美国大学排行榜:西点军校称冠

刘恒宝

2009年8月7日
        据香港文汇报报道，美国财经杂志《福布斯》第二年发表美国最佳大学排行榜，美国军事学院(又称西点军校)击败一众长春藤大学荣登榜首，去年最佳学府普林斯顿大学退居第2。

　　《福布斯》指出，西点军校毋须学费，毕业生不用偿还学生贷款，而且薪酬丰厚。

　　《福布斯》与大学学费和绩效中心(CCAP)连手编制排行榜，根据教学质素、学生体验和学生成就，评估全美逾4,000所大学中最佳的15%，即600所。与一些根据校誉和投放金钱作准则的排行榜不同，此榜单重学生最关切的事项，如课程是否有趣和有益、毕业后会否觅得好工、4年内能否顺利毕业、毕业后会否债台高筑等。

　　西点军校去年位居第6，今年大跃进攀上榜首，同样培训军事人才的美国空军学院(第7位)和美国海军学院(第30位)也表现出色。传统名校普林斯顿今年屈居第2，紧随其后是加州理工学院、威廉姆斯学院(WilliamsCollege)及哈佛，耶鲁和史丹福分别居第9和10，麻省理工十大不入，只能排第11位。

　　报告指出，西点军校致胜的最大原因，是全数学费由军方承担，每名学生每月获津贴895美元。此外，学生甫毕业便晋身少尉，年薪6.9万美元。不过，他们要服役5年，另加3年后备军随时受征召，阿富汗和伊拉克战事便征召了15%后备军服役。

　　除了传统名校，另有些名不见经传的学校亦出位，例如文科大学中，中央学院(14位)和美国联邦学院(26位)便跻身30大；波士顿学院(16位)远胜知名度更高的达特茅斯学院(98位)、杜克大学(104位)和康奈尔大学(105位)。在一流州立大学中，伊利诺伊大学(132位)领先十大联盟名校中的对手密歇根大学(200位)。

　　除了评选最佳大学，CCAP今年增设最物有所值(Best-value)大学排名，比较大学质素和成本。夺得榜首的是位于肯塔基州的伯利尔学院(BereaCollege)，该校标榜学生全无负债。其它上榜的主要是公立大学。

　　百大最佳学府中，23间同时跻身物有所值榜，包括知名度较低的瓦巴士学院(WabashCollege)。有趣的是，最佳大学一般集中于东部，而超值大学集中于南部地区。

顾汉现

America's Best Colleges
Methodology
By Center for College Affordability and Productivity Staff, 08.05.09, 06:00 PM EDT
The complete methodology for America's Best Colleges 2009.


Table  lists the top 50 schools in the official Forbes/CCAP rankings as compared to their rankings using the three other ranking schemes.

Top 50 Forbes/CCAP Schools and Their Ranks Using Various Weighting Schemes

Institution
State
Forbes/CCAP Rank
College as Investment Rank
College as Socialization Rank
College as Scholarship Rank

United States Military Academy
N.Y.
1
2
1
2

Princeton University
N.J.
2
3
2
1

California Institute of Technology
Calif.
3
4
6
3

Williams College
Mass.
4
1
5
6

Harvard University
Mass.
5
7
12
4

Wellesley College
Mass.
6
8
3
5

United States Air Force Academy
Colo.
7
15
4
7

Amherst College
Mass.
8
9
8
12

Yale University
Conn.
9
21
33
9

Stanford University
Calif.
10
22
20
10

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mass.
11
18
28
11

Swarthmore College
Pa.
12
37
17
8

Columbia University
N.Y.
13
6
49
46

Centre College
Ky.
14
20
11
20

Haverford College
Pa.
15
10
18
30

Boston College
Mass.
16
32
7
15

Northwestern University
Ill.
17
16
35
40

Bowdoin College
Maine
18
14
24
56

Vassar College
N.Y.
19
23
40
38

Whitman College
Wash.
20
53
9
13

University of Chicago
Ill.
21
19
60
42

Kenyon College
Ohio
22
24
42
49

Carleton College
Minn.
23
46
10
16

Colby College
Maine
24
47
13
18

Middlebury College
Vt.
25
36
19
23

Union College
N.Y.
26
12
65
98

Claremont McKenna College
Calif.
27
17
64
81

Pomona College
Calif.
28
44
16
19

Colgate University
N.Y.
29
5
117
145

United States Naval Academy
Md.
30
11
177
101

Smith College
Mass.
31
41
27
28

Wabash College
Ind.
32
38
15
37

Harvey Mudd College
Calif.
33
42
22
24

Washington and Lee University
Va.
34
33
31
67

Bryn Mawr College
Pa.
35
81
14
14

Franklin and Marshall College
Pa.
36
27
78
96

Wesleyan University
Conn.
37
40
59
66

Brandeis University
Mass.
38
28
116
116

Tufts University
Mass.
39
13
152
172

Barnard College
N.Y.
40
77
25
22

Lawrence University
Wis.
41
43
29
79

DePauw University
Ind.
42
31
122
135

Rice University
Texas
43
25
144
146

Reed College
Ore.
44
48
39
68

Washington University, St. Louis
Mo.
45
75
21
29

Bucknell University
Pa.
46
26
131
158

Mount Holyoke College
Mass.
47
69
69
53

College of William and Mary
Va.
48
30
164
161

Hamilton College
N.Y.
49
79
56
45

University of Notre Dame
Ind.
50
52
55
106

顾汉现

Special Report
America's Best Colleges 2009


By Richard Vedder and David M. Ewalt,


08.05.09, 06:00 PM EDT


The best public and private colleges and universities--from the student's point of view.


The best college in America has an 11:30 p.m. curfew. It doesn't allow alcohol in the dorms, which must be kept meticulously clean. Students have to keep their hair neat, their shoes shined, their clothes crisply pressed. They also receive a world-class education, at no cost, and incur no debt--except for a duty to their country.

The college, of course, is the U.S. Military Academy, or West Point, and it tops our second-annual ranking of America's Best Colleges, compiled by Forbes and the Center for College Affordability and Productivity. In this report, the CCAP ranks 600 undergraduate institutions based on the quality of the education they provide, the experience of the students and how much they achieve.

West Point rose to the top spot on our rankings after placing sixth in 2008. (For more on West Point, see "How West Point Beat The Ivy League.") The move illustrates strong performances on the part of all the service academies, including the U.S. Air Force Academy, which came in seventh, and the U.S. Naval Academy, which came in 30th place. Last year's No. 1 school, Princeton University, moved to No. 2 in the rankings, followed by the California Institute of Technology, Williams College, Harvard and Wellesley.

Other schools generally considered to be America's best still rank high--Amherst (No. 8), Yale (No. 9), Stanford (No. 10) and MIT (No. 11). But our approach to evaluating performance also yields some hidden jewels. Among liberal arts colleges, Centre (No. 14) and Union (No. 26) rank in the top 30 of all institutions. Boston College (No. 16) far outperforms Dartmouth (No. 98), Duke (No. 104) and Cornell (No. 105). And among flagship state universities, Illinois (No. 132) outranks Big Ten Conference rival (No. 200) Michigan.

To our way of thinking, a good college is one that meets student needs. While some college rankings are based partly on school reputation as evaluated by college administrators and on the amount of money spent, we focus on things which directly concern incoming students: Will my courses be interesting and rewarding? Will I get a good job after I graduate? Is it likely I will graduate in four years? Will I incur a ton of debt getting my degree?

To answer these questions, the staff at CCAP gathered data from a variety of sources. They based 25% of the rankings on 4 million student evaluations of courses and instructors, as recorded on the Web site RateMyProfessors.com. Another 25% is based on post-graduate success, equally determined by enrollment-adjusted entries in Who's Who in America, and by a new metric, the average salaries of graduates reported by Payscale.com. An additional 20% is based on the estimated average student debt after four years. One-sixth of the rankings are based on four-year college graduation rates--half of that is the actual graduation rate, the other half the gap between the average rate and a predicted rate based on characteristics of the school. The last component is based on the number of students or faculty, adjusted for enrollment, who have won nationally competitive awards like Rhodes Scholarships or Nobel Prizes.