The College Rankings: Measuring Outcomes, Not Inputs: A look at what goes into the new rankings, what doesn't -- and why.

 

"Going to college is one of the biggest investments most students will ever make, and choosing a college is one of life's biggest decisions -- that's why so many applicants and their families need a trusted guide.

The Wall Street Journal has published a U.S. college ranking since 2016 and, working with our research partners College Pulse and Statista, this year's edition makes some important improvements to our methodology.

We no longer reward colleges' wealth or reputation in and of themselves. Gone is the survey of academics on schools' reputations. Gone are the rewards for instructional spending and the assumption that the quality of education is largely dictated by how expensive it is to produce.

In their place we've expanded the importance of student outcomes: graduation rates and graduate salaries.

Critically, we now put greater emphasis on measuring the value added by colleges -- not simply measuring their students' success, but focusing on the contribution the college makes to that success.

Some colleges doing great things for students who would otherwise struggle have previously received relatively low marks in our rankings. By contrast, some colleges doing less for students who would do well regardless of where they went to school have previously been lauded.

Our new ranking rebalances this.

To calculate the value added by colleges, we estimate how well their students would do regardless of which college they attended, taking into account the factors that best predict student outcomes.

The colleges are rewarded for their students' success over and above that estimate.

These scores are combined with raw graduation rates and graduate salaries. In other words, success in absolute terms is still taken into account, but with the value added given greater emphasis than previously.

The idea is that a college whose graduates earn a median salary of $60,000 10 years after enrollment and would have earned a median $50,000 if they had gone to a different college is, at least for that metric, more impressive than one whose graduates earn a median salary of $80,000 but would have earned a median $90,000 had they gone elsewhere. Median salaries, or course, are just that: They are the middle of a range of salaries earned by graduates who take any number of paths after college.

For students, we believe this ranking will help them identify which schools will do the most to help them graduate and make more money.

College scores in our ranking are based on three factors: student outcomes, accounting for 70% of the ranking; the learning environment at 20%; and diversity, at 10%.

The ranking is constructed by applying rigorous statistical analysis to official government data, combined with responses from one of the largest independent surveys of verified students ever conducted in the U.S.

In addition to the analysis of graduation rates and graduate salaries outlined above, we factor in the cost of attendance against salary performance when considering student outcomes.

To do that we start with average net price: the average annual overall cost of attending the college for students who receive federal financial aid, including tuition and fees, room and board, and books and supplies, taking into account any grants and scholarships. We base the total for four years on the student's cost for freshman year. Costs often rise through a student's college career, but our four-year estimate gives us a figure we can use to compare schools based on the current first-year cost.

We divide the estimated total net price for four years of attendance at a college by the median salary of its graduates over and above that of high-school graduates in the state where the college is located. We end up with an estimate of how quickly the salary boost attributable to college attendance pays for the cost of college.

As an example, consider our top performer on this metric, Baruch College, where the estimated average net price across four years is $7,744.

The additional median annual salary its graduates enjoy over and above that of high-school graduates in New York state is $45,078 -- so an education at Baruch pays for itself in just two months by this measure.

To analyze the learning environment in each college, we asked its students and recent graduates about it, rather than rely on the school's reputation or wealth. We commissioned one of the largest-ever independent surveys of verified college students and recent alumni in the U.S., undertaken by College Pulse, to gather their views on the quality and frequency of learning opportunities and career preparation at their school, their satisfaction with its learning facilities, and an overall recommendation score.

Finally, we include a measure for diversity, combining metrics about the racial, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds and disability status of students and faculty with the experiences of students on campus via the survey. We think exposure to people from diverse backgrounds is a positive for students in itself.

Some final notes on our new methodology:

Instead of debt after graduation, we now use net price to better reflect the full financial burden on students who receive federal financial aid and their families -- including any loans they may need. A singular focus on debt would punish colleges for enrolling students with lower family incomes, who are more likely to require loans to cover college costs.

We don't factor in selectivity, which we consider to be an input, rather than an outcome for which the college should be rewarded. And we don't rely on self-reported data submitted to us by schools.

None of this is to say that making money is the most important outcome for students.

Every student is different, and their goals for what they want out of college are different. To that end, our rankings offer a few other measures by which you can evaluate schools.

If you want to know the best colleges to have a great experience while you're there, for instance, we've separated out a Student Experience ranking just for that.

We also want to showcase the colleges doing the most for those with the least. For that, we offer a Social Mobility ranking -- the colleges doing best on salaries and graduation rates while taking in the highest proportion of low-income students.

And for those who really do care entirely about incomes, we have a ranking based purely on Salary Impact.

What constitutes a good college is almost inevitably subjective and a source of contention.

But if you want to prioritize learning environment and career preparation, and choose the college that will do the most to make sure you graduate and maximize your earnings, that's the focus of this ranking. We hope that this will be a vital resource -- and will help you trust your decisions when considering one of the biggest and most exciting choices of your life.

Full details of our methodology are available online with our rankings, at wsj.com/collegerankings." [1]

1. College Rankings (A Special Report) --- The College Rankings: Measuring Outcomes, Not Inputs: A look at what goes into the new rankings, what doesn't -- and why. Carr, Harry. 
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 07 Sep 2023: R.2.

 

Geriausi 2024 m. JAV universitetai: Prinstonas, MIT ir Jeilis užima aukščiausias vietas: „The Wall Street Journal“ / „College Pulse“ reitingai pabrėžia, kiek universitetas pagerina jo studentų galimybes laiku baigti studijas ir kiek padidina jų uždirbtus atlyginimus po baigimo

„Princetono universitetas gauna aukščiausią apdovanojimą mūsų naujame geriausių JAV universitetų reitinge.

 

     Kuo toks universitetas, kaip Prinstonas yra puikus?

 

     Yra patalpos ir fakultetai, kursiniai darbai ir bičiulystė, įgūdžiai, patirtis ir žinios, kurios paruošia studentus gyvenimui ir karjerai. Be jokios abejonės, tai yra svarbu.

 

     Be to, mūsų reitinge dar labiau akcentuojami du praktiniai ir išmatuojami klausimai apie kiekvieną mokyklą: kiek universitetas pagerins savo studentų galimybes laiku baigti studijas? O kiek tai pagerins atlyginimus, kuriuos jie uždirba, gavus diplomus?

 

     Mūsų WSJ/College Pulse 2024 geriausių JAV universitetų reitinge Prinstonas surinko aukštus balus tiek pagal absolventų atlyginimus, tiek pagal baigimo laiku šansus.

 

     Jo studentai ir, neseniai baigę, absolventai taip pat gyrė mokymo patalpas mūsų atliktoje plačioje apklausoje.

 

     Tai nėra didelė staigmena. Prinstonas ilgą laiką buvo geriausių universitetų sąrašo viršuje. Tačiau, kaip ir mes, žiūrint į mokyklos teikiamą vertę savo mokiniams, išryškėja kitos institucijos, kurios neturi Prinstono reputacijos ar turtingumo, tačiau vis dėlto daro puikių dalykų jų studentams.

 

     Floridos universitetas ir Naujojo Džersio technologijos institutas yra aukščiausio rango valstybinės mokyklos – abi pateko į geriausių 20-uką, atitinkamai užėmusios 15 ir 19 vietas.

 

     Babsono koledžas, Lehigh universitetas ir Rose-Hulman technologijos institutas yra 10, 14 ir 17 numeriuose.

 

     Kai kurioms seną reputaciją turinčioms mokykloms nesiseka taip gerai, kai žiūrime į jų studentų rezultatus pagal naująją metodiką. Browno universiteto ir Johnso Hopkinso universitetų, dviejų iš mūsų 2022 m. 10 geriausių, rezultatai yra ne tokie puikūs – atitinkamai 67 ir 99.

 

     (Galite pamatyti visą mūsų bendrą reitingą ir tyrinėti kitus reitingus, skirtus studentų patirčiai, socialiniam mobilumui ir atlyginimų poveikiui, adresu wsj.com/collegerankings.)

 

     Remiantis mūsų apskaičiavimais, Prinstono absolventams prireikia mažiau, nei vienerių metų vidutinio atlyginimo padidinimo, kurį suteikia jų laipsnis, kad apmokėtų visas mokymosi išlaidas, nes jie gauna didelį uždarbį ir santykinai mažą grynąją lankymo kainą, kuri atspindi visas išlaidas, atsižvelgus į visas dotacijas ir stipendijas studentams, kurie gauna federalinę finansinę pagalbą. Universitetas taip pat turi aukščiausią baigimo lygį iš visų reitinge esančių mokyklų.

 

     Šias Gebenės lygos universitetas užima pirmaujančią penketuką reitinge, kuriame gausu žinomų vardų: Masačusetso technologijos instituto Nr. 2, vėliau Jeilio universitetas, Stanfordo universitetas ir Kolumbijos universitetas.

 

     Johnas Raulstonas Grahamas, architektūros specialybės vyresnysis iš Nešvilio, sako, kad Prinstonas sunkiai dirba, kad sujungtų studentus su savo absolventų tinklu, o tai jis įskaito už ryškias studentų karjeros perspektyvas. „Tuos, kurie išvyko į Prinstoną, sieja tikra giminystė“, – sako jis.

 

     Prinstono mokymo programa yra lanksti, su keliais mažais reikalavimais, todėl studentai gali tyrinėti įvairius akademinius interesus. Tačiau pamokos yra „labai griežtos“, – sako Vincentas Nguyenas, matematikos specialybės jaunesnysis, kuris taip pat domisi politikos mokslais.

 

     Kiti pažįstami vardai, esantys netoli šių metų reitingo viršūnės, yra Pensilvanijos universitetas, esantis 7-oje vietoje – viena iš penkių Ivy League mokyklų, patekusių į 10 geriausių. Pennas aplenkė Prinstoną, kaip universitetą, turintį didžiausią įtaką absolventų atlyginimams.

 

     Nr. 10 Babson College siekia paruošti savo studentus sėkmei verslo pasaulyje. „Babson“ turi verslo kursus, įtrauktus į pagrindinę mokymo programą, ir daugiausia dėmesio skiria verslumui. Pirmakursiai privalo išklausyti, vienerius metus trunkančius, kursus, pavadintus „Vadybos ir verslumo pagrindai“, kur kartu su klasės draugais pradeda ir vykdo verslą. Antro kurso studentei Kaitlyn Pristawa ši patirtis išskyrė kolegiją iš kitų, jos manymu, mokyklų.

 

     "Jūs iš tikrųjų vykdote tikrą verslą. Žmonės iš tikrųjų jums moka už produktus", - sako Pristawa. „Tai moko jus apie kiekvieną verslo aspektą ir leidžia pasiruošti jūsų ateičiai“.

 

     Keletas mažų laisvųjų menų koledžų, įskaitant Amhersto koledžą, Claremont McKenna koledžą ir Swarthmore koledžą, taip pat gerai pasirodė reitinge. Mokyklos, kuriose kiekvienoje yra mažiau nei 2000 bakalauro studijų studentų, užėmė atitinkamai aštuntą, devintą ir 11 vietą.

 

     Jay'us Brenmanas, kurio dukra baigė Amherstą anksčiau šiais metais, sako, kad buvo sužavėtas, kai atrado daug Amhersto absolventų, kurie taip pat baigia geriausias teisės ir medicinos mokyklas. „Kai kurie iš tų skaičių yra laukiniai“, – sako jis.

 

     Kai kurios universitetų reitingavimo metodikos paprastai suskirsto universitetus į turinčius ir neturinčius, kad įvertinti universiteto turimus išteklius. Bendradarbiaujant su Statista duomenų mokslininkais, naujajame WSJ/College Pulse reitinge naudojami naujausi turimi duomenys, kad universitetuose būtų sudarytos vienodesnės sąlygos, daugiausia dėmesio skiriant kiekvienos mokyklos absolventų rezultatų palyginimui su tuo, ką tie studentai, greičiausiai, pasieks. nesvarbu, kur jie lankė mokyklą.

 

     Tai yra esminis patobulinimų, kuriuos atlikome pagal reitingus, kuriuos „The Wall Street Journal“ pradėjo skelbti 2016 m., metodika.

 

     (Norėdami gauti daugiau informacijos apie tai, kaip buvo nustatyti šių metų reitingai, skaitykite visą metodiką su reitingų lentelėmis adresu wsj.com/collegerankings.)

 

     Iš tikrųjų universitetai yra apdovanoti ne tik už neapdorotus tradicinių rodiklių rezultatus; veikiau jie taip pat vertinami pagal etaloną, kuris parodo, kaip mokyklos gerina savo mokinių karjeros trajektorijas. Dėl to šių metų reitinge pasirodė keletas paslėptų brangakmenių.

 

     Tarp šių mokyklų yra La Verno universitetas ir Floridos tarptautinis universitetas. La Verne daugiau, nei pusė pirmą kartą studijuojančių nuolatinių studentų gauna Pell Grants – federalines stipendijas, kurių dydis iki 7 395 dolerių einamaisiais mokslo metais, skirtas studentams, kuriems reikia išskirtinių finansinių poreikių. Tai didesnė dalis, nei 95 % mūsų reitinge esančių mokyklų. Mažas Pietų Kalifornijos koledžo baigimo balas, nurodantis, kokia tikimybė, kad studentai baigs bet kurią mokyklą, padėjo kolegijai užimti 33 vietą.

 

     „Jaučiau, kad profesoriai galėjo sutelkti dėmesį į visus savo studentus“, – sako Catalina Valera, šiemet baigusi La Verne – pirmoji kolegijos absolventė savo šeimoje. „Jie padėjo man gauti [darbo] pokalbius, o aš turėjau patarėją, kuris atsiųstų man tokius dalykus, kaip stažuotės galimybės, kurios, kaip jis žinojo, yra man įdomios."

 

     Mokykla reguliariai rengdavo seminarus, susijusius su gyvenimo aprašymo kūrimu, finansiniu raštingumu ir gyvenimu po studijų, sako Valera, kuri ketina dirbti vyriausybėje ir neseniai stažavosi pas Kalifornijos valstijos senatorę Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh. "Aš gavau tiek daug galimybių, kad niekada negirdėjau, kad mano draugams [kituose koledžuose] būtų pasiūlyti jų profesorių ir patarėjų. Mano patirtis buvo labiau praktiška."

 

     „Florida International“ atitinka panašų modelį: beveik pusė jo studentų gauna Pell Grants, o gana dideli absolventų atlyginimai rodo, kaip mokykla puikiai padeda mokiniams pradėti gerai apmokamą darbą. Jo pamokose „mes iš tikrųjų pritaikytume tai, ką išmokome, kurdami tikrus įgūdžius ir užmegzdami ryšius“, – sako Madeline Barnett, FŽP studentė, kurią baigs šį gruodį.

 

     Tuos įtraukiančius užsiėmimus ji laiko viena priežastimi, dėl kurios jaučiasi pasiruošusi gyvenimui po pamokų pradžios. "Mes visi iš esmės jau dirbame realiame pramonės sektoriuje."

 

     Jo provosė Elizabeth Bejar pabrėžia, kad universitetas pastaraisiais metais glaudžiai bendradarbiavo su darbdaviais, siekdamas užtikrinti, kad labiausiai ieškomi įgūdžiai būtų tie, kurie mokomi pagal jo mokymo programą ir studentams bei absolventams siūlomas „mikrokreditavimo“ programas, kuriose daugiausia dėmesio skiriama profesinių įgūdžių ir kompetencijų įsisavinimui.

 

     „Mes tikrai norime, kad universitetas būtų karjeros laboratorija“, - sako Bejar. Ji priduria, kad kiekviena kolegija turi pramonės patariamąsias tarybas.

 

     Kitoms kolegijoms, kuriose daug dėmesio skiriama STEM ar verslui, pavyzdžiui, Rose-Hulman technologijos institutui, Naujojo Džersio technologijos institutui ir Ilinojaus technologijos institutui, užėmusiems 23 vietą, taip pat sekėsi gerai.

 

     Šių kolegijų, kylančių į viršų, pusė yra ta, kad kai kurie universitetai atsidūrė gerokai žemiau įprastų šių metų sąrašo pozicijų.

 

     Brownas yra žemiausio reitingo Ivy League mokykla, užimanti 67 vietą, nepaisant nacionalinės reputacijos, kuri rodo aukštesnę vietą. Bendram Browno reitingui ypač pakenkė palyginti žemi atlyginimai, atsižvelgiant į jo absolventų profilį. Jo vidutinė grynoji kaina, 26 308 dolerių, taip pat yra didesnė, nei daugelio aukštesnį reitingą turinčių Gebenės bendraamžių.

 

     Brownui sekėsi gerai, kai jos mokinių buvo paklausta, ar jie rekomenduotų mokyklą draugui, ar rinktųsi ją dar kartą patys, jei būtų galimybė. Tačiau mokiniai buvo ne tokie malonūs, kai jų paklausė konkrečiai apie mokymosi galimybes. Brownas atsisakė komentuoti.

 

     99-oje vietoje Johnsas Hopkinsas, 166-oje vietoje Niujorko universitetas ir 287-oje vietoje Tuftso universitetas taip pat yra prastesni, nei jų reputacija ir ankstesni reitingai.

 

     „Mes labai rimtai žiūrime į prieigą prie Tufts išsilavinimo ir mūsų studentų mokymosi bei karjeros rezultatų ir stažuočių“, – sakė Tufts atstovas. „Mes visada ieškome būdų, kaip tobulėti, ir išnagrinėsime pagrindinius žurnalo naudojamus duomenis ir metodikas, kad išspręstume visas svarbias sritis, kuriose galime būti dar geresni“.

 

     NYU atstovas sakė, kad šis reitingas pateikia „neišsamų ir klaidinantį vaizdą“, kuris nevisiškai atspindi neseniai mokyklos patobulintus finansinės pagalbos paketus. „Reitingas pradžioje yra gana abejotinas pratimas, tačiau ypač beprasmiška lyginti vienų metų rezultatus su kitais, kai labai pasikeitė metodika“, – sakė jis.

 

     Johnsas Hopkinsas atsisakė komentuoti.

 

     Be rezultatų matavimo, WSJ/College Pulse reitingas taip pat lemia studentų patirtį. Universitetams skirta tyrimų ir tyrimų bendrovė „Journal and College Pulse“ anksčiau šiais metais apklausė daugiau, nei 60 000 studentų ir neseniai baigusių absolventų. 

 

Apklausa apėmė įvairias studentų gyvenimo perspektyvas, įskaitant studentų suvokimą apie mokymosi galimybes, pasirengimą karjerai, valgomojo sales ir sporto patalpas bei studentų mintis apie įvairovę.

 

     Kiekvienas į reitingą įtrauktas universitetas gavo mažiausiai 50 apklausos atsakymų, iš kurių dauguma gavo daugiau, nei 100. Apklausos apie mokymosi aplinką atsakymus sudaro 20 % bendro mokyklos balo ir vietos reitinge.

 

     Dar 10 % bendrų balų lėmė studentų ir dėstytojų įvairovė kiekvienoje institucijoje. Hiustono miesto universitetas ir Kentukio Berea koledžas surinko aukščiausią balą šioje kategorijoje, kurioje apjungiami studentų ir dėstytojų rasinės, etninės ir socialinės bei ekonominės kilmės rodikliai su studentų patirtimi universiteto miestelyje. Stenfordas, užėmęs ketvirtą vietą, surinko aukščiausią įvairovės balą iš visų 20 geriausių mokyklų.

 

     Reitingas apdovanoja mokyklas už įvairias studentų bendruomenes, nepaisant to, kaip jos tą įvairovę pasiekia. Aukščiausiasis Teismas anksčiau šiais metais nusprendė, kad kolegijos nebegali svarstyti rasės priimamiesiems, todėl daugelį universitetų tai privertė persvarstyti politiką, kuri ilgą laiką buvo naudojama įvairinti jų miestelius.

 

     Kaip ir bet kurio kolegijos reitingavimo atveju, WSJ/College Pulse metodikos apdovanojimai gali būti ne tai, kas svarbiausia kiekvienam kandidatui.

 

     Studentams ir šeimoms svarstant, kur investuoti jų lėšas už mokslą, yra daugybė sprendimo elementų, kurių negalima suvesti į plačiu mastu analizuojamus duomenis: mokyklos vertybės, priklausymo jausmas, kurį gali įgyti vaikštant miesteliu, o atstumas nuo šeimos ir draugų yra pagrindinis tarp jų.

 

     Šiame reitinge universitetai vertinami, kaip tramplinas į karjerą ir gyvenimą, kuris ateina vėliau, ir jas analizuoja per tą objektyvą. Tačiau, kaip ir priimant bet kokį didelį sprendimą, geriausias universitetas šiame sąraše gali būti ne visiems geriausias.

 

     „Kiekvienas turi skirtingą universiteto patirtį“, – sako Florida International studentas Barnettas. "Yra daug dalykų, kuriuos vaikai patiria koledže ir kurių negalima išmatuoti skaitiniais duomenimis ar metrika." [1]

 

1. College Rankings (A Special Report) --- The 2024 Best Colleges in the U.S.: Princeton, MIT and Yale Take Top Spots: The Wall Street Journal/College Pulse rankings emphasize how much a college improves its students' chances of graduating on time, and how much it boosts the salaries they earn after graduation. McAllister, Kevin; Corrigan, Tom. 
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 07 Sep 2023: R.1

The 2024 Best Colleges in the U.S.: Princeton, MIT and Yale Take Top Spots: The Wall Street Journal/College Pulse rankings emphasize how much a college improves its students' chances of graduating on time, and how much it boosts the salaries they earn after graduation.

"Princeton University takes top honors in our new ranking of the best colleges in the U.S.

What makes a college like Princeton great?

There are the facilities and the faculties, the coursework and the camaraderie, the skills and experiences and knowledge that prepare students for their lives and their careers. No doubt these are important. 

But in addition, our ranking puts even greater emphasis on two practical and measurable questions about each school: How much will the college improve its students' chances of graduating on time? And how much will it improve the salaries they earn after receiving their diplomas?

In our WSJ/College Pulse 2024 Best Colleges in the U.S. ranking, Princeton scored highly for both graduates' salaries and graduation rates. 

Its students and recent graduates also praised its teaching facilities in a broad survey we conducted.

That's not much of a surprise. Princeton has been in the upper echelon of best-college lists for a long time. But looking, as we do, at the value a school provides to its students highlights other institutions that don't have Princeton's reputation or its wealth but do great things for their students nonetheless.

The University of Florida and the New Jersey Institute of Technology are the highest-ranking public schools -- both cracked the top 20 overall, at No. 15 and No. 19, respectively. 

And Babson College, Lehigh University and the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology sit at Nos. 10, 14 and 17.

And some schools with longstanding reputations don't fare as well when we look at their student outcomes under our new methodology. Brown University and Johns Hopkins University, two of our top 10 for 2022, perform less outstandingly, at Nos. 67 and 99 respectively.

(You can see our full overall ranking and explore other rankings focused on student experiences, social mobility and salary impacts, at wsj.com/collegerankings.)

Based on our estimates, it takes Princeton graduates less than a year's worth of the median salary boost their degree provides to pay off the full cost of attendance, due to their high earnings and the relatively low net price of attendance, which reflects the total cost, after taking into account any grants and scholarships, for students who receive federal financial aid. The university also has the highest graduation rate of any school in the ranking.

The Ivy League university heads a top five in the ranking that is packed with household names: the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at No. 2, then Yale University, Stanford University and Columbia University.

John Raulston Graham, a senior from Nashville majoring in architecture, says Princeton works hard to connect students with its network of alumni, which he credits for students' bright career prospects. "There's a real kinship about having gone to Princeton," he says.

Princeton's curriculum is flexible, with few requirements, allowing students to explore a range of academic interests. But classes are "extremely rigorous," says Vincent Nguyen, a junior majoring in math, who is also interested in political science.

Other familiar names near the top of this year's ranking include the University of Pennsylvania at No. 7 -- one of five Ivy League schools in the top 10 overall. Penn edged out Princeton as the college with the biggest impact on graduates' salaries.

No. 10 Babson College aims to set its students up for success in the business world. Babson has business courses built into its core curriculum and a general emphasis on entrepreneurship. Freshmen are required to take a yearlong course called Foundations of Management and Entrepreneurship, where they launch and run a business venture with classmates. For sophomore Kaitlyn Pristawa, that experience set the college apart from other schools she considered.

"You actually run a real business. People actually pay you for the products," Pristawa says. "It teaches you about every aspect of business and makes you prepared for your future."

Several small liberal-arts colleges, including Amherst College, Claremont McKenna College and Swarthmore College, also performed well in the ranking. The schools, which each have fewer than 2,000 undergraduate students, placed eighth, ninth and 11th, respectively.

Jay Brenman, whose daughter graduated from Amherst earlier this year, says he was impressed when he discovered the outsize number of Amherst graduates who also graduate from top law schools and medical schools. "Some of those numbers are wild," he says.

Some college-ranking methodologies tend to have the effect of splitting universities into the haves and the have-nots by evaluating the resources a college has at its disposal. Working with data scientists at Statista, the new WSJ/College Pulse ranking uses the most recent available data to put colleges on a more level playing field, with a focus on comparing the outcomes of each school's graduates to what those students were likely to achieve no matter where they went to school.

That's at the heart of the improvements we've made to the methodology behind the rankings The Wall Street Journal started publishing in 2016.

(For more details on how this year's rankings were determined, read the full methodology with the ranking tables at wsj.com/collegerankings.)

In effect, colleges aren't just rewarded for raw performance in traditional metrics; rather, they're also evaluated against a benchmark that shows how the schools improve the trajectories of their students' careers. As a result, this year's ranking surfaced some hidden gems.

Among those schools are the University of La Verne and Florida International University. At La Verne, more than half of first-time, full-time students receive Pell Grants -- federal grants, of up to $7,395 for the current school year, earmarked for students who have exceptional financial need. That's a higher proportion than 95% of the schools in our ranking. The small, Southern California college's graduation score, which accounts for how likely it is that the students it takes in would graduate from any school, helped the college rank 33rd overall.

"I felt like the professors were able to focus on all their students," says Catalina Valera, who graduated from La Verne this year -- the first college graduate in her family. "They helped me get [job] interviews, and I had an adviser that would send me things like internship opportunities that he knew were in my interest."

The school regularly hosted workshops related to resume building, financial literacy and postgraduation life, says Valera, who aims to work in government and most recently interned with California State Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh. "I've gotten so many opportunities that I've never heard my friends [at other colleges] get offered by their professors and advisers. My experience was more hands-on."

Florida International fits a similar mold: Nearly half of the students at FIU receive Pell Grants, and the relatively high salaries earned by graduates illustrate how the school excels at setting students on a path toward well-paid jobs after commencement. In classes at FIU "we would actually apply what we learned to real skills and real networking," says Madeline Barnett, an FIU student set to graduate this December.

She credits those immersive class experiences as one reason she feels prepared for life after commencement. "All of us are basically in the real world in the industry working already."

FIU's provost, Elizabeth Bejar, emphasizes that the university has worked closely with employers in recent years to ensure that the skills most sought after are the ones being taught through FIU's curriculum and the "micro credentialing" programs offered to students and alumni, which focus on professional skills and competencies.

"We really want FIU to be a career laboratory," Bejar says. The school has industry advisory boards within every college, she adds.

Other colleges with heavy STEM or business focuses, like the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, the New Jersey Institute of Technology and the Illinois Institution of Technology, ranked 23rd, also fared well.

The flip side of these colleges rising to the top is that some universities ended up well below their typical ranking positions on this year's list.

Brown is the lowest-ranking Ivy League school, coming in at No. 67 despite a national reputation that would suggest a loftier slot. Brown's overall rank was especially hurt by relatively low salary figures considering the profile of its graduates. Its average net price, $26,308, is also higher than those of many of its more highly ranked Ivy peers.

Brown fared well when its students were asked whether they would recommend the school to a friend or choose it again for themselves if given the chance. But students were less kind when asked specifically about learning opportunities. Brown declined to comment.

Johns Hopkins at 99th, New York University at 166th and Tufts University at 287th also rank lower than their reputations and previous rankings might suggest.

"We take access to a Tufts education and our students' educational and career outcomes and placements very seriously," a Tufts spokesman said. "We're always looking for ways to improve and will examine the underlying data and methodologies used by the Journal to address any important areas where we can be even better."

A spokesman for NYU said this ranking presents an "incomplete and misleading picture" that doesn't fully account for the school's recently enhanced financial-aid packages. "Ranking universities is a pretty dubious exercise to begin with, but it's particularly futile to compare one year's outcomes to the next when there's been a major shift in methodology," he said.

Johns Hopkins declined to comment.

Beyond measuring outputs, the WSJ/College Pulse ranking also factors in student experiences. The Journal and College Pulse, a college-focused survey and research company, surveyed more than 60,000 students and recent graduates earlier this year. The survey captured a range of perspectives on student life, including students' perception of learning opportunities, career preparation, dining halls and sports facilities, and the students' thoughts on diversity.

Every college included in the rankings received a minimum of 50 survey responses, with the majority receiving more than 100. Survey responses on the learning environment account for 20% of a school's overall score and placement in the ranking.

Another 10% of the overall scores was determined by the diversity of the student body and the faculty at each institution. The University of Houston-Downtown and Kentucky's Berea College scored the highest within this category, which combines metrics about the racial, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds of students and faculty with the experiences of students on campus via the survey. Stanford, ranked fourth overall, had the highest diversity score of any school in the top 20.

The ranking rewards schools for having diverse student bodies, regardless of how they achieve that diversity. The Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that colleges can no longer consider race in admissions, forcing many universities to reconsider policies long used to diversify their campuses.

As with any college ranking, what the WSJ/College Pulse methodology rewards may not be what's most important for any individual applicant.

As students and families consider where to invest their tuition dollars, there are many elements of the decision that can't be boiled down to analyzable data on a grand scale: a school's values, the sense of belonging one may get while walking on campus, and the distance from family and friends are chief among them.

This ranking views colleges as a springboard for the career and life that come afterward, and it analyzes them through that lens. But as with any big decision, the best college in this list may not be the best for everyone.

"Everybody has a different college experience," says Barnett, the FIU student. "There are lots of things that kids experience in college that can't be measured by numerical data or metrics."" [1]

1. College Rankings (A Special Report) --- The 2024 Best Colleges in the U.S.: Princeton, MIT and Yale Take Top Spots: The Wall Street Journal/College Pulse rankings emphasize how much a college improves its students' chances of graduating on time, and how much it boosts the salaries they earn after graduation. McAllister, Kevin; Corrigan, Tom. 
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 07 Sep 2023: R.1