How can you tell which college is right for you? How do you know you're getting the best value for your tuition money? Using data reported to the National Center for Education Statistics and Wintergreen Orchard House from the 2014-15 school year, StartClass — an education site part of the Graphiq network — has ranked the 100 best American universities.
Colleges are sorted according to their StartClass Rank, which is comprised of the following factors:
- Academic Excellence (30 percent): This includes the institution's four-year graduation rate, full-time retention rate, student-faculty ratio and endowment per student, among other things.
- Expert Opinion (20 percent): StartClass compiled the latest college rankings from several publications, such as Forbes and U.S. News.
- Admissions Selectivity (18.6 percent): This takes into account the college's acceptance rate, average ACT and SAT scores as well as the percent of freshmen in the top half of their high school graduating class.
- Career Readiness (18.6 percent): This is largely determined by the post-graduation salaries of the school's alumni.
- Financial Affordability (12.9 percent): Determined by the university's average net price, financial aid and other factors.
It's important to keep in mind that these data points don't measure all the many factors that can impact a person's college experience. Our list aims to show which universities provide the most academic value, and ranks schools based on the quality of their statistical makeup. For students evaluating their collegiate options, this should serve as a helpful starting point.
