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Some crit­ics com­pare col­lege rank­ings to beau­ty pageants where only the most pop­u­lar, pres­ti­gious schools are cho­sen. But pub­li­ca­tions gen­er­al­ly fol­low a clear rank­ing method­ol­o­gy, rather than sim­ply pick­ing favorites. The Wash­ing­ton Month­ly judges “con­tri­bu­tion to the pub­lic good” based on social mobil­i­ty, research, and ser­vice. Com­par­a­tive­ly, Kiplinger’s Per­son­al Finance mag­a­zine ranks Amer­i­ca’s best col­lege val­ues by mea­sur­ing aca­d­e­m­ic qual­i­ty, tuition cost, and indebtedness. 

How Our College Rankings are Formulated

Pub­li­ca­tions use dras­ti­cal­ly dif­fer­ent method­olo­gies to crunch the num­bers because stu­dents pri­or­i­tize dif­fer­ent fac­tors. But we don’t. We research tire­less­ly for the most up-to-date, thor­ough infor­ma­tion avail­able to deliv­er edu­ca­tion­al options for vir­tu­al­ly any­one. For instance, when we cre­ate our rank­ings, we con­sid­er the most impor­tant aspects of a school or pro­gram: selec­tiv­i­ty, reten­tion, fac­ul­ty resources, and grad­u­a­tion rate.

bachelor degree program rankings

Importance of College Rankings

Con­sult­ing with sev­er­al rank­ings is ben­e­fi­cial for stu­dents to devel­op a good sense of prospec­tive col­leges’ rep­u­ta­tions. In 2013, a sur­vey by Art & Sci­ence Group dis­cov­ered that 66 per­cent of stu­dents con­sid­er rank­ings in their col­lege appli­ca­tion deci­sion. It’s con­ve­nient to weigh sev­er­al sig­nif­i­cant sta­tis­tics into one num­ber. Rank­ings give stu­dents unbi­ased insights into the aca­d­e­m­ic and finan­cial wor­thi­ness of col­leges that can’t be gath­ered on a school’s slant­ed web­site. Stu­dents can clear­ly see how uni­ver­si­ties stack up against one anoth­er by review­ing our cur­rent and past bach­e­lor degree rank­ings. Track­ing how a col­lege’s rank­ings have improved or dropped over the years could indi­cate impor­tant edu­ca­tion­al trends.

Choos­ing high-rank­ing uni­ver­si­ties can give stu­dents a future edge on the com­pe­ti­tion. Rank­ings help you deter­mine the col­lege’s brand val­ue in the mar­ket­place. Earn­ing a diplo­ma from a well-rec­og­nized uni­ver­si­ty can more quick­ly open employ­ers’ doors for a job inter­view. That’s cru­cial since inflat­ing col­lege tuition and a widen­ing gap between the cost and ben­e­fits of obtain­ing a bach­e­lor degree leaves most stu­dents in sig­nif­i­cant debt. Stu­dents aren’t the only ones review­ing rank­ings either. Top-ranked uni­ver­si­ties are more like­ly to impress world-class fac­ul­ty and researchers who bring tremen­dous strengths to the col­le­giate class­room. Rank­ings can also be eye-open­ing and intro­duce stu­dents to great schools they’ve nev­er heard of before.

Potential Drawbacks of Rankings

A col­lege’s rank­ing is a superb indi­ca­tor of its mer­it, but it should­n’t be the only dig­it fac­tored in. Not every­one is the right fit for top-rank­ing Ivy League schools like Har­vard, Prince­ton, and Yale. Choos­ing a col­lege is a sub­jec­tive deci­sion where one size does­n’t fit all. Rank­ings are lim­it­ed, and some­times mis­lead­ing because they only cal­cu­late data, not actu­al edu­ca­tion­al expe­ri­ences. Noth­ing can com­pare to vis­it­ing cam­pus, research­ing online bach­e­lor degree pro­gram options, and get­ting a first­hand feel of the col­lege’s com­mu­ni­ty. Rank­ings aren’t able to weigh how col­leges fit with cer­tain inter­ests and per­son­al­i­ties. Some rank­ings might out­right ignore cri­te­ria that are impor­tant to you.

Mil­lions of oth­er stu­dents will be perus­ing the same rank­ings. High­ly ranked uni­ver­si­ties obvi­ous­ly draw in more appli­ca­tions than less­er-known schools. The Hechinger Report found that col­leges land­ing in the Prince­ton Review’s top 20 for “Hap­pi­est Stu­dents” had an aver­age 2.9 per­cent increase in appli­cants. There­fore, the admis­sions process is notice­ably more com­pet­i­tive. That’s dis­con­cert­ing for aver­age stu­dents who don’t have high SAT scores or grade point aver­ages. Col­leges may feel pres­sured just like appli­cants too. Many elite uni­ver­si­ties devote resources to main­tain­ing a high rank­ing for pub­lic­i­ty. Unfor­tu­nate­ly, some schools like Clare­mont McKen­na Col­lege have been caught sub­mit­ting false data for rankings.

Best Ways to Use Rankings

Rank­ings hold a wealth of piv­otal facts for stu­dents who know what to look for. It’s essen­tial that you deter­mine exact­ly what type of col­lege expe­ri­ence you want. For exam­ple, if eco-friend­li­ness is impor­tant, you should review Prince­ton Review’s “Guide to 353 Green Col­leges.” For extro­verts want­i­ng a hap­pen­ing social sci­ence, the list of “Par­ty Schools” may be more fit­ting. Stu­dents should also remain real­is­tic about their aca­d­e­m­ic cre­den­tials when review­ing rank­ings. Dig deep­er than large, top 50 uni­ver­si­ties with rank­ings like the U.S. New’s Nation­al Lib­er­al Arts Col­leges. Cre­at­ing a range of dream, match, and safe­ty schools is rec­om­mend­ed for a suc­cess­ful appli­ca­tion season.

Here are our Bachelor Degree Program Rankings:

30 Best Online Bach­e­lor in Human Resources Degree Pro­grams
Top 30 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies
Top 30 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Graph­ic Design
Top 30 Best Online Bach­e­lors of Nurs­ing Pro­grams
The Top 30 Fastest Online Bach­e­lors Degrees
The 30 High­est Pay­ing Bach­e­lors Degrees For The Future
40 Accel­er­at­ed Online Bach­e­lor’s Degree Pro­grams
Top 30 Cheap­est Online Bach­e­lor’s Degrees
Top 30 Best Online Hos­pi­tal­i­ty Man­age­ment Degrees
30 Eas­i­est Bach­e­lor’s Degrees Online
The 20 Fastest, High Qual­i­ty Bach­e­lor’s Degree Pro­grams Online
The Top 20 Fastest Bach­e­lor’s Degrees With No Appli­ca­tion Fee
The Top 12 Online Bach­e­lor Degree Pro­grams
The Top 15 Online Bach­e­lor’s Degree Programs

Business Bachelors Degrees

30 Best Online Bach­e­lor in Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion Degree Pro­grams
The 15 Top Under­grad Busi­ness Degrees
The Top 10 Busi­ness Bach­e­lor Degree Pro­grams
The Top 10 Online Busi­ness Bach­e­lor Degree Pro­grams
The Top 10 Cheap­est Bach­e­lors of Busi­ness Degree Pro­grams
The Top 15 Cheap­est Bach­e­lors Degrees in Eco­nom­ics
The Top 15 Bach­e­lors Degrees in Eco­nom­ics
The Top 15 Cheap­est Bach­e­lor Degrees in Account­ing
The Top 15 Online Bach­e­lor of Account­ing Degree Pro­grams
The Top 15 Bach­e­lor of Account­ing Degree Pro­grams
The Top 10 Busi­ness Bach­e­lor’s Degree Pro­grams
The 10 Cheap­est Bach­e­lors of Busi­ness Degree Programs

Liberal Arts Bachelors Degrees

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­tion Degree Pro­grams
15 Best Online Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­tion Bach­e­lor’s Degree Pro­grams
10 Fastest Online Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­tion Bach­e­lor’s Degree Pro­grams 
10 Most Afford­able Online Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­tion Bach­e­lor Degree Pro­grams
The 30 Fastest Online Psy­chol­o­gy Bach­e­lor’s Degrees
The Top 15 Bach­e­lor’s Degrees in Psy­chol­o­gy
The 15 Cheap­est Bach­e­lor’s Degrees in Psy­chol­o­gy
The Top 10 Online Bach­e­lor’s in Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Degree Pro­grams
The Top 15 Bach­e­lor’s in Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Degree Pro­grams
The Top 10 Online Bach­e­lor of Lib­er­al Arts Degree Pro­grams
The Top Ten Best Online Pro­grams For A Bach­e­lor’s Degree In Coun­sel­ing
The Cheap­est Online Bach­e­lor of Edu­ca­tion Degree Pro­grams
The Top 10 Edu­ca­tion Degree Pro­grams
The Top 15 Online Bach­e­lor of Lib­er­al Arts Degree Programs

Science Bachelors Degrees

10 Most Afford­able Online Nutri­tion­al Sci­ence Degree Bach­e­lor Pro­grams
25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Nutri­tion­al Sci­ence Degree Pro­grams
10 Best Online Nutri­tion­al Sci­ence Degree Bach­e­lors Pro­grams
Top 30 Best Schools for Stem Majors
Top 20 Best Online Bach­e­lors in Data Sci­ence
The Top 10 Online Bach­e­lor of Engi­neer­ing Degrees
The Top Ten Online Schools For A Bach­e­lor’s Degree in Com­put­er Sci­ence
The Top 10 Bach­e­lor of Com­put­er Sci­ence Degree Pro­grams
The Top 10 Cheap­est Online Bach­e­lors of Com­put­er Sci­ence Degrees