DC, Virginia's Best Colleges: 26 Make Forbes List

WASHINGTON, DC — Four Virginia schools and two in Washington, D.C., cracked the top 100 on Forbes' "America's Top Colleges List" for 2017, while a total of 26 in the region were among the magazine's rankings of top schools in the Northeast and South. The 2017 list, which was released on Wednesday, looks at what institutions give back to students for the money they spend on a college education.

This year's rankings, as Forbes explains, were created to better align with what the magazine values most: "superior return on investment; high impact, leadership and success; and a first-rate student-consumer experience." (Subscribe to a Virginia Patch News Alert and Newsletter. For DC readers, Get Patch’s daily newsletter and news alerts. Or like us on Facebook. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.)

Georgetown University came in at No. 21 on the overall list and was also No. 20 in private colleges, No. 14 in research universities and No. 14 in the Northeast. Meanwhile, Washington and Lee University was ranked at No. 31 overall, No. 4 in the South and No. 11 in liberal arts universities in the region; and the University of Virginia came in at No. 40 in the rankings overall, as well as No. 5 among public colleges and No. 6 in the South.

See Also:

• 19 Virginia Schools Ranked ‘Best Colleges For Your Money’
• U.S. News & World Report College Rankings 2017: Virginia's Top Schools
• 25 Top Virginia High Schools: U.S. News Rankings

Forbes describes the rankings as "fiscally minded" and says they do not take into account things like campus atmosphere, Greek life, sports etc. The methodology favors variables like "alumni salary, graduation rate and student satisfaction." Post-graduate success accounted for 35 percent of the ranking; how effectively students at each school avoid or pay back student loan debt accounts for 20 percent of the rankings, as does the student experience. Graduation rate and academic success both account for 12.5 percent. (You can see the full methodology here.)

Find the full list of America's Top Colleges here.

Here are the colleges in Virginia and Washington, DC, that made the list and their overall ranking:

Virginia

• No. 31 Washington and Lee University
• No. 40 University of Virginia
• No. 58 College of William & Mary
• No. 82 University of Richmond
• No. 109 Virginia Tech
• No. 125 James Madison University
• No. 177 Virginia Military Institute
• No. 194 George Mason University
• No. 276 University of Mary Washington
• No. 313 Sweet Briar College
• No. 334 Christopher Newport University
• No. 336 Hampden-Sydney College
• No. 430 Virginia Commonwealth University
• No. 462 Roanoke College
• No. 518 Randolph-Macon College
• No. 531 Old Dominion University
• No. 548 Hollins University
• No. 559 Emory & Henry College
• No. 574 Randolph College
• No. 610 Liberty University
• No. 650 Mary Baldwin University

Washington D.C.

• No. 21 Georgetown University
• No. 88 George Washington University
• No. 129 American University
• No. 255 The Catholic University of America
• No. 453 Howard University

The colleges that cracked the top 10 on Forbes' list are:

1. Harvard University
2. Stanford University
3. Yale University
4. Princeton University
5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
6. California Institute of Technology
7. University of Pennsylvania
8. Duke University
9. Brown University
10. Pomona College

Harvard made its way back to number one after landing on the sixth and fourth spot in 2015 and 2016 respectively. Among the top 50, Forbes also points out some surprises: The U.S. Naval Academy (20) edges out the U.S. Military Academy (24), and the University of Michigan Ann Arbor (38) pushed ahead of the University of Virginia (40).

Forbes also ranks the top schools in the Northeast (Harvard University), the top schools in the South (Duke), the top schools in the West (Stanford), the top public schools (United States Naval Academy) and the top private schools (Harvard).

— Feroze Dhanoa (Patch National Staff) contributed to this article
Photo via Pixabay