NJ Schools Ranked Among U.S. News’ 2022-2023 Best Colleges

NEW JERSEY — Twenty-nine colleges and universities in New Jersey are among the higher-education institutions included in the 2022-2023 Best Colleges rankings released Monday by U.S. News & World Report. One New Jersey institution even topped the national list.

Princeton University ranked as the "best" higher-learning institution in the nation, while other New Jersey universities made the top 100. The media outlet has been publishing the respected guide for prospective students and families for nearly 40 years. The methodology has changed over the years to reflect changes in higher education, Kim Castro, chief content officer at U.S. News, said in a news release.

U.S. News touts its ranking for providing millions of parents with “useful data and information to help with one of life’s biggest decisions,” Castro said. The media outlet ranked 1,500 colleges and universities across 17 academic measures. To rank colleges, U.S. News first places each school into a category based on its mission and, in some cases, its geographic location.

But some educational experts warn against overvaluing college rankings when selecting or evaluating an institution. Some of the issues with university rankings include the downgrading of colleges with less of a budget to promote themselves, important factors that can't be quantified, and subjective reputational factors that often influence placement, writes Alexandru Pop of Studyportals.

Two businesses emerged in the 1980s that changed higher education: the test-prep business — largely shaped by Stanley Kaplan, who founded Kaplan, Inc. — and the start of the U.S. News & World Report rankings, according to Business Insider.

U.S. News began evaluating universities based on the test scores of admitted students, which prompted colleges to desire more applicants who tested high. The universities offered merit-based scholarships and financial incentives to students who tested high. As a result, affluent parents of college applicants paid for test prep for their children to get those incentives.

James Fallows, a former U.S. News editor, even called them "meaningless" in an interview with NPR.

"The reason they started doing it back in the early 1980s under the guidance of a man named Mel Elfin, was because it was a brilliant business strategy," Fallows said. "By appealing to the human desire for rankings and knowing where you stand and where somebody else stands, they were able to make a very strong part of their business, which is now basically the only part of their business."

U.S. News ranked 1,500 colleges and universities across 17 academic measures. To rank colleges, U.S. News first places each school into a category based on its mission and, in some cases, its geographic location.

National universities, which focus on research and offer several doctoral programs, are ranked separately from liberal arts colleges.

National Universities

• Princeton University, first
• Rutgers University-New Brunswick, 55th
• Stevens Institute of Technology, 83rd
• New Jersey Institute of Technology, 97th

National Liberal Arts Colleges

• Drew University, 111th
• Bloomfield University, 156th to 201st
• Pillar College, 156th to 201st

Regional Universities, North

• The College of New Jersey, fifth
• Monmouth University, 18th
• Rider University, 22nd
• Ramapo College of New Jersey, 28th
• Saint Peter's University, 58th

Top Performers on Social Mobility — National Liberal Arts Colleges

1. Salem College (North Carolina)
2. Lake Forest College (Illinois)
3. Tougaloo College (Mississippi)

Overall, the top three schools in each category are:

National Universities

1. Princeton University
2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
3. Tie: Harvard University (Massachusetts), Stanford University (California) and Yale University (Connecticut)

National Liberal Arts Colleges

1. Williams College (Massachusetts)
2. Amherst College (Massachusetts)
3. Pomona College (California)

National Universities (Public)

• 1. Tie: University of California, Berkeley, and University of California, Los Angeles
• 3. University of Michigan – Ann Arbor and University of Virginia

National Liberal Arts Colleges (Public)

1. United States Naval Academy
2. United States Military Academy at West Point
3. United States Air Force Academy

Top Performers on Social Mobility — National Universities

1. Keiser University (Florida)
2. University of California, Riverside
3. California State University – Long Beach

Top Performers on Social Mobility — National Liberal Arts Colleges

1. Salem College (North Carolina)
2. Lake Forest College (Illinois)
3. Tougaloo College (Mississippi)

To compile the rankings, U.S. News focuses on academic quality and places emphasis on outcome measures, including graduation rates, retention rates, graduate indebtedness and social mobility. Graduation rates and other outcomes represent 40 percent of each school’s overall score.

U.S. News said it changed how it weights SAT and ACT scores because demand for the college entrance exams plummeted due to the pandemic, especially among students living in low-income households.

Part-time faculty members were considered in measures on faculty resources, reflecting a trend for more part-time instructors, U.S. News said. Previously, only full-time instructors were considered.

Read more about the methodology.