Forbes.com Names Converse Among Top 20% in Nation

Forbes.com has ranked Converse among the top 20% of higher education institutions in the nation in their annual America’s Top Colleges list.

According to Forbes.com editor Michael Noer, the ranking “focuses on the things that matter the most to students: quality of teaching, great career prospects, graduation rates and low levels of debt.”

The rankings are prepared for Forbes by the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, a Washington, D.C. think tank founded by Ohio University economist Richard Vedder. They are based on five general categories:

• Post Graduate Success (30%), which evaluates alumni pay and prominence,

• Student Satisfaction (27.5%), which includes professor evaluations and freshman to sophomore year retention rates,

• Debt (17.5%), which penalizes schools for high student debt loads and default rates,

• Four Year Graduation Rate (17.5%) and

• Competitive Awards (7.5%), which rewards schools whose students win prestigious scholarships and fellowships like the Rhodes, the Marshall and the Fulbright (of which Converse has had two in the last three years).

For the complete list, visit Forbes.com.