Mass. Schools Nab Six of Forbes' Top 25 College Spots

Massachusetts boasts six of the schools on Forbes magazine's 2016 "25 Top Colleges in America List" -- the highest concentration of any state in the annual ranking out Tuesday.

Coming in at No. 2 was neither Harvard nor M.I.T., but Williams College, a private, liberal arts school in the Berkshires. Those other colleges get bragging rights of their own just a little ways down the list.

Although Massachusetts fared well, as did New England overall, Forbes notes a shifting of the winds as the old guard of the Northeast gives way to several newer, West Coast names in its ninth annual ranking.

According to the Forbes article - which you can read in full here - its ranking is rooted in return on investment. It asks questions about undergrads' satisfaction, student debt and "alumni success."

Here's the Top Five:

1. Stanford University (Stanford, CA)

2. Williams College (Williamstown, MA)

3. Princeton University (Princeton, NJ)

4. Harvard University (Cambridge, MA)

5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA)

Amherst College came in at #12, Tufts University made #18 and Boston College came in at #22.

>>> See the full list from Forbes.

>> Photo by SERSeanCrane via Flickr/Creative Commons