"Newsweek" measured the academic success of students in its rankings.
Every year, "Newsweek" magazine releases its college rankings, which consist of 13 lists of 25 different schools. To be eligible, colleges and universities must be listed on the "Fiske Guide to Colleges," "The Best 371 Colleges" published by "The Princeton Review" or "America's Best Colleges" as listed by "U.S. News & World Report." Colleges must offer a wide selection of degrees and require a minimum ACT score of 25 for incoming freshman and an SAT score of 1150 in critical reading and math.
The Most Desirable Schools
"Newsweek" compiled six lists for its "most desirable" rankings. These lists include: The 25 Most Desirable Schools (Overall), The 25 Most Desirable Large Campuses, The 25 Most Desirable Small Campuses, The 25 Most Desirable Urban Schools, The 25 Most Desirable Suburban Schools and The 25 Most Desirable Rural Schools. The magazine considered numerous factors in compiling each list. These include the average SAT and ACT scores of first-year students, the college's selectivity in admitting students, the percentage of accepted applicants who enroll, the student-faculty ratio, the school's endowment, and student opinion surveys. Included among the 2010 Overall Most Desirable Schools were Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The Most Diverse Student Body
In compiling this list, "Newsweek" weighed factors such as ethnic diversity, geographic diversity, i.e., the number of students from out of state or from outside the United States, economic diversity, gender diversity and sexual preference. "Newsweek" looked at the percentage of students that was Asian, Hispanic and African American, how many students were recipients of Pell Grants, the male-female ratio and sexual preference tolerance as indicated by lists created by The Advocate and InsideCollege.com. Some of the most diverse colleges in 2010 were the University of Pennsylvania, Brown University, Oberlin College, Swarthmore College and New York University.
The Best Schools for Brainiacs
For this category, "Newsweek" examined the schools that matriculate and graduate the most academically successful students. Rankings were based upon the selectivity of schools in admitting students, the average SAT and ACT scores of first-time students, the number of PhD's produced, and the number of prestigious scholarships, awards and fellowships offered to students. The top five schools for 2010 included Yale, Harvard, the California Institute of Technology, Princeton and Swarthmore College.
The Best Schools for Powerbrokers
This category ranks the schools that are matriculating the greatest number of political and business leaders. The magazine looked at the number of students who have graduated from a given school and gone on to serve as U.S. senators or presidents from 1980 to 2010, the number of students who are on the "World Billionaires" list published by "Forbes" or who are CEOs of a Fortune 100 company. In addition, schools listed on Entrepreneurs.com's "Top 25 Colleges" list were considered for the top powerbrokers category. Rounding out 2010's top-five universities for powerbrokers were Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Stanford and Princeton.
The Best Schools for Jocks
"Newsweek" assessed a variety of factors in order to rank the top 25 schools for athletics. The magazine looked at the percentage of students participating in varsity sports, the number of varsity sports offered, the number of intramural sports offered, the amount of money spent on athletics versus the amount of money spent on education and research and, finally, the importance and popularity of varsity and intramural sports as determined through student interviews and surveys. The top five for 2010 included the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the University of Tulsa, the University of Alabama, Bates College and Bowdoin College.
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