Middlebury Ranked 17th in America by Forbes

On the heels of Princeton Review‘s rankings, Forbes.com has released its “America’s Best Colleges” list.

Middlebury college was named the 17th best college in America and the 15th best private college in America. Of our peer schools, Williams, Swarthmore, Wellesley, Bowdoin, and Amherst placed higher.

Lest you think that these are THE rankings (the U.S. News and Report version), Forbes makes sure to differentiate itself by ranking all college/universities together instead of breaking them into categories as U.S. News does. Last year’s U.S News number five ranking is within the “liberal arts schools” category.

Rankings continue to be a guide for prospective students, despite a recent effort to downplay the reliability and criteria for rankings. We at MiddBlog encourage prospective students to check things out for themselves!

Update: the IvyGateBlog sounds off on the poor performance of Ivy League colleges in the Forbes rankings. They cite the Forbes article, “Small liberal arts schools shine in our rankings, probably due to both the quality of their faculty and the personal attention they can provide. Williams and Swarthmore both rank in the top five, while Pomona, Smith, Middlebury and Amherst all come in the top 20, ahead of such schools as Stanford (23rd) and Brown (27th).”