Forbes America's Top Colleges 2019

Selection of universities

All universities classified by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education as Doctoral Research Universities, Master’s Colleges, Universities and Universities of Applied Sciences were eligible for the Forbes Ranking. In order to guarantee the quality of the analysis, the number of universities examined was reduced on the basis ofthe following criteria.

Universities could only be considered if sufficient data were available. Data sets from the following sources were analysed for this purpose:

• Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)
• US Department of EducationCollege Scorecard
• PayScale -private website with a huge amount of self-reported salary data
• Niche -private website that draws from tens of millions of student surveys.

Universities with less than 300 Bachelor students were excluded (with the exception of Marlboro College, which is distinguished by its scientists).

If the drop-out rate of a university within the first three years is more than 40%, this institution will not be ranked in the Forbes ranking. (The Sweet Briar College will nevertheless be assessed, as this institution was close to closure in 2015 and the data are “unnaturally” distorted for this reason. The Weber State in Utah is also an exception, as this institution has improved considerably over the last three years and is still included in the ranking).

Universities whose graduation rate in the sixth year is below 25% are not included in the Forbes ranking.

The universities are evaluated on the basis of the latest data available at the time of the analysis. If almost complete data sets were available for individual universities and only a few data points were missing, these were estimated for the evaluation of the university.

Assuming these premises, each university was selected and analyzed for subsequent key figures. The key figures were again weighted by the factors listed behind them.

Alumni income -weighting 20%.

The cost of attending a university can be regarded as a long-term investment. For this reason, a distinction was made between “initial professional income” and “later professional income” in order to evaluate the key figure “alumni income” and weighted by the factors 1/3 and 2/3 respectively.

The “first professional income” includes the income earned in the first four years after graduation. The “later professional income” is the income achieved after more than 10 years. These two indicators were determined with the help of data records from the data service provider PayScale. In addition, income data from alumni who received federal subsidies during their studies were also used to determine “later professional income”.

Looking at the entire data pool used to collect this figure, 85% of the data comes from PayScale and 15% from the College Scorecard.

Debt-equity ratio -weighting 20%

Many students at American universities finance their studies with loans. For this reason, the collection of a key figure on the “level of debt” is obvious.

All data for the analysis of this key figure comes from the College Scorecard. The final “debt-equity ratio” is made up of two equal partial calculations. First, a debt ratio was calculated by calculating the average loan debt that students have due to federal loans. This figure is multiplied by the percentage of students who took out a federal loan at the university analyzed. The second part of the ratio “debt-equity ratio” is derived from the two-year and three-year default rates of the federal student loan.

Student Experience -Weighting 20%

The ratio “student experience” is determined on the basis of the assumption that students who believe in the added value provided by the university where they are enrolled remain enrolled.

Two indicators are combined to determine the “student experience” indicator. 15% of the total “student experience” figure is the number of points determined by the IPEDS for the retention of students in the first, second and third academic year. These figures are supplemented by the results of a survey of 90,000 students and alumni. This survey on the quality of professors and student life was carried out by the niche service provider and accounts for 5% of the key figure “student experience”.

List of American Leaders -Weighting 15%

The success of the alumni in the Forbes Rankings is not only measured with the help of the “salary analysis”. The Forbes Ranking also includes the professional careers of graduates in the assessment of a university with the help of a data set determined specifically for this purpose, the “American Leader List”.

The “American Leaders List” is a directory that connects many successful people to their former university. To create this specific database, Forbes uses other lists published by them such as theForbes 400, the Richest Self-Made Women List, the Most Powerful Women List and 30 Under 30.

For the determination of the indicator “American executives” not only executives of the free economy, but also executives of public companies, institutions andinstitutions such as the U.S. Supreme Court Justices, the president and his cabinet, members of the U.S. Congress and state governors are considered.

If a graduate has won any of the following awards in the last four years, he or she will also be judged in this category:

• MacArthur Scholarship,
• Nobel Prize,
• Breakthrough price,
• Lasker price,
• Fields Prize,
• Academy Awards,
• Oscars,
• Tony’s,
• NAACP Awards,
• Guggenheim Fellowship,
• great sports all-stars,
• presidential medals
• Pulitzer Prizes

In order to consider the size of the various universities evaluated, the “managers” and “prizewinners” were placed in relation to the total number of alumni of the respective university.

Academic success -12.5% weighting

The academic performance of university graduates pursuing an academic career is measured and presented using the academic success indicator. With 6.25% each, the “number of academic awards” and the “average number of doctoral students” are equally reflected in the calculation of this indicator.

To determine the “number of academic awards”, the alumni who have received a Fulbright, Truman, Goldwater, Gates, Cambridge and Rhodes scholarship in their last four years at a university are taken into account.

The last survey of the National Science Foundation of Earned Doctorates was used to determine the “average number of doctoral students”. Based on this, the “average number of doctoral students” who spent their time studying at the respective university wasestimated over the last three years.

Both the “number of academic awards” and the “average number of doctoral students” were put in relation to the number of all students at a university in order to do justice to the size of an institution.

Graduation rate -weighting 12.5%

Universities that support their students in achieving their degrees as quickly as possible, thus keeping the costs for their studies as low as possible and enabling a fast career entry should be recognized in the FORBES Rankings. For this purpose, the key indicator “graduation rate” was determined on the basis of three different factors. All three quota were calculated on the basis of the data pool published by IPEDS for the last three years.

At 7.5 percent, the “four-year completion rate” has the greatest influence. The second and third indicators are the “six-year graduation rate” and the “graduation rates for Pell scholarship holders” (scholarships for economically disadvantaged students), each with 2.5 percent in the key figure “graduation rate”.

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