Reply to Here Are America's Top Colleges for 2018

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[quote=Anonymous]Forbes methodology explained https://www.forbes.com/sites/cartercoudriet/2018/08/20/top-colleges-2018-the-methodology/#55095eca3098

[b]Alumni Salary (20%)[/b]

To calculate a school’s salary score, we considered four data points: the school’s early career earnings (1-4 years after graduation) from PayScale, mid-career earnings (10-plus years) from PayScale, and the earnings of federal financial aid recipients six years and 10 years after starting college from College Scorecard.

Because paying for college is a long-term investment, early career earnings accounted for only a third of our salary score, and later earnings two thirds. PayScale’s data made up 85% of the salary score and College Scorecard the remaining 15%.

[b]Debt (20%)[/b]

We drew all of our debt data from College Scorecard. We got half of our debt score by multiplying the average federal student loan debt per borrower at each school by the percentage of students at the school who took out federal loans. The other half of our debt score came from two-year and three-year federal student loan default rates.

[b]Student Experience (20%)[/b]

We assume that students who believe their college experience is worthwhile will remain in school. Therefore we drew most of our student experience score, 15% of our total score, from a school’s first-year-to-sophomore retention rate as recorded by IPEDS, averaging the rates for the most recent three years. We drew the remainder of our student experience score, 5% of our total, from Niche, which administers surveys to more than 90,000 students and alumni. We used their survey data that measured both professor quality and student life. Both use a GPA scale: An A for professor satisfaction would give a school a 4.00 grade, a B a 3.00, and so on.

[b]American Leaders List (15%)[/b]

Along with alumni salary, we measure graduates’ success using a data set we compile ourselves, The American Leaders List, is a roster thousands of successful people and their alma maters. We use FORBES databases including the Forbes 400, the Richest Self-Made Women list, the Most Powerful Women list and 30 Under 30. We also count current leaders in public service: U.S. Supreme Court Justices, the President and his Cabinet, members of the U.S. Congress and state governors. In addition, we count winners of the following awards over the last one-to-four years based on the number of recipients for each: MacArthur Fellowship, Nobel Prize, Breakthrough Prize, Lasker Prize, Fields Prize, Academy Awards, Oscars, Tony’s, NAACP Awards, Guggenheim Fellowship, major sport all-stars, Presidential Medals and Pulitzer Prizes. We blended schools’ raw numbers of alumni leaders and its number of leaders adjusted for its number of undergraduates.

[b]Academic Success (12.5%)[/b]

To further measure graduates’ success, we looked at academic achievements. We drew half of this score, 6.25% of our total score, by counting the number of academic awards won by alumni at each school for the past one-to-four years, depending on the number of recipients per year for each. We counted the Fulbright, Truman, Goldwater, Gates, Cambridge and Rhodes Scholarships and weighed them as a percentage of the undergraduate student body. We drew the second half of this category, or 6.25% of our total, from the National Science Foundation’s Survey of Earned Doctorates. We used the three-year average number of Ph.D. recipients who spent their undergraduate careers at each institution. Both are calculated as a blend of schools’ raw numbers of award winners and of doctorates and those numbers adjusted for its number of undergraduates.

[b]Graduation Rate (12.5%)[/b]

We gave credit to schools that motivate, guide and support students to graduate in a timely manner, saving on tuition and getting into the workforce as soon as possible. We divided our graduation rate calculation into three pieces. The largest is four-year graduation rate, which accounted for 7.5% of our total score. We used data from IPEDS and averaged the rate for the most recent three years. We used the same source and methodology to calculate six-year graduation rates, which counted for 2.5% of our overall score. And we use IPEDS data and the same methodology to count the graduation rates for Pell grant recipients, which accounted for 2.5% of our overall score. Pell grants go to economically disadvantaged students, and we believe schools deserve credit for supporting these students.

FORBES

Caveat: As noted in this post by Forbes contributor Martin Krislov, IPEDS’ graduation rate statistics only count full-time undergraduates enrolled in college for the first time, who finish their bachelor’s at the same institution where they started. [/quote]

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