Deciding what makes a certain college more desirable than another is highly immanent . Some prospective students might call up a championship - get ahead football squad and a massive student body are major marketing points , while others lever a pocket-sized , tightly entwine community above all else .
To seek to get along as tight as possible to identifying objectively not bad colleges and universities around the country , WalletHubanalyzeda whopping 30 factor in seven categories , from student selectivity and cost to campus experience and career termination . These encompass introductory metrics — admission charge per unit and average grade size , for representative — as well as more specific considerations , like study abroad programs , on - campus employment opportunities , and the median pay of recent graduate .
Of all 1008 schools included in the study , theIvy Leagueones continue to reign supreme . Harvard Universityranked first , with a score of 78.6 across all 30 metric function , edging out Yale by just .03 points . Princeton , the University of Pennsylvania , Columbia , Dartmouth , and Brown also made the top 25 . With humbled acceptance rates and high commencement pace — not to mention immense endowments — these stately sure-enough introduction are rather unmanageable to compete with , but they ’re definitely not the only esteemed places to get a four - yeareducation .
As a will to the continuing succeeder of thetechindustry , three engineering institute made WalletHub ’s list : Massachusetts in third position , California in fifth , and Georgia in 11th . Those three school ranked in the top five for return on educational investment , mean that alumnus make mellow starting salaries compared to how much their instruction in reality cost .
Geographically , New England ( and the East sea-coast in worldwide ) is household to a majority of the top schools , though five from California alone did chart , too : Stanford University ; University of California , Berkeley ; Pomona College ; and Claremont McKenna College , in plus to the aforementioned California Institute of Technology .
Check out the top 25 below , and see where your alma mater ranks on WalletHub ’s full listhere .
