<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nWellesley College in Massachusetts takes first place. It is highly selective, accepting only about 14% of applicants, and it has one teacher for every seven students \u2014 the best student-to-faculty ratio in the study. Almost all of its students stay on after the first year, giving it a 96% retention rate. Ten years after enrolling, the typical Wellesley graduate earns a median salary of nearly $85,000, and over 20 years its graduates earn roughly $463,000 more than people who stopped at a high school diploma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pomona College in Claremont, California is second. It is even harder to get into, with an acceptance rate of about 7%, and it matches Wellesley’s seven-to-one student-faculty ratio. Around 85% of its new students finished in the top 10% of their high school class, and 93% of its students graduate. The median salary ten years after enrolling is nearly $78,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Third place goes to Harvey Mudd College, also in Claremont, a small college famous for science, engineering and mathematics. About 95% of its students were in the top 10% of their high school class, classes are small at eight students per teacher, and 92% graduate. It is expensive \u2014 the average net cost is close to $58,000 a year \u2014 but it delivers the best return on investment in the ranking: graduates earn on average nearly $1.43 million more over 20 years than high school graduates, and around $139,000 a year at the ten-year mark. Amherst College and Colby College complete the top five.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>What WalletHub Measures<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nWalletHub groups its 30 measures into seven categories:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- Student Selectivity<\/strong> \u2014 how hard a college is to enter, including its admission rate and the SAT and ACT scores of new students. This category carries the most weight in the final score.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Cost & Financing<\/strong> \u2014 the net cost of attending, plus support such as student employment services.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Faculty Resources<\/strong> \u2014 including the student-faculty ratio, which shows how much personal attention students can expect.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Campus Safety<\/strong> \u2014 how safe students are on campus.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Campus Experience<\/strong> \u2014 student life, including sports, clubs and study abroad opportunities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Educational Outcomes<\/strong> \u2014 whether students stay and finish, shown by retention and graduation rates.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Career Outcomes<\/strong> \u2014 salaries after graduation and the long-term return on the money spent.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Each measure is scored out of 100, and the weighted results are combined into one overall score that decides the final order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n