McKenna Grant

USATODAY





Research universities are coming in hot for 2015.

The 2015 rankings for the best colleges nationwide, based on undergraduate programs, were released Friday by College Factual, a data-driven college choice resource.

The takeaway? Research institutions fill the top 10 seats and University of Pennsylvania - Philadelphia leads the pack.

“These rankings are based on a pure and distinct focus on data,” says Bill Phelan, co-founder and CEO of College Factual, which aims to help students make better career and college decisions. “We don’t count previous reputations … providing a more unbiased view.”

RELATED: Top 10 business schools in the U.S.



The rankings include 1,394 four-year universities nationwide. They focus more heavily on outcomes, such as starting salary and student loan default rates, rather than inputs, such as acceptance rates.

“We also don’t stop at the top 10 or 100 like other rankings ... the lower 50% of schools is just as important as the top,” says McWilliam, CF vice president.

The top three universities in College Factual's survey:





UPennranks first with a six to one student to faculty ratio and a “high earnings boost” — meaning grads of particular majors overall earn more than those of the same major nationwide. UPenn snagged Harvard’s first-place ranking for 2014.

“The biggest factor shift was student loan default rates … Harvard went down 32 spots on its default rate ranking and UPenn went up 72 spots,” McWilliam says.

Yaleranks second. The very selective Ivy in New Haven, Conn. boasts high graduation rates of 96.2% and, McWilliam says, a reasonable price tag compared to schools of similar quality.

“We look at what you are likely to pay and match that to the quality of the school to determine the best bang for your buck,” McWilliam says.

RELATED: Top 10 engineering colleges in the U.S.

Duke in Durham N.C. claims the No. 3 spot, with its diverse student body and quality of academics – 94.3% of teachers are fulltime. Plenty of face-time with professors!

Harvard and MIT claim spots four and five. Brown, Stanford, Princeton, Dartmouth and University of Notre Dame make up sixth through tenth place.

For high school students -- and their parents -- who are considering colleges, ignoring rankings is a “really expensive experiment,” Phelan says. “We want to help these students find their future faster.”

Follow McKenna Grant on Twitter at @McKGrant.

College Factual is a content partner with USA TODAY College. Their college rankings are outcomes focused, objective and customizable. USA TODAY also publishes rankings from other sources, including The Princeton Review.

This story originally appeared on the USA TODAY College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.