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What are the best colleges in America?
Business Insider set out to answer this question based on the only factor that matters: how much a college will help you succeed in your future career.
teach you skills that will help you in whatever profession you choose--namely, writing, speaking, and critical thinking (CURRICULUM)
give you a credential that will impress future recruiters, employers, colleagues, and graduate schools (BRAND), and
give you access to a network of influential alumni and classmates who can help you in your career (NETWORK)
We asked our readers to to help us rank colleges according to these criteria. And our readers say Massachusetts Institute of Technology is the best college in the country.
While US News and Forbes evaluate colleges on obscure factors, such as alumni giving rate and freshman retention rate, our list comes from a survey of the people who matter most to your future career -- other professionals, employers and executives. 80 percent of the respondents have hired at least 1-10 people. 39 percent said they were in senior management.
This survey was open to our readers for the past month. They responded with an overwhelming endorsement of the Ivy League and a few select universities -- MIT, Stanford, the California Institute of Technology and the University of Chicago.
Large universities ranked high on our list, thanks presumably to good name recognition.
Notably low on our list are liberal arts colleges, like Williams and Amherst. Although these schools are ranked highly by others publications, they apparently carry less weight in the real world.
Wake Forest scored 2.67 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
Forbes: #72 US News: #25 for universities
#49 University of Southern California
Bobak Ha'Eri on Wikimedia Commons
USC scored 2.70 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
Forbes: #112 US News: #23 for universities
Comments: "USC has by far the best business undergrad program in terms of classes, professors, skill set of the students, networking and job placement. Students graduate with much more polished skills than any of the UC schools (Berkeley, UCLA mostly, others don't really compare) and are more ready for the job force. In my experience interviewing kids from all the California area schools and a handful of other schools, no school has impressed me more than USC."
#48 Colgate University
Colgate scored 2.73 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
George Washington University scored 2.74 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
Forbes: #291 US News: #51 for universities
#45 University of Wisconsin--Madison
University of Wisconsin scored 2.74 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
Tie breaker: Wisconsin had 4.3% excellent ratings, while GWU had 4.2% excellent ratings.
Forbes: #212 US News: #45 for universities
Comments: "The excellent schools balance the academic, network and social aspect of education. In my opinion, the University of Wisconsin - Madison offers the best combination of any school listed."
#44 Vassar College
Vassar College scored 2.79 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating
Forbes: #23 US News: #12 for colleges
#43 College of William and Mary
College of William and Mary scored 2.88 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
Forbes: #46 US News: #31 for universities
#42 Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia Tech scored 2.9 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating
Forbes: #242 US News: #35 for universities
#41 Wesleyan University
Wesleyan scored 2.9 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
Tie breaker: Wesleyan University had 9.0% excellent ratings, while GIT had 6.1% excellent ratings.
Rensselaer Polytech Institute scored 2.99 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
Tie breaker: RPI had a 8.4% excellent ratings, while Texas had 6.7% excellent ratings
Forbes: #317 US News: #41 for universities
#36 Tufts University
Tufts University scored 3.01 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
Forbes: #34 US News: #28 for universities
Comments: "I think Tufts is a school which may not always be on many people's radar, but has a great undergraduate focus, as well as a healthy endowment to invest in its students which it handles smartly."
#35 Wellesley College
Wellesley College scored 3.02 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
UNC--Chapel Hill scored 3.2 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
Forbes: #62 US News: #30 for universities
#26 University of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame scored 3.2 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
Tie breaker: Notre Dame had 12% excellent ratings, while UNC had 7.8% excellent ratings.
Forbes: #33 US News: #19 for universities
#25 New York University
New York University scored 3.29 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
Forbes: #173 US News: #33 for universities
#24 University of Michigan--Ann Arbor
University of Michigan--Ann Arbor scored 3.35 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
Forbes: #92 US News: #29 for universities
#23 Amherst College
Amherst College scored 3.43 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
Forbes: #3 US News: #2 for colleges
#22 University of Virginia
University of Virginia scored 3.44 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
Forbes: #44 US News: #25 for universities
Comments: "Virginia offers many excellent opportunities to work with other students and become a leader. The interaction with the faculty is amazing, and their networks a wonderful asset when looking for jobs.The alumni network permeates every industry and is growing globally."
Williams College scored 3.47 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
Forbes: #1 US News: #1 for colleges
#20 Georgetown University
Georgetown University scored 3.52 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
Forbes: #52 US News: #21 for universities
#19 United States Military Academy
United States Military Academy scored 3.63 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
Forbes: #4 US News: #16 for colleges
Comments: "West Point and the other military academies provide a foundation in the intangibles of leadership that is simply unachievable anywhere else."
#18 Northwestern University
Northwestern University scored 3.66 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
United States Naval Academy scored 3.68 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
Forbes: #29 US News: #16 for colleges
#16 Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University scored 3.72 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
Forbes: #108 US News: #23 for universities
#15 Duke University
a duke freshman
Duke University scored 3.75 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
Forbes: #41 US News: #9 for universities
#14 Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University scored 3.77 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
Forbes: #88 US News: #13 for universities
#13 Brown University
_Gene_ at flickr
Brown University scored 3.79 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
Forbes: #45 US News: #15 for universities
#12 University of California--Berkeley
University of California--Berkeley scored 3.84 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
Forbes: #65 US News: #22 for universities
#11 University of Chicago
http://www.chicagobooth.edu/
University of Chicago scored 3.91 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
Forbes: #20 US News: #9 for universities
Comments: "The brand of Ivy schools carry it further, but the caliber and intensity of other schools (ie, MIT, CalTech, University of Chicago) produce tougher, more adaptable students."
Dartmouth College scored 4.14 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
Forbes: #30 US News: #9 for universities
Comments: "Excellent was reserved (w/ the exception of Harvard) for colleges where there is direct access to full professors and small class sizes. I found that this was an excellent advantage at Dartmouth, in contrast to my peers at other Ivys that often had large classes and mostly interacted with TAs. Those universities are great for grad studies, but not so great for undergrad."
Princeton University scored 4.37 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
Forbes: #2 US News: #2 for universities
Comments: "I have been very impressed with undergrads from Penn, Dartmouth, Princeton and Michigan. The kids are able to come in and start working from day one. Many other undergrads from prestigious schools come in and they either do not have it up there or seem to not want to work."
#4 Yale University
Yale University scored 4.39 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
Forbes: #10 US News: #3 for universities
#3 Harvard University
Harvard University scored 4.46 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
Forbes: #8 US News: #1 for universities
#2 Stanford University
Wikipedia
Stanford University scored 4.49 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
