Naval Academy Gets High Marks On Forbes List

Naval Academy grads celebrate. Courtesy Department of Defense

Forbes Magazine has released its first-ever comprehensive college rankings, which "rank 569 undergraduate institutions based on the quality of the education they provide, and how much their students achieve." This, despite admitting, "there is an inherent absurdity in ranking colleges and universities with mock precision from first to 569th." Ah, the lengths editors go to boost readership.

The fact remains that rankings can be helpful if students and parents understand what the rankings actually rank; therefore, let's briefly examine how Forbes put together its list. 

Forbes' methodology is as follows:

-25% based on the rankings of 7 million student evaluations of courses and instructors, as recorded on the Web site RateMyProfessors.com

-25% based on how many of the school's alumni, adjusted for enrollment, are listed among the notable people in Who's Who in America.

-50% based equally on three factors

a. the average amount of student debt at graduation held by those who borrowed

b. the percentage of students graduating in four years

c. the number of students or faculty, adjusted for enrollment, who have won nationally competitive awards like Rhodes Scholarships or Nobel Prizes.

Clearly, different students and parents may find the above factors completely lacking in importance, while others may find this information of the utmost importance.

Either way, these rankings are providing yet another way to measure colleges, which is not a bad thing considering the time students spend at college, the money that goes into college, and the effect colleges have over the trajectory of a student's life immediately upon (and sometimes long after) graduation.

So, which college is at the top of the list? Princeton. Though that may not be too shocking, some others at the top of the rankings are surprising, far less publicized names like Wabash College (#12), Centre College (#13), and perennial rankings-dodger Sarah Lawrence College (#25).

Cornell University and Dartmouth College did not even crack the top 100.

The winner among Maryland schools: The United State Naval Academy in Annapolis. It was the only Maryland school in the top 50. GO NAVY! The rest of the Maryland rankings are as follows:

#36       United States Naval Academy

#55       St. John's College

#81       Johns Hopkins University

#137     St. Mary's College of Maryland

#143     Washington College

#278     Loyola College in Maryland

#387     Goucher College

#388     Hood College

#410     University of Maryland, College Park

#466     Towson University

#491     University of Maryland, Baltimore County