Choosing colleges to apply to may be very time-consuming at this time of the year.  Some students opt out of applying for colleges simply because a college that suits them is ranked very high in college-ranking lists. Making sure that students get the correct information about the college is important. Every year, Forbes magazine releases a list of the top colleges in the nation.  So what does it mean to be ranked high in the list?   Some students immediately assume that the rankings are based on how hard the universities are to get accepted to.  However, that isn’t how the colleges are ranked.  According to Forbes, the ranking of the best colleges in the nation is done using the data from the Center for College Affordability and Productivity (CCAP) rankings.  The CCAP ranks colleges by the following:

• Student Satisfaction (22.5%)

• Post-graduate success (37.5%)

• Student debt (17.5%)

• Graduation rate (11.25%)

• Nationally Competitive Awards (11.25%)

It’s important to know that Forbes’ Best-College-List is not based on SAT scores to get admitted, nor percentage of students accepted to the college. Junior Ayreana Gonzalez correctly knows that college rankings do not represent the difficulty in admittance. She said, “I look at the best colleges for my major.” For her, that means marine biology.   Similar to Ayreana Gonzalez, senior Andrew Cortes says that “he focus[es] on colleges he knows about” for his major in business.

Here is a list from Forbes for the best colleges, and best colleges for research. Best Colleges. For a full list of college ranks, click on the list.

1. Stanford University

2. Pomona College

3. Princeton University

4. Yale University

5. Columbia University

6. Swarthmore College

7. United States Military Academy

8. Harvard University

9. Williams College

10. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Sophomore Savannah Leggette says that looking at college-ranking list does intimidate her. “I feel like I need a lot of experience” to get accepted by schools, she said.

Best Colleges for Research:

1. Princeton University

2. Stanford University

3. Harvard University

4. University of Chicago

5. MIT

6. Northwestern University

7. California Institute of Technology

8. Yale University

9. University of Notre Dame

10. Brown University