Several Virginia colleges make it on Forbes ‘Top Colleges’ list

Published July 29, 2015 by Veronica Garabelli

           Forbes released its annual list of America’s Top Colleges Wednesday. Several Virginia schools made the list, including four on the Top 100.

            The Virginia colleges that ranked in the Top 100 were: Washington and Lee University (No. 29); University of Virginia (No. 36); College of William & Mary (No. 39) and the University of Richmond (No. 99).  U. Va. and the College of William & Mary were among the three highest ranking public schools on the list.

            The No. 1 college in the U.S., according to Forbes, is Pomona College, a private liberal arts college in Claremont, Calif. with 1,610 students.

            The site also released more specialized college rankings, including Top 25 Public Colleges in the U.S., which included U. Va. (No.4); William & Mary (No. 6) and Virginia Tech (No. 23).

            Virginia schools on Forbes’ list of Top 25 Southern Schools were: Washington and Lee University (No.2); U. Va. (No. 5); William & Mary (No. 6); University of Richmond (No. 18); Virginia Tech (No. 23) and Virginia Military Institute (No. 25).

            Washington and Lee University was the only Virginia school on the Top 25 Liberal Arts Schools list.

            According to Forbes, the recipe for a top college included student satisfaction, low student to faculty ratio, on-time graduation rate, amount of financial aid and debt and acceptance rate.