The Wall Street Journal released its list of the top 25 colleges across the nation for the first time yesterday - and interestingly enough, the rankings look little to nothing like those released annually by U.S. News & World Report.
At the head of the rankings is Pennsylvania State University, which U.S. News & World Report places at No. 47. Next were Texas A&M University, the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and Purdue University, with Arizona State University rounding out the top five. The University tied at No. 19 with North Carolina State University. Out of the top 25 schools, just one Ivy League institution - Cornell University - made the cut, and only at No. 14.
These rankings, which may seem like somewhat of a surprise, were based on "the schools that are most likely to help students land a job in key careers and professions - areas that are growing, pay well and offer high levels of satisfaction," according to a Journal article. To compile the standings, the Journal surveyed 842 recruiters for the country's largest companies and organizations to identify which schools best trained their graduates for the working world. The Journal chose to focus on sectors that college graduates can enter easily upon completion of a bachelor's degree and thus, many of the recruiting firms surveyed concentrate in finance, technological and engineering sectors.
Like all rankings, the Journal's list should be taken with a grain of salt. It is clear from looking at the list that the Journal's top 25 is mostly comprised of large state schools, some with as many as more than 50,000 students enrolled. Generally speaking, schools with such high enrollment numbers cannot provide an educational experience of the same quality as a smaller, private school because the student-to-professor ratio is larger, there are less resources and so forth. It appears, however, that the surveyed recruiters favor these larger schools because they are able to target a wider audience of students. And although this may be more cost-effective for the firms, it does not mean that they are targeting a more qualified group of students each time. In turn, it becomes somewhat difficult to conclude that these schools - which also include Brigham Young University and Ohio State University - are among the best institutions to attend to have a successful career post-graduation.
For example, take Purdue University, which the Journal placed at No. 4 in the nation. U.S. News & World Report ranked the Indiana school, which has an undergraduate enrollment of about 30,000 students, at No. 56. In fall 2009, Purdue accepted 73 percent of its applicants. Meanwhile, for that same academic year, the University, which falls in at 25 for U.S. News, accepted 32 percent of its applicants. In general, one would imagine that the selectivity of an institution would speak to the quality of the education offered, as competition tends to ensure that only the most qualified candidates make the cut. These recruiting firms, however, seem to disagree.
Moreover, the fact that the Journal focused on more technological firms and sectors inherently biased the rankings against liberal arts colleges, which likely played into the reason why Virginia Tech ranked at No. 13 -
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