In its recently published 2022 College Guide, Washington Monthly named Stanford University as the United States top national university and Harvey Mudd College the greatest liberal arts college.
Washington Monthly promotes its rankings, which were first published in 2005, as a socially conscious alternative to U.S. News & World Report's college rankings. The emphasis of Washington Monthly is on the social and intellectual contributions that institutions bring to the country.
According to its editors, instead of ranking institutions based on riches, celebrity, and exclusivity, they have prioritised social mobility, public service, and research. While there is considerable overlap between Washington Monthly and U.S. News' top US universities, there are also numerous and significant discrepancies, as shown below.
Washington Monthly's Methodology
Washington Monthly's rankings are based on three equally weighted composites. Each of the three measures incorporates several publicly available data components that vary slightly depending on the type of institution being examined. The methodology for national universities is as follows:
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Social Mobility: It is measured using nine indices, overall graduation rate, the difference between actual and predicted graduation rate (based on student body makeup), percentage of students receiving Pell Grants, number of Pell Grant graduates, college affordability, actual versus predicted earnings of students 10 years after college entry, and two measures of student loan repayment.
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Research: Total institutional research spending, the number of science and engineering PhDs given, the percentage of undergraduate alumni who go on to acquire PhDs, significant faculty honours, and the proportion of faculty who are members of the National Academies are the five criteria for research.
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Community and National Service: It combines six factors - the percentage of students in campus ROTC programmes; the percentages of students in AmeriCorps and alumni in the Peace Corps relative to college size, as well as whether colleges match Segal AmeriCorps Education Awards; the percentage of work-study grant money spent on community service projects; whether the institution received the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification (a measure of community involvement); the percentage of work-study grant money spent on community service projects; and more.
Top 20 US National Universities
The following are Washington Monthly's top 20 national universities. The comparable ranking by U.S. News is shown in the table given below:
Washington Monthly Rankings 2022 |
Top US Universities |
U.S. News & World Report Rankings 2022 |
1 |
6 |
|
2 |
8 |
|
3 |
2 |
|
4 |
1 |
|
5 |
9 |
|
6 |
2 |
|
7 |
5 |
|
8 |
17 |
|
9 |
22 |
|
10 |
19 |
|
11 |
38 |
|
12 |
13 |
|
13 |
79 |
|
14 |
9 |
|
15 |
23 |
|
16 |
42 |
|
17 |
47 |
|
18 |
299-391 |
|
19 |
59 |
|
20 |
34 |
Stay tuned for more such updates about US universities!
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Source: Forbes