Here are the 10 top colleges in the U.S., according to Forbes:

The Forbes ranking of top colleges differs from many other college rankings in that it doesn't consider "input" statistics, such as SAT scores and acceptance rates. Instead, Forbes ranks schools according to a composite score made up of alumni salary (20 percent), student debt (20 percent), student experience (20 percent), alumni professional accomplishments (15 percent), academic success (12.5 percent) and graduation rate (12.5 percent).

Many publications release school rankings, but opinions vary on what makes an institution a top university.

Harvard topped the Forbes' list and five other Ivy League schools also cracked the top 10. Columbia and Cornell were the only Ivy League schools not to make it into this bracket, coming in 13th and 15th, respectively.

The remaining entries on the list include prestigious schools like Stanford and Duke, as well as two technology-focused institutions — MIT and CalTech.

All of the schools in the top 10 are private not-for-profit institutions. The University of California, Berkeley came in 14th this year, the highest ranking for a public university in the history of the Forbes list.

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