College Choice Publishes First Annual Rankings of Liberal Arts Colleges and Research Universities

RALEIGH, N.C., Sept. 9, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- College Choice (http://www.collegechoice.net) has unveiled their first annual College Choice Rankings of research universities and liberal arts colleges. They are the only college rankings based exclusively on factors actual college students said were most important to their college decision. According to the most recent annual CIRP Freshmen Survey by the Higher Education Research Institute, these factors include academic reputation, financial aid offerings, overall cost, and success of graduates in the post-college job market.

The ranking of national research universities can be viewed at http://www.collegechoice.net/rankings/top-universities/

The ranking of national liberal arts universities can be viewed at http://www.collegechoice.net/rankings/best-colleges/

"Obviously no college ranking can take into account every aspect of the college experience. Every ranking involves decisions about what factors to measure and how much weight to give them," said Jeremy Alder, Managing Editor of College Choice. "It made sense to us to consider which factors the largest survey of actual college freshmen said was most important to them when they chose their school."

Harvard University earned the top spot among national research universities, followed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University, respectively. Other ranked national research universities include (in alphabetical order):

Boston College
Brandeis University
Brown University
California Institute of Technology
Carnegie Mellon University
Case Western Reserve University
College of William and Mary
Columbia University
Cornell University
Dartmouth College
Duke University
Emory University
Georgetown University
Georgia Institute of Technology
Illinois Institute of Technology
Johns Hopkins University
Lehigh University
Northeastern University
Northwestern University
Pepperdine University
Princeton University
Purdue University
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rice University
Stevens Institute of Technology
Tufts University
University of California Berkeley
University of California Davis
University of California Irvine
University of California Los Angeles
University of California San Diego
University of California Santa Barbara
University of Chicago
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
University of Miami
University of Michigan Ann Arbor
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
University of Notre Dame
University of Pennsylvania
University of Rochester
University of Southern California
University of Virginia
University of Washington
Vanderbilt University
Wake Forest University
Washington University in St. Louis
Yale University

In the national liberal arts colleges category, Williams College took first place, with Amherst College and Swarthmore College coming in second and third. Other liberal arts colleges making the ranking include (in alphabetical order):

Barnard College
Bates College
Bowdoin College
Bryn Mawr College
Bucknell University
Carleton College
Claremont McKenna College
Colby College
Colgate University
College of the Holy Cross
College of Wooster
Colorado College
Connecticut College
Davidson College
Denison University
DePauw University
Dickinson College
Franklin and Marshall College
Gettysburg College
Grinnell College
Hamilton College
Hampden-​Sydney College
Harvey Mudd College
Haverford College
Kenyon College
Lafayette College
Macalester College
Middlebury College
Mount Holyoke College
Oberlin College
Occidental College
Pomona College
Reed College
Rhodes College
Skidmore College
Smith College
St. Lawrence University
St. Olaf College
Trinity College
Union College
University of Richmond
Vassar College
Virginia Military Institute
Washington and Lee University
Wellesley College
Wesleyan University
Wofford College

Both rankings take into account each school's academic reputation, average amount of scholarship and grant aid per student, overall net cost, and the average starting salary for graduates. Each factor was weighted equally. Data was derived from several publicly available sources, including the National Center for Education Statistics, Payscale.com, and U.S. News & World Report.

College Choice is an independent online publication dedicated to helping students and their families find the right college. The site publishes data-driven rankings and reviews that make finding the best colleges for different interests easier and more fun, as well as resources to help students get into, pay for, and thrive at the school of their choice.

Contact:

Jeremy Alder

Managing Editor

College Choice

www.collegechoice.net

(919) 745-8594

Email

SOURCE CollegeChoice.net