Massachusetts Rules the Other College Rankings

While most colleges live and die by US News & World Report, the Washington Monthly is offering competition with what's really important--how much the students help the community when they get their diplomas.

Here are the three criteria from the Monthly:

The first is social mobility: does the school do a good job recruiting and graduating poorer students? The second is research: is the school supporting the scientific and humanistic study that is key to our national strength, by producing PhDs and winning research grants? And the third is service: how effectively does the school foster an ethic of giving back to the country, either through military or civilian service?

In the rankings for four-year schools, state schools swiftly rose to the top of the list, but MIT made it to number 13 for national universities, and Harvard made it to 27. That's pretty good, but the Massachusetts liberal arts colleges racked up the recognition: Smith came in at 2, Wheaton at 3, Williams at 8, Amherst at 9, Wellesley at 21, Mount Holyoke at 22, and Holy Cross at 27. An appearance from the big guns like Harvard and MIT is no surprise, and they're always in the news, but it's nice to see other schools get propers for a change.

The downsides are that Massachusetts four-year state schools didn't make to the upper reaches of the list, and Massachusetts community colleges didn't appear in the Monthly's list of Top 30 Community Colleges. Plus, MIT was number-one on its list last year, and students aren't happy that it fell to 7.

Image of the cover from the Washington Monthly website.