Where your college lands on the latest top 500 list

It’s hard to find higher ed rankings with big surprises at the top. The latest list of top 500 colleges and universities from WalletHub doesn’t throw higher ed leaders any curveballs.

WalletHub offers separate top fives for universities and colleges:

Universities: 

1. Princeton University
2. Yale University
3. Harvard University
4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
5. Dartmouth College

Colleges

1. Swarthmore College
2. Hamilton College
3. Amherst College
4. Wellesley College
5. Harvey Mudd College

When it comes to the top 500 colleges, universities dominate the highest tier of the rankings. “In general, universities tend to rank higher than colleges due to their inclusion of graduate-level programs, greater on-campus opportunities and higher earnings for students post-graduation,” WalletHub’s analyst says.

The top five universities are listed above. Rounding out the top 10 on the wider list are Rice University, California Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon University, Northwestern University and Johns Hopkins University.

President’s corner: How to undo an enrollment scare with Elizabeth Meade

Swarthmore is the highest-ranked college on overall list at No. 11. The highest ranked public schools are the University of Florida at No. 20 and the University of California at No. 28.

WalletHub also ranked universities in several other categories, including two that are highly watched by students and their families nowadays: Return on investment and post-attendance median salary:

Return on investment

1. Harvey Mudd College
2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
3. California Institute of Technology
4. Stanford University
5. Stevens Institute of Technology

For post-attendance median salary, five institutions tied for first: Harvey Mudd College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Pennsylvania, Bentley University and Carnegie Mellon University.

There was another five-way tie for safest institution: College of the Ozarks, McMurry University, John Paul the Great Catholic University, Thomas Aquinas College and Maranatha Baptist University.