Princeton (N.J.) University and Babson College in Babson Park, Mass., took the Nos. 1 and 2 spots, respectively, in The Wall Street Journal/College Pulse ranking of U.S. colleges, released Sept. 5.
The ranking rates the top 500 universities in the U.S. and was developed by WSJ in collaboration with College Pulse and Statista.
Colleges are scored based on the following categories: student outcomes (70%), learning environment (20%) and diversity (10%). Within those categories are subcategories such as salary impact (33%) and inclusion of students with disabilities (1.7%), among others. Read more about the methodology here.
A few overall findings from the rankings, per WSJ:
- Princeton University took first place for the second consecutive year.
- Two public schools are in the top 10 — the University of California, Berkeley at No. 8 and Atlanta-based Georgia Institute of Technology at No. 9.
- Schools with strong tech or business programs made the top 10, including Babson College at No. 2 and Stanford (Calif.) University at No. 3.
- Seventeen California colleges are in the top 50, up from six in 2023.
The top 15 schools with their overall scores:
1. Princeton University (92.3)
2. Babson College (91.9)
3. Stanford University (Palo Alto, Calif.) (91.6)
4. Yale University (New Haven, Conn.) (89.3)
5. Claremont (Calif.) McKenna College (89.2)
6. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge) (87.4)
7. Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.) (86.2)
8. University of California, Berkeley (86.1)
9. Georgia Institute of Technology, Main Campus (Atlanta) (85.8)
10. Davidson (N.C.) College (85.6)
11. Bentley University (Waltham, Mass.) (85.3)
12. University of California, Davis (85.3)
13. University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) (85.1)
14. Columbia University (New York City) (85)
15. Lehigh University (Bethlehem, Pa.) (84.6)
See the full list here.