Harvard slipping down the Forbes college rankings? Impossible! Yet this year’s list of America’s Top Colleges, published in late August, confirms the shocking news: Harvard is no longer in the top ten.
After Forbes redesigned its metrics in 2021, a number of Ivy League schools dropped in their rankings. The same can be said for the influential U.S. News and World Report (USNWR) rankings, which took Columbia off its list for misrepresenting data. This September, US News announced that Columbia was positioned as #18 in the latest rankings—a significant drop after being tied for the #2 spot last year. Top Tier Senior Private Counselor and former Cornell Assistant Director of Admissions, Heidi Steinmetz Lovette dove into what this really means for students in her post, “Columbia Unranked: Interpreting College Rankings.”
WHAT HAPPENED?
The Forbes list is heavily weighted towards outcomes of graduates, retention, and number of Pell Grant recipients. Falling retention rates (Harvard’s three-year average retention rate from freshman to sophomore year dropped by approximately 8%, from 98% to 90%.) and a low number of Pell Grant recipients (which according to Forbes provides “insight into how well a college prepares and graduates low-income students”) contributed mightily to Harvard’s fall from #2 to #15 in 2022.
PUBLIC VS. PRIVATE
Five public universities, including the University of California, San Diego and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, made it into the top 25 on this year’s Forbes list. UC Berkeley earned the #2 spot, tied with Stanford, and UCLA came in at #6. Many other public institutions, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Michigan State University, rose over 10 spots on the list due to their top scores when it comes to “return on investment” and student debt. These “percent borrowed” variables used by Forbes in their calculations give public schools an edge on private colleges.
DO COLLEGE RANKINGS REALLY MATTER?
Will this affect Harvard’s application numbers? Unlikely. This is a good reminder, however, that college rankings are merely one metric to consider as part of your larger search. In fact, Harvard’s dramatic drop from #2 to #15 reveals just how easily these rankings can be manipulated. The Top Tier Admissions Private Counseling Program looks beyond these rankings to help students identify which factors matter most to them. We will help you create a personalized college application strategy that prioritizes personal “fit,” the most important metric of all.