Forbes: 25 Most Expensive Schools Worth Every Penny

College Search & Lists
1

For discussion, not taking a position yet!

http://www3.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/25-most-expensive-schools-worth-every-penny/?utm_campaign=Expensive-Schools-Worth-Every-Penny&utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=referral

2

They may have borrowed their concept from an earlier compilation:

http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/lists/list/the-experts-choice-colleges-worth-every-penny/346/

3

I hate any list that forces me to hit continue 26 times to see their list of 25. Bandwidth hog and fishing for clicks on ads. /tab

4

Was not able to find out the methodology.

5

This is what they say

But as for details, here is where the ABV methodology is
http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinehoward/2016/03/29/best-value-colleges-2016-the-300-schools-worth-the-investment/2/#76bd68333b00

Lots of things to pick at.

6

It’s just another (less thorough) way to look at the ROI you get from various colleges, crossing it with which of them are actually the most expensive to attend.
http://www.payscale.com/college-roi/school-type/private

7

So best value schools at full sticker price?

8

Not clear as they are listing average net price.

Another of the “It Depends” won’t sell papers, magazines, get clicks, etc. so we need to provide a numbered list with what appears to be objective ways to determine the subjective.

9

Looks like more GIGO when you analyze the methodology. College “quality” includes info culled from public, anonymous non-scientific sources such as ratemyprofessors.com and Facebook surveys. The rest suffers from cause/correlation fallacy. Are these students getting ROI or did the selective schools just pick kids who are the kind of kids who will work hard, graduate on time and eventually earn big salaries because of their cognitive strengths and work ethic?

10

Can someone click through the slideshow and post on the original post so I don’t have to give Forbes another $100 in ad revenue?

edit: or i’ll do it so people don’t have to.

  1. Carleton College
  2. Vanderbilt
  3. Amherst
  4. Rensselaer Polytechnic
  5. UChicago
  6. Lehigh
  7. Lafayette College
  8. Northwestern
  9. Williams
  10. Notre Dame
  11. Haverford
  12. Columbia
  13. Tufts
  14. Colgate
  15. Cornell
  16. Dartmouth
  17. Brown
  18. Georgetown
  19. Washington and Lee
  20. Duke
  21. Yale
  22. Harvey Mudd
  23. Stanford
  24. CalTech
  25. MIT
11

Thanks. Basically expensive schools with high salary outcomes. Harvard conspicuously missing (which has higher salary outcomes than Yale).

12

It is odd that Harvard has the highest average salaries in the ivy league, and isn’t listed. Penn has the second highest, and is not listed either.

13

A very bizarre list. I can see how the STEM schools would appear on such a list, but some of these seem random… Colgate? Haverford? Carleton?

14

The money magazine list is similar and seems to expound more on the value of the college instead of raw numbers. Colleges are very good at selecting talent, but may not be all that good at adding value.

15

Unsurprisingly the list is dominated by elite universities. Unsurprisingly, as well, the top four slots are taken by schools that churn out disproportionately high numbers of STEM graduates. Is it really a surprise to anyone that Harvey Mudd and Stanford grads make more money on average than Lafayette or Brown grads?

To me “worth every penny” is a much more subjective evaluation that depends a lot on the students’ preferences and family resources. Is a school ‘worth less’ if its highly educated students go onto become teachers and public interest lawyers and professors and policy analysts, all who make less money than software engineers and bankers?

16

Where are Princeton and Rice?

17

[QUOTE=""]

Is a school ‘worth less’ if its highly educated students go onto become teachers and public interest lawyers and professors and policy analysts, all who make less money than software engineers and bankers?

[/QUOTE]

Not at all. But Forbes being a magazine about money, it’s understandable that their perspective would be based exclusively on earnings. The problem is that “graduates who contribute society while making less money” is extremely hard to quantify.

18

This list is just stupid. It has no rhyme or rhythm and excludes phenomenal schools that are worth every penny, like Harvard.

19

So the list is “bizarre” and choices “random”?

Hardly. And there’s the rub. These elite and well endowed LACs deliver highly successful and motivated graduates. How? Look at what they say their outcomes as driven by their liberal arts curricula, career-related programs, off campus study and alumni engagement for starters. Oh, and they do offer STEM courses too, to the extent that they - as well, presumably, as graduate schools and employers- find useful and attractive. And these LACs have been doing so for a long, long time. Simple as that.

Go 'gate!

20

Here is Forbes Best Value Colleges:
http://www.forbes.com/value-colleges/list/

Here is Forbes Best Colleges:
http://www.forbes.com/top-colleges/list/

So once again what’s this expensive schools worth every penny list mean?