Brigham Young University is a top 20 college, according to The Wall Street Journal and College Pulse’s 2024 Best Colleges in the U.S. list.
The list ranks the top 400 colleges and universities in the country and scores them out of 100. The top five schools were Princeton University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University, Stanford University and Columbia University. BYU came in at No. 20 on the list.
The survey rated colleges based on salary impact versus similar colleges, graduation rate versus similar colleges, years to pay off net price, learning opportunities, preparation of career, learning facilities, recommendation score, diversity, average net price and value added to graduate salary.
Brigham Young University scored 95 when it came to salary impact and also had scores above 90 for learning facilities and recommendation score.
The average net price of BYU was listed at $13,522 and the value added to graduate salary was determined to be $44,630, per The Wall Street Journal.
Student outcomes like salary impact and graduation rate were weighed at 70% of the overall score, learning environment was weighed at 20% and diversity was weighed at 10%, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The data came from several sources, including the U.S. Education Department’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey and “one of the largest-ever independent surveys of verified college students and recent alumni” consisting of 60,953 participants.
Schools ranked No. 6 to 10 were Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, Amherst College, Claremont McKenna College and Babson Colllege. Other Utah schools were ranked in the top 400, including the University of Utah at No. 43, Weber State University at No. 267, Utah Valley University at No. 278 and Utah State University at No. 293.