best" college ranking list (even US News is ehh), I just take a look at all of them and if a school consistently ranks in the top 50 of most of the lists, that school should be good!</p>
<p>I think USNEWS is the most consistent ranking – in the past Forbes has been terrible but this seems to better than ones they had in the past. They rank LACs way too high IMO.</p>
<p>Some things that stuck out -
Colorado College seems to be high in the top 30 (ranks higher than Dartmouth, Rice, etc.)
Kenyon College seems to be high in top 40 (higher than Berkeley, UNC, etc.)
Also, Cornell and Johns Hopkins should be included in any top 50. Same with Michigan, Carnegie Mellon, etc.</p>
<p>^ What’s wrong with LACs that they shouldn’t be ranked among universities? I will never understand this “LACs are inferior” mentality that I see on CC.</p>
<p>^ This. If anything, it seems like this list is pretty similar to what USNWR would look like if it didn’t separate the two, obviously with some minor shuffling.</p>
<p>Too high:
12. University of Notre Dame
15. Washington and Lee University
20. Vassar College
26. Boston College
29. Colorado College</p>
<p>Too low:
42. Middlebury College
43. US Naval Academy
57. University of Michigan- Ann Arbor
67. Johns Hopkins University
68. Reed College
69. Carnegie Mellon University
130. Cooper Union
323. SUNY Geneseo
324. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute</p>
<p>LACs aren’t inferior by any means, I just think Forbes ranks them way too high. Colorado College at #29 while USC is at #95 and Johns Hopkins at #67? I mean come on.</p>
<p>@Shaq395 I agree with you on Colorado College and BC being a bit too high, but Notre Dame, Vassar, and W&L are fine (strange that you think Vassar and W&L are too high but not Wesleyan, which is close to them on the Forbes AND USNWR rankings). Also, like I said before, since the LACs are also in there, obviously they’ll push some universities lower (Michigan). Middlebury, Johns Hopkins, and Carnegie Mellon are too low though, yeah.</p>
<p>@jph - oh okay, I see where you’re coming from on that, but I think it’s pretty accurate with where it places most of the tippy-top LACs (Williams, Amherst, Swat, Pomona, Wes, Vassar, Wellesley etc.)</p>
<p>“Too high:
12. University of Notre Dame
15. Washington and Lee University
20. Vassar College
26. Boston College
29. Colorado College”</p>
<p>Curious – what criteria about these particular colleges are cited by Forbes that place them higher than those one might suppose should be there instead?</p>
<p>One might be baffled by some of the rankings even in light of Forbes’ own criteria. For example, why would Middlebury rank 13 places lower than Colorado College by these standards? Middlebury’s graduation rates are slightly higher. Middlebury’s average alumni salaries are much higher. I would expect Middlebury to have more Who’s Who listings, not necessarily because it does anything better than CC to encourage student success, but simply because it is a more selective school (so it is cherry-picking more highly-driven students). So I think the most likely area where Colorado College must be doing very well is in student satisfaction (which is an area where I’d expect LACs, in general, to shine.)</p>
<p>Perhaps many students at the most selective schools arrive with higher expectations (and so are inclined to rate professors more severely.)</p>
<p>Really? Williams above Harvard, Stanford, and Yale? Pomona and Swarthmore over MIT, Caltech, and Penn? What a stupid list. In no way are those no-name schools compared to the best of the best.</p>
<p>Of course not. Caltech is well known by the place I work and their alumni are favored for their talent and skill. It may be a small school but its quality is superlative.</p>
<p>Not just Swarthmore, any liberal arts college. No one knows about them, and they aren’t that good either (limited resources, classes, etc). Okay, so they may have similar selectivity to the top schools, but in terms of sheer intellect, those top universities easily top any LAC.</p>