Saint Mary’s named on Forbes List of ‘America’s Best Colleges’

WINONA, Minn. — Forbes.com’s 2010 list of “America’s Best Colleges” ranks Saint Mary’s University as No. 457 out of the 610 schools listed as “the best public and private colleges and universities — from the student's point of view.”

The third-annual ranking of “America's Best Colleges,” compiled by Forbes and the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, ranks a select group of more than 600 undergraduate institutions based on the quality of the education they provide, the experience of the students and how much they achieve.
• They based 27.5 percent of the rankings on student satisfaction, using student evaluations recorded on the website RateMyProfessors.com, freshman-to-sophomore retention rates and student evaluations from MyPlan.com.
• Another 30 percent is based on student postgraduate success, taking into account listings of alumni in “Who’s Who in America,” as well as in the Forbes/CCAP Corporate Officer List, as well as the salary of alumni from Payscale.com.
• An additional 17.5 percent is based on the estimated average student debt after four years.
• Another 17.5 percent is 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 who receive nationally competitive awards.

Forbes.com states, “To our way of thinking, a good college is one that meets student needs. While other college rankings are based in large part on school reputation as evaluated by college administrators, we focus on things which directly concern incoming students: Will my courses be interesting? Is it likely I will graduate in four years? Will I incur a ton of debt getting my degree? And once I get out of school, will I get a good job?”

Dr. Marilyn Frost, vice president for academic affairs, said she is pleased that Saint Mary’s is on the Forbes list. “It shows that our students feel enriched by the experiences they have here, and that they graduate and go on to have successful careers and be productive members of their communities,” Dr. Frost said. “The Forbes listing reinforces positive reports from other student satisfaction surveys, such as the National Survey of Student Engagement and the Princeton Review.”

The list can be found at www.forbes.com/lists/2010/94/best-colleges-10_Americas-Best-Colleges_Rank.html.