REAL BUT AIN'T EXACTLY THERE: YOUR BRAIN ON DRUGS

AMERICA'S BEST COLLEGES, THIS YEAR

To our way of thinking, a good college is one that meets student needs. While other college rankings are based in large part on school reputation as evaluated by college administrators, we focus on factors that directly concern incoming students: Will my courses be interesting? Is it likely I will graduate in four years? Will I incur a ton of debt getting my degree? And once I get out of school, will I get a good job?

Rank Name State Cost Total Student Population
1 Williams College MA 49,530 2,072
2 Princeton University NJ 49,830 7,330
3 Amherst College MA 50,230 1,697
4 US Military Academy NY 0 4,553
5 MIT MA 50,100 10,299
6 Stanford University CA 51,760 17,833
7 Swarthmore College PA 50,381 1,490
8 Harvard University MA 50,250 26,496
9 Claremont McKenna CA 50,990 1,212
10 Yale University CT 51,400 10,192
11 US Air Force Academy CO 0 4,537
12 Wellesley College MA 50,026 2,498
13 Columbia University NY 51,406 23,196
14 Haverford College PA 51,637 1,169
15 Wesleyan University CT 51,935 3,149
16 Whitman College WA 46,212 1,458
17 Pomona College CA 49,745 1,532
18 Northwestern University IL 52,120 19,291
19 California IT CA 48,990 2,126
20 University of Chicago IL 53,310 14,788
21 Carleton College MN 50,000 1,983
22 Harvey Mudd College CA 50,073 738
23 Vassar College NY 51,370 2,389
24 Centre College KY 39,200 1,197
25 Rice University TX 43,586 5,357
26 Middlebury College VT 52,460 2,455
27 Boston College MA 52,060 14,836
28 Colgate University NY 51,090 2,844
29 US Naval Academy MD 1,000 4,488
30 Dartmouth College NH 50,547 5,848
31 Colby College ME 50,120 1,847
32 Kenyon College OH 49,260 1,644
33 Notre Dame IN 49,030 11,731
34 Tufts University MA 51,400 10,030
35 Smith College MA 50,588 3,101
36 U of Pennsylvania PA 51,299 24,107
37 Washington and Lee VA 49,268 2,155
38 Bryn Mawr College PA 50,060 1,745
39 Holy Cross MA 49,102 2,898
40 Bowdoin College ME 50,570 1,723
41 Duke University NC 50,925 14,060
42 Wabash College IN 37,750 911
43 Vanderbilt University TN 52,303 12,093
44 University of Virginia VA 40,709 24,541
45 Brown University RI 50,560 8,318
46 William and Mary VA 39,886 7,892
47 Rhodes College TN 43,680 1,678
48 Davidson College NC 45,725 1,668
49 Union College NY 50,060 2,240
50 Lawrence University WI 42,301 1,496
51 Colorado College CO 48,000 2,026
52 Georgetown University DC 54,200 15,318
53 Emory University GA 49,708 12,755
54 Bates College ME 51,400 1,776
55 Macalester College MN 46,730 1,900
56 Bucknell University PA 50,250 3,759
57 Brandeis University MA 50,148 5,327
58 Wofford College SC 40,835 1,429
60 Virginia Military Inst VA 36,573 1,428
61 Lafayette College PA 49,188 2,382
62 U of NC, Chapel Hill NC 33,091 28,567
63 Barnard College NY 51,976 2,359
64 DePauw University IN 42,175 2,298
65 U of Cal, Berkeley CA 47,194 35,396
66 Oberlin College OH 50,658 2,864
67 Dickinson College PA 50,334 2,388
68 Principia College IL 33,075 519
69 Reed College OR 49,960 1,471
70 Cornell University NY 50,384 20,273
71 U of Cal, Los Angeles CA 45,152 38,220
72 Wake Forest University NC 49,820 6,862
73 Kalamazoo College MI 40,416 1,389
74 Hamilton College NY 50,210 1,872
75 Knox College IL 38,433 1,379
76 Washington U, St. Louis MO 52,464 13,339
77 Denison University OH 45,980 2,200
78 Grinnell College IA 46,400 1,678
79 Mount Holyoke College MA 51,516 2,241
80 Skidmore College NY 51,501 2,777
81 Westmont College CA 47,786 1,340
82 Juniata College PA 40,550 1,526
83 Connecticut College CT 51,685 1,852
84 University of Richmond VA 49,090 4,249
85 St. Mary's Col of Ca CA NA NA
86 Occidental College CA 50,409 1,868
87 Sweet Briar College VA 39,971 828
88 John Hopkins University MD 51,478 19,758
89 St. Mary's Col of Md MD 36,494 2,068
90 Furman University SC 47,040 2,977
91 Drew University NJ 52,106 2,581
92 U of Mich, Ann Arbor MI 44,761 41,028
93 University of Florida FL 32,093 51,474
94 Cooper Union NY 51,755 972
95 Wells College NY 29,276 579
96 Trinity College CT 50,645 2,504
97 U of I, Urbana-ChampaignIL 38,364 43,246
98 Gustavus Adolphus Col MN 39,760 2,503
99 Franklin and Marshall PA 50,100 2,164
100 Washington & Jefferson PA 41,684 1,519

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See The Full List: America's Best Colleges: All 610

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/94/best-colleges-10_Americas-Best-Colleges_Rank.html?partner=shine

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SOME COMMENTS:

Posted by swanee1 | 08/12/10 04:04 AM EDT
I agree with the concerns about accuracy, the misspelling of John(s) Hopkins is not a good sign and the ranking of Wheaton College (IL) is clearly way off. I'll stick to USNews for this type of analysis...

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Posted by BWS1959 | 08/12/10 03:26 AM EDT
Wheaton College in IL is the best religious school in the country. It should be rated in the top 25, and Forbes has it at 244. This list is devoid of credibility. Absurd

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Posted by Williamsdad | 08/12/10 03:14 AM EDT
Forbes' list ranks exclusively undergraduate institutions and the undergraduate programs of universities:

""Unlike other lists, the CCAP doesn't subdivide its rankings into categories like "National Research Institution" or "Liberal Arts Colleges." When choosing a college, prospective students ultimately select only one, meaning that all undergraduate institutions are competing with one another for students. It is not as though a high school senior selects one large, public school and one small, private school. The senior picks only one, and our ranking reflects that decision process""-Forbes America's Best Colleges 2008.

However flawed its rankings may be, Forbes' attempt to join these categories together seems to me to be worthwhile.

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Posted by Buckeye78209 | 08/12/10 03:00 AM EDT
Centre at 24th and Sewanee is 181st...Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot???

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Posted by ultramulti2 | 08/12/10 01:59 AM EDT
Number 88 College, John Hopkins? It's Johns Hopkins!

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Posted by elbowroom | 08/12/10 01:29 AM EDT
first of all, yes the list put the out of state tuition for state schools; they had to put one or the other get over it its not important ppl will see its a state school and if their from the state they will know it costs less anyway.

also please do not dis schools like williams and amherst they deserve to be among the top 5 schools where they are; they actually do in fact have ppl that "wrote the txtbook", its a myth that they dont; and all the teachers there are far more committed to teachers than those at the ivy leagues which results in better education(plus they have smaller classes, etc). AND, this listing does not even conflict with US News, which has them rated 1 and 2 but in a separate list for liberal arts

but by far my main point is that you complain about the placing of a school but HOW DO YOU KNOW?? you complain that all the lists are not accurate, including US News and say a certain school should clearly be higher but how do you know? have you attended all 50 or 100 schools ahead of it? this could be 100% correct and US news wrong or vice versa. anyway just thought i shud point that out

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Posted by CC_Baby | 08/12/10 01:24 AM EDT
Colorado College is the happiest place on earth, it's better than Disney World on Christmas.

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Posted by wellqualified | 08/12/10 12:38 AM EDT
These Forbes lists are total BS just to sell magazines. None of their so-called lists have any relationship to reality.

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Posted by Wonkaman | 08/12/10 12:36 AM EDT
Please tell me how Cal Poly, SLO, consistently ranked in the top 5 western public universities by _US News & World Report, only rates 177th on this list. I wonder if the criteria are skewed towards small, private colleges. Furthermore, claiming that it costs almost $30,000/year exaggerates the cost twofold. Yes, an obscure footnote admits that this is the out-of-state tuition price, only incurred by a small percentage of students. The report also fails to identify Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and not Cal Poly, Pomona (two totally separate universities) as the school in question. Finally, I wonder about the criteria, especially "Rate My Professor," which is often bogus and, at times, contains libelous comments from disgruntled students.

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Posted by MT_____ | 08/12/10 12:26 AM EDT
Apparently the author did not attend any of these fine colleges. Forbes, you misspelled Johns Hopkins University.

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THE COMMENTS ARE VERY CRITICAL OF WHATEVER, PICAYUNE, OR PICKY-UNI, OR HOWEVER
THEY WOULD PREFER IT SPELLED

OPINIONATED? OF COURSE, THIS IS AMERICA

CONTENTIOUS? IF NOT, JUST SHORT OF. . .

I'M SURE THEY'D RATE THE LIST DIFFERENTLY, BY PREFERENCE, RATHER THAN ANY
SCIENTIFIC OR FACTUAL PROCEDURE, AGAIN THIS IS AMERICA, AND THIS IS YOUR
BRAIN ON DRUGS