Brandeis University has been ranked as No. 97 in Forbes’ “America’s Top Colleges” List for 2018. In the National University Rankings for U.S. News and World Report, it was ranked No. 35, tied with Georgia Institute of Technology. On the Forbes list, it was ranked 75th in private colleges, 52nd in research universities, 49th in colleges in the Northeast and 220th in America’s Best Value Colleges.
Brandeis also tied the U.S. News and World Report rankings in Best Undergraduate Teaching, where it tied Columbia University for No. 34, and tied for 50th with 11 other colleges for high school counselor rankings and tied for no. 87 in business programs. Brandeis was also ranked 29th in best value schools. The U.S. News and World Report rankings were released Sept. 10.
U.S. News and World Report uses 16 metrics to rank colleges and universities, using a mix of objective data, interviews, tours and student polls to evaluate schools. The report focuses on “outcomes, faculty resources, expert opinion, financial resources, student excellence and alumni giving.” One hundred twenty-six colleges were listed as unranked, including highly specialized schools and schools that do not use SAT or ACT scores in admissions decisions for prospective students.
In 2017, Brandeis was ranked No. 99 in Forbes America’s Top Colleges, No. 51 in research universities and No. 9 in best college for international students, according to the Brandeis University website. The ranking for “America’s Top Colleges” is out of 650 top colleges in the United States. The list was released Aug. 21.
Brandeis was ranked 220th in America’s best value colleges, a list where Forbes uses a variety of qualities to evaluate the university’s return on the student’s investment. Forbes scores the institution in “net price, net debt, alumni earnings, timely graduation, school quality and access for low-income students” for four year degree colleges and universities.
The list is compiled “to help students decide whether their college investments are likely to reward them with a healthy return,” according to a Forbes article by Carter Coudriet, a Forbes staff writer in education.
Schools considered for the list are colleges and universities chosen from those classified as special-focus schools, like schools of design or institutes of technology, and doctoral research, master’s and baccalaureate colleges and universities. That list was narrowed to schools with data available including student surveys and financial aid, according to the Forbes website.
Small schools, with lower than 300 undergraduates, schools with less than a 60 percent retention rate and schools with a low graduation rate were cut, and the remaining schools were ranked.
Forbes uses data from the U.S. Department of Education to track information about federal financial aid. This includes the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), which provides a variety of information about costs, enrollment, admissions, athletic teams’ accreditation and campus security. Forbes also used the Department of Education’s College Scorecard, which contains similar information including graduation and retention rates and earnings after school.
Forbes focuses on “‘outputs’ rather than ‘inputs,’” according to their website. “While other lists consider acceptance rates and admitted students’ SAT scores, we look at alumni salaries, debt after graduation, retention and graduation rates, debt load upon graduation, alumni salaries and signs of individual success including academic and career accolades.”
