11 Pennsylvania Schools Ranked Among Forbes' Top 100 Colleges

By Kara Seymour & Justin Heinze:

Several colleges from southeastern Pennsylvania are among the top colleges in the United States, according to Forbes Magazine’s annual rankings.

Eleven schools from the Keystone State made the top 100, including Swarthmore College (7th overall) and the University of Pennsylvania (12th).

Haverford College came in at 19th on the list, while Bryn Mawr was ranked 64th.

The Forbes ratings were based on a return-on-investment scale “with points for low debt, high graduation rates, student satisfaction and career success,” according to the study.

Forbes cited the “growing number of colleges and universities (that) are now focusing on student-consumer value over marketing prestige.”

Nine schools from Pennsylvania were listed in the top 100, and five of them were from the southeastern part of the state.

Below is the full list of the 40 Pennsylvania schools that were ranked:

7. Swarthmore College

12. University of Pennsylvania

19. Haverford College

43. Bucknell Univeristy

53. Lafayette College

56. Carnegie Mellon University

58. Franklin and Marshall College

64. Bryn Mawr College

72. Villanova University

74. Lehigh University

87. Dickinson College

111. Gettysburg College

144. Muhlenberg College

152. Penn State University

179. Juniata College

203. Ursinus College

212. University of Pittsburgh

215. St. Joseph’s University

224. Grove City College

240. University of Scranton

242. Allegheny College

283. Washington and Jefferson College

312. Dusquene University

320. Susquehanna University

336. Drexel University

338. Elizabethtown College

348. Lebanon Valley College

350. La Salle University

352. Westminster College

362. Messiah College

392. Saint Vincent College

396. Temple University

470. Moravian College

472. West Chester University

476. Immaculata University

486. Lycoming College

500. King’s College

574. Albright College

592. Millersville University

633. Indiana University of Pennsylvania

California’s Pomona College was ranked number one on the list.

The top schools shared several traits, including low drop-out and transfer rates, low faculty to student ratio, thorough financial aid opportunities, and a high number of applications.

Photo courtesy of Swarthmore College.