The Daily Beast Ranks the 50 Most Stressful Universities

NEW YORK, April 6 /PRNewswire/ -- As admissions letters hit mailboxes this month -- and amid growing concern about mental health on campus, The Daily Beast looks at which schools are the biggest pressure cookers.

Top 20 Most Stressful

1. Stanford University
2. Columbia University
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
4. University of Pennsylvania
5. Harvard University
6. Princeton University
7. Vanderbilt University
8. Carnegie Mellon University
9. California Institute of Technology
10. Northwestern University
11. University of Chicago
12. Yale University
13. Washington University in St. Louis
14. Dartmouth College
15. Johns Hopkins University
16. Duke University
17. Cornell University
18. University of Southern California
19. Georgetown University
20. Brown University

To determine the most stressful American colleges, The Daily Beast put its lens to the top 50 universities in the U.S. News and World Report rankings, using methodology informed by Keith Anderson, chairman of best practices at the American College Health Association and the article "New Data on the Nature of Suicidal Crises in College Students" published in Professional Psychology in 2009. Five criteria were taken into account:

• The cost: Financial pressure is a huge stress-inducer. Tuition, plus room and board, weighted at 35 percent. With 2009-2010 data from the National Center on Education Statistics.

• Competitiveness: How academically rigorous is the school? Weighted at 35 percent, with 2010 data from US News & World Report.

• Acceptance rate: More competitive schools generally produce a more competitive student body. Weighted at 10 percent, with 2010 data from US News & World Report.

• Prevalence of on-campus engineering studies: Engineering programs are considered particularly stressful; Weighted at 10 percent, with 2010 data from US News & World Report.

• Crime on campus: Adapted from The Daily Beast's analysis of college crime, weighted at 10 percent and ranked relative to this particular group of colleges. With data from the US Department of Education.

For a complete list of the 50 most stressful colleges see The Daily Beast:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-04-04/the-50-most-stressful-colleges/

SOURCE The Daily Beast