These college lists are important barometers of relative value and achievement. While they may not be the end all, they are still significant if for nothing else but the optics of where your school stands in whatever the pecking order is of the criteria being considered.
In that spirit, UConn is incredibly well thought of. We are #38 out of the 705 schools evaluated and listed. I've listed the top 50. I like the company we're keeping.
Whether or not its a meaningful analysis I'd rather be UConn at #38---- than Rutgers #105, BC #150, UMass #211, Oklahoma #246, Houston #257, Temple #303, Kansas #334, and (drum roll) Cincinnati #610!
MONEY’s Best Colleges
Here's how MONEY Magazine determined which of the roughly 2,000 four-year U.S. colleges and universities deliver the most value:
1. A great education
2. An affordable price
3. Prepares students for rewarding careers.
MONEY screened out schools with graduation rates below the median, financial difficulties, or fewer than 500 undergraduates.
The remaining 705 colleges were ranked on 24 factors in three categories:
a. Educational quality,
b. Affordability
c. Alumni success.
MONEY also measured comparative value by assessing how well students at each school did vs. what’s expected for students with similar economic and academic backgrounds and the college’s mix of majors.
OVERALL MONEY RANK
1 Princeton University
Princeton, NJ
2 University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI
3 Harvard University
Cambridge, MA
4 Rice University
Houston, TX
5 University of California-Berkeley
Berkeley, CA
5 Brigham Young University
Provo, UT
7 Amherst College
Amherst, MA
8 Cooper Union
New York, NY
9 University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA
10 Stanford University
Stanford, CA
11 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA
12 Yale University
New Haven, CT
13 Texas A & M University
College Station, TX
14 University of California-San Diego
La Jolla, CA
15 University of Florida
Gainesville, FL
16 University of California-Irvine
Irvine, CA
17 University of California-Davis
Davis, CA
18 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Blacksburg, VA
19 University of Maryland-College Park
College Park, MD
20 University of California-Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA
21 Clemson University
Clemson, SC
22 University of Illinois
Champaign, IL
22 Pomona College
Claremont, CA
24 California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA
25 Saint Johns University
Collegeville, MN
26 University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
27 Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN
28 Earlham College
Richmond, IN
29 Washington and Lee University
Lexington, VA
30 University of Washington
Seattle, WA
30 Brown University
Providence, RI
31 University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN
33 Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH
34 Wellesley College
Wellesley, MA
35 Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA
36 College of William and Mary
Williamsburg, VA
37 Washington State University
Pullman, WA
38 University of Connecticut
Storrs, CT
39 Duke University
Durham, NC
40 Hamilton College
Clinton, NY
41 University of California-Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, CA
42 Virginia Military Institute
Lexington, VA
43 Massachusetts Maritime Academy
Buzzards Bay, MA
43 Bowdoin College
Brunswick, ME
45 University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC
46 Davidson College
Davidson, NC
47 College of Saint Benedict
Saint Joseph, MN
48 Middlebury College
Middlebury, VT
49 Williams College
Williamstown, MA
50 The University of Texas
Austin, TX