WSJ/College Pulse’s 2025 Ranking Includes 25 New Colleges in the Top 50
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This episode is brought to you by Charles Schwab. Decisions made in Washington can affect your portfolio every day. Washington Wise from Charles Schwab is an original podcast that unpacks the stories making news in Washington. Listen at schwab.com slash Washington Wise.
Here's your money briefing for Friday, September 6th. I'm J.R. Whelan for The Wall Street Journal. Selecting a college can play an important role in a student achieving success after graduation. The Wall Street Journal has teamed up with College Pulse to rank the nation's best institutions.
Our ranking rewards making your students richer and not charging them through the nose for it and making sure that they graduate and ensuring that they're satisfied with the learning environment and the opportunity to mix with people from different backgrounds that the college provides.
We'll go through the rankings with WSJ's Harry Carr after the break.
This episode is brought to you by Charles Schwab. Decisions made in Washington can affect your portfolio every day. Washington Wise from Charles Schwab is an original podcast that unpacks the stories making news in Washington. Listen at schwab.com slash Washington Wise.
This year's Wall Street Journal and College Pulse rankings of the nation's top schools are out. Rankings editor Harry Carr joins me. Harry, the rankings primarily measure how well each college sets graduates up for financial success.
What is the WSJ/College Pulse 2025 ranking and why does it matter for financial outcomes?
What factors into that?
We look at the median salaries of graduates 10 years after they enrol at the college, which is provided by the Department for Education's college scorecard. And we factor in how that compares, A, to what you would expect those students to earn on the basis of their exam results before entering college and the cost of living in the state the college is based, regardless of which college they went to. and B, the average net price of attending the college, including costs like tuitions and fees, room and board, books and supplies, and taking into account things like grants and scholarships. But it isn't just measuring financial success. That is a really important factor. But we also do look at graduation rates, diversity, and the results of a huge student survey asking about the learning opportunities, learning facilities, and the career preparation that they're offered, and the extent to which they would recommend their college, and whether they would make the same choice again if they could start over.
Princeton University topped the list. It has the highest graduation rate of any school in the ranking. What else helped it earn the top spot?
Our ranking rewards making your students richer and not charging them through the nose for it and making sure that they graduate and ensuring that they're satisfied with the learning environment and the opportunity to mix with people from different backgrounds that the college provides. And Princeton scores extremely well across the board on all of those factors. So its graduates make a lot of money. Its average net price is comparatively low. Its graduation rate is the highest of any school in the ranking. And it has a relatively diverse student body and faculty. And its students rate the education they're getting highly.
Half the colleges in the top 50 this year are new. They include large and small schools, public and private, plus technical and liberal arts institutions. What do they have in common?
Our ranking does not make any assumptions about what works in helping students succeed. We just look at the outcomes that the students go on to, to understand which are doing the most to help their students to flourish. So lots of the colleges have a STEM or business focus and do really well, but liberal arts colleges also hold their own.
How much do testimonials from students or recent alumni contribute to a school's ranking?
25% of the overall ranking is on the basis of a gigantic survey that we conduct with College Pulse of current students and alumni who graduated within the last five years from each college.
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