After Forbes released their college rankings -- no doubt proving Massachusetts is the best of the best -- Newsweek and The Daily Beast published their own. Rather than cover the Top or Most Entrepreneurial Colleges, however, the duo tackled the different party-going, political and pressured crowds strolling around campuses across the country.
While, of course, the state ranked supreme, some of the rankings were better than others. The best ranking? MIT came in as the most affordable college in the country. Although the Institute might not have the lowest sticker price, future potential earnings and average debt levels were taken into account, as well. Considering the statistic that if MIT were a country it would have the 11th largest economy, there’s no surprise graduates are leaving with ample job opportunities.
On the other hand, Suffolk fell within the top 10 of least affordable colleges, coming in at number seven. As Newsweek writes, “These are the schools where students are least able to shoulder the cost of their degree -- and where the education has an uneven record of being a valuable investment relative to other schools.” Ouch.
Another “ouch” moment hit when Emerson was ranked one of the least rigorous colleges in the country. I’m admittedly bias, because we’re talking about my alma mater here, but those students do, do more than sing show tunes.
Yet, when they do sing, they must be singing quietly -- along with the rest of the city. Not a single one of Boston’s schools appeared on the “Top Party Colleges” list. So, for all you complaining about party-goers, apparently things could be worse. To relax, maybe head out to Chestnut Hill, because Boston College was ranked one of the most beautiful colleges in the country, for both student and campus attractiveness.
Curious where everyone else fell, especially on the happiest or most stressed out scale? Here’s a roundup of all the Massachusetts rankings, with data from Newsweek and The Daily Beast.
