What Makes Bentley’s Wall Street Journal Ranking Such a Big Deal
September is rankings season for colleges and universities across the United States. Publications typically launch their rankings around the start of the academic year for several reasons, but perhaps most notably: This is when most high school juniors and seniors are researching, considering and applying to universities.
As part of the search process, rankings serve as an essential research tool for future undergraduates looking to find the university best suited for them, their interests, their skills and more. According to the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, “high schoolers consistently tell pollsters that what they want most out of college is a good job that will help them earn more money.”
The Wall Street Journal’s rankings are particularly focused on student outcomes, which account for 70% of their ranking criteria. While rankings in other publications may emphasize a university’s prestige or brand recognition, or put extra emphasis on higher education polling, The Journal attempts to distill what happens to students after they graduate.
In other words: How does a college investment impact a student’s future financial success? Within its student-outcome category, The Journal considers:
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Salary Impact:
How a college boosts its graduates’ salaries beyond what they would otherwise expect to earn regardless of the college they attended.
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Graduation Rate:
How a college performs in ensuring its students complete their degree program and graduate.
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Years to Pay Off Net Price:
How quickly a college education pays for itself — calculated by dividing the net cost of a four-year degree by the salary increase it yields over a high school diploma.
Also considered in The Journal’s rankings are a school’s overall learning environment, which accounts for 20% of the ranking, and diversity, which accounts for the remaining 10%.