The College Rankings Are Coming

It's getting very close to the launch of the next America's Best Colleges rankings: The 2009 edition is going to be published on Friday, August 22, the day that the new rankings go live on our website. The site will have the most complete version of the rankings, tables, and lists, and have extensive profiles on each school. The America's Best Colleges website also will have wide-ranging interactivity and search features to enable students and parents to find the school that best fits their needs.

These exclusive rankings will also be published in the magazine's September 1-8 issue and a newsstand guidebook, both of which will go on sale beginning Monday, August 25. The main rankings include the national universities and liberal arts colleges. In addition, there will be two new rankings. The first will be a list of "Up and Coming Institutions"—the colleges making innovative improvements. The second will be our first-ever rankings of colleges by public high school counselors. In addition, we will be publishing our second annual ranking of Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

There will also tables on:

• Top public universities
• Economic diversity on campus
• Ethnic diversity on campus
• Where applying early may help
• Schools that award the most (and least) need-based aid
• Schools whose freshmen are least (and most) likely to return
• Highest graduation rate
• Highest proportion of classes under 20
• Most international students
• Top undergraduate business programs
• Top undergraduate engineering programs.

The Top 100 Lists highlight characteristics to consider when deciding which college is right for you. They include schools with the:

• Highest acceptance rates
• Highest four-year graduation rates
• Most students living in university housing
• Most students in fraternities and sororities
• Most students receiving merit aid
• Most students studying abroad
• Most transfer students
• Most students over age 25
• Most students commuting to campus.

In addition, we have lists and tables that will help you navigate the college application process. They include:

• "A+ Schools for B Students" for students who want to go to a good college but don't have straight-A grades
• "Best Values" to show which schools offer you the best education for the least amount of money
• "National Survey of Student Engagement" to see what students have to say about their colleges and universities
• "Majors Lists" to determine which schools offer which majors
• "Student Indebtedness," a list of the schools whose students in the class of 2007 graduated with the heaviest and lightest debt loads
• "Academic Programs to Look for," which notes schools that are outstanding examples of academic programs believed to enhance a student's education.