WSJ Rankings 2025

College Search & Lists
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I always find it interesting to see these lists and see which schools pop up that we don’t talk much about. I, too, was only able to see the top 2 schools on the list (Princeton and Babson…ETA, but the text gave more info and I’ve listed them below), but the link that @BKSquared shared did have some side bars with the Top 10 public schools, Top 10 Preparation for Career, and Top 10 Recommended, which I snipped and shared below. The text also included more of the top 10 ranked schools including:

  1. Princeton
  2. Babson
  3. Stanford
  4. Yale
  5. Claremont McKenna
  6. MIT
  7. Harvard
  8. UC - Berkeley
  9. Georgia Tech
  10. Davidson

Others mentioned:
11. Bentley
20. Harvey Mudd
29. Rice

And California had 17 of the top 50 schools.

In the public schools category (where California dominated with 6 schools), these were some of the schools we don’t talk much about much, at least not with respect to being one of the top public options in the country:

  • UC Davis
  • San Jose State
  • UC Merced
  • Cal Poly Pomona
  • Cal State - Stanislaus
  • U. of Delaware

image: Top 10 Public Schools The public schools with the highest overall scores in the WSJ/College Pulse 2025 Best Colleges in the U.S. ranking. University of California, Berkeley 1. Georgia Institute of Technology, Main Campus 2. University of California, Davis 3. San José State University 4. University of California, Merced 5. Virginia Tech 6. California State Polytechnic University, Pomona 7. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 8. California State University, Stanislaus 9. University of Delaware 10. Source: WSJ/College Pulse 2025 Best Colleges in the U.S.
image: Top 10 Public Schools The public schools with the highest overall scores in the WSJ/College Pulse 2025 Best Colleges in the U.S. ranking. University of California, Berkeley 1. Georgia Institute of Technology, Main Campus 2. University of California, Davis 3. San José State University 4. University of California, Merced 5. Virginia Tech 6. California State Polytechnic University, Pomona 7. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 8. California State University, Stanislaus 9. University of Delaware 10. Source: WSJ/College Pulse 2025 Best Colleges in the U.S.305×600 36.1 KB

For the preparation for a career we had two schools I’ve never heard of (Martin Luther and The Master’s University). There were some very vocationally-minded schools (Babson, Rose-Hulman, and Kettering), but then the other schools are schools that generally aren’t top of mind when thinking about career prep, namely:

  • Hampden-Sydney
  • Washington & Lee
  • Loyola Maryland
  • U. of Notre Dame
  • Samford (referring to the school in Alabama, not a misspelling of Stanford)

image: Top 10 Preparation for Career The schools among the WSJ/College Pulse 2025 Best Colleges in the U.S. that scored highest for career preparation in a survey of their students and recent alumni Martin Luther College 1. Babson College 2. Hampden-Sydney College 3. Washington and Lee University 4. Loyola University Maryland 5. University of Notre Dame 6. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology 7. Samford University 8. The Master’s University 9. Kettering University 10. Source: WSJ/College Pulse 2025 Best Colleges in the U.S.
image: Top 10 Preparation for Career The schools among the WSJ/College Pulse 2025 Best Colleges in the U.S. that scored highest for career preparation in a survey of their students and recent alumni Martin Luther College 1. Babson College 2. Hampden-Sydney College 3. Washington and Lee University 4. Loyola University Maryland 5. University of Notre Dame 6. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology 7. Samford University 8. The Master’s University 9. Kettering University 10. Source: WSJ/College Pulse 2025 Best Colleges in the U.S.305×580 31.3 KB

And then we have the schools that students and recent alumni really recommended. Some of the less-often mentioned schools here include:

  • Brigham Young
  • Dalton State
  • The Master’s
  • Washington & Lee
  • Benedictine
  • Hampden-Sydney
  • Samford

image: Top 10 Recommendation The schools among the WSJ/College Pulse 2025 Best Colleges in the U.S. that were most highly recommended by their surveyed students and recent alumni Brigham Young University 1. Dalton State College 2. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology 3. The Master’s University 4. Washington and Lee University 5. Benedictine College 6. Hampden-Sydney College 7. Princeton University 8. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 9. Samford University 10. Source: WSJ/College Pulse 2025 Best Colleges in the U.S.
image: Top 10 Recommendation The schools among the WSJ/College Pulse 2025 Best Colleges in the U.S. that were most highly recommended by their surveyed students and recent alumni Brigham Young University 1. Dalton State College 2. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology 3. The Master’s University 4. Washington and Lee University 5. Benedictine College 6. Hampden-Sydney College 7. Princeton University 8. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 9. Samford University 10. Source: WSJ/College Pulse 2025 Best Colleges in the U.S.304×577 34.2 KB

I do remember that Hampden-Sydney was making a number of positive lists on the recent Princeton Review lists that @merc81 shared recently, I believe.

I’ll be back with comments about the methodology.

ETA: Added more info on the rankings of schools mentioned in the article that were not in a sidebar. Davidson coming in at #10 is an example of another school that doesn’t often get mentioned in the same breath as some of the other schools in the top 10.

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