Forbes is a major player in ranking colleges. At its site you can find what Forbes considers
the best “private” colleges, “public” colleges, “value” colleges, “business”
schools, etc.
On its overall “top colleges” list, Stanford ranked Number 1
last year and Number 2 this year, and that comes as no surprise to anyone in
the world of academics. Stanford is a
superior institution, well endowed and highly regarded in virtually every
discipline, from Engineering to English Literature, from Computer Science to the
Physical Sciences and Social Sciences.
But what about this year?
With Stanford slipping to Number 2, who took the top ranking? Hint: it’s not Yale, Harvard, MIT or
Princeton.
It’s Williams College, a relatively small but highly respected
liberal arts college in western Massachusetts, affectionately known as one of
the “Little Ivies”.
Williams, like several colleges in the upper echelon of the list,
is a relatively small school in comparison to the giant universities that
usually dominate many rankings – for example, it does not have comparable
enrollment statistics or endowment resources.
But it certainly is not small in terms of “student satisfaction” or
“post graduate success”, two of the criteria that Forbes uses to determine its list. Rather than focusing on how
difficult it is to get admitted – as many other rankings do – Forbes looks for
“ROI” – return on investment, that is, “what are students getting out of
college?”
In addition to the previously mentioned criteria, Forbes
also looks primarily at student debt, graduation rate, and nationally
competitive awards.
Last year’s #2 school – ranking behind Stanford – was Pomona,
one of the five Claremont Colleges in California. In size and scope, many may see it as a
western version of Williams.
Harvard, no stranger to a Number 1 ranking on
other lists, could muster only a Number 7
this year for Forbes, up one from Number 8 in 2013.
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College Admission: A Simple, No-Nonsense
Guide To Getting Into The College Of Your Choice,
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