To get around this, try comparing similar lists against each other. This means the rankings can be manipulated - and not all lists are created equal. Companies rank institutions often based on data the colleges themselves provide.

'Our rankings strive to reflect the entire college experience, from freshman year to life after college.'Īll college rankings, including Niche's, should be viewed skeptically. 'More than half of all college-bound high school students use Niche to research colleges, so our rankings are intended to be useful to a wide range of students and filterable by type and location,' the company writes on its frequently asked questions page. Anecdotes about each school are included alongside each institution on the list. It also includes reviews from alumni and current students. The rankings are calculated from data on academics, finance, admissions and student life, according to Niche. This year, Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, came in second and Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, got third. 1 on Niche - it's come in first place on the site's best colleges list for the past three years, according to a news release. Its latest accolade came from review site Niche, which released its 2017 edition of ' Best Colleges in America' on Monday with the Stanford California university in the top spot. Stanford University is just raking in the rankings. Stanford University's campus is seen from atop Hoover Tower in Stanford, California on May 9, 2014.

Niche top high schools 2017