Forbes ranks West Point as nation's top college

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A report released Wednesday by Forbes magazine ranked the U.S. Military Academy as the top college in the country in their America's Best College review.

 

"Marked by an intense work ethic and drive to succeed on all fronts, the West Point undergraduate experience also allows graduates to leave without a penny of tuition loans to repay," Forbes stated in its release.

 

In the Forbes rating, West Point outpaced other highly-ranked schools such as Princeton (#2), Cal Tech (#3), Harvard (#5) and the U.S. Air Force Academy (#7).

 

"All of us at West Point are very proud that Forbes has rated us as the number-one college in the nation," said Brig. Gen. Patrick Finnegan, dean of the Academic Board at West Point. "This ranking recognizes the exceptionally high quality of a West Point education. It is always exciting to be validated by independent organizations."

 

The Center for College Affordability and Productivity staff gathered data from a variety of sources, basing 25 percent of the rankings on 7 million student evaluations of courses and instructors, as recorded on the Web site RateMyProfessors.com.

 

Another 25 percent of the ranking depended on how many of the school's alumni, adjusted for enrollment, were listed among the notable people in Who's Who in America.

 

The other half of the ranking were based equally on three factors:

 

• average amount of student debt at graduation held by those who borrowed

 

• percentage of students graduating in four years

 

• number of students or faculty, adjusted for enrollment, who have won nationally competitive awards like Rhodes Scholarships or Nobel Prizes.

 

West Point was founded in 1802 as America's first college of engineering. Its mission remains constant: to educate, train, and inspire cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of duty, honor, country and prepared for a career of service to the nation as an officer in the U.S. Army.

 

To see the complete college rankings go to

 

http://www.forbes.com.