Forbes used alumni giving as an indication of the degree to which alumni are satisfied and successful. Graduates from schools that place highly in this ranking were presumably happy with their college choices: https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahhansen/2018/08/21/grateful-grads-2018-200-colleges-with-the-happiest-most-successful-alumni/. With respect to Northeastern schools, note that smaller colleges, including the majority of the NESCAC LACs, appear amid larger, often Ivy League, alternatives near the top end of this nationally-based list.