New anti-elitist college rankings put Universities of Texas, Florida on top — in shock result

Résumé détaillé

There’s a new kid at the top of the class

A New York think tank just came out with its own proprietary college rankings, and the results probably aren’t what you’d expect: the University of Texas at Austin at number one, Yale all the way down at number ten, and Arizona State ranked higher than Stanford.

The rankings may be surprising, but, according to the Manhattan Institute (MI), they’re meant to subvert academic snobbery and scrutinize the value of an education. In their own words, the rankings “judge schools by present performance, not past prestige.”

“Other prestige-focused rankings offer little insight into the content of the education students will receive, the classroom and campus environment they will inhabit, or the values that will surround them,” the think tank said in a press release.

The rankings score 115 schools using 95 variables. The top schools, according to MI’s calculations: University of Texas at Austin, University of Florida, and Notre Dame. And at the very bottom: Smith College and Oberlin College.

“We’re trying to provide a different perspective on these choices,” Kevin Wallsten, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute who led the initiative, told The Post. “Better data can help people make better choices, and we’re trying to cover the schools most likely to be on young people’s minds when they’re applying to college.”

The rankings diverge from traditional lists because they take a more holistic approach, looking at return on investment, civics education, and a de-politicized campus. MI has decided to exclude traditional measures of school rank, like their admissions rate, in an attempt to measure students’ actual experiences.

It’s an unorthodox rating system that doesn’t pretend Americans aren’t losing faith in higher education. Today just 31% of Americans say a college education is “very important,” compared with a full 70% back in just 2013.

The rankings laudably center return on investment for students — perhaps the central reason that young people are losing faith in college.

MI…

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