The New Ivies: 2025 Edition

Last year, amid a barrage of negative headlines around Ivy League universities, Forbes introduced a list of New Ivies. These schools, the magazine claimed, reflected public and private universities that were producing smart, successful graduates with excellent employment prospects. This spring, Forbes released its second annual list, using a methodology that considers school size, selectivity, and standardized test scores, coupled with feedback from a survey of 380 employers and hiring managers, to identify schools where “graduating students that are outpacing most Ivy Leaguers in the eyes of employers.”

INTRODUCING THE NEW IVIES: 2025

The Public Ivies

1. Georgia Institute of Technology

2. Purdue University

3. The University of Texas at Austin

4. United States Military Academy

5. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

6. University of Michigan

7. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

8. University of Pittsburgh

9. University of Virginia

10. William & Mary

Note: UC schools were omitted from this list, as they do not report test scores, which are a key piece of Forbes’ selection criteria.

The Private Ivies

1. Carnegie Mellon University

2. Emory University

3. Georgetown University

4. Johns Hopkins University

5. Northwestern University

6. Rice University

7. Tufts University

8. University of Notre Dame

9. Vanderbilt University

10. Washington University in St. Louis

While this list features many of the same schools that appeared in Forbes initial ranking, there are a few new additions. Newcomers include Purdue, Pittsburgh, W&M, Tufts, WashU (a school whose absence from last year’s list was flagged by our commenters), and—perhaps most notably—the United States Military Academy at West Point, which had been excluded last year because Forbes did not include military academies in its analysis. We have often discussed the merits of service academies, which offer students an excellent education and opportunity to support their country, but Forbes also highlights the employment potential of West Point’s cadets: the school received the highest marks of all public colleges in their survey of employers.

RANKINGS–WITH A GRAIN OF SALT

That said, it is worth approaching Forbes’ system with some skepticism. Their ranking includes only private schools with over 3,500 students and public schools with over 4,000 students, which means they ignore small liberal arts colleges like Williams and Amherst that have excellent post-graduation employment rates. Forbes’survey of 380 “C-suite inhabitants, vice presidents and other managers” may also be less helpful than it seems at first glance, as it reflects a very small fraction of the millions of employers in the U.S. In addition, the data Forbes chooses to highlight from its survey seems to reflect a disproportionately negative outlook on Ivy League schools. For example, Forbes notes that 37% of survey respondents said they were less likely to hire an Ivy League graduate than they were five years ago, and 12% said they would never hire an Ivy League graduate, but this leaves 51%—a majority of respondents—who were presumably as likely or more likely to hire an Ivy Leaguer. This framing perhaps explains the disjunction between Forbes’ list and other analyses of post-graduation employment prospects (see examples here and here), which often rate Ivy League schools highly.

We have long argued that no college ranking system is perfect and that lists of “best” schools are most helpful when they introduce students to new colleges and unexpected undergraduate opportunities. Forbes’ round-up of New Ivies is no exception to this rule. We encourage readers to explore the many wonderful schools on the magazine’s list—but not to write off those that did not make the cut.

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Dr. Eliza Fox

Senior Private Counselor at Top Tier Admissions

Eliza has years of experience at Top Tier Admissions, helping students gain admittance to top-flight colleges and pioneering the Writing Center. She holds a B.A. in English with Honors and Distinction from Stanford University, where she was a two-time recipient of Stanford’s Rebele Journalism Fellowship. She earned her MA and PhD in English Literature at the University of Virginia. Prior to working at Top Tier, Eliza taught in UVa’s English Department and its Academic and Professional Writing Program. The effectiveness of her teaching and her commitment to her students earned her multiple awards, including the All-University Graduate Teaching Award and honors from UVa’s Seven Society. Eliza’s own writing has appeared in publications ranging from academic journals to The Philadelphia Inquirer. She also has experience in publishing, digital humanities, and study abroad programming.

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