CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — College Consensus, a unique new college ratings website that aggregates publisher rankings and student reviews, has published their ranking of the Best Public Colleges & Universities for 2018 at https://www.collegeconsensus.com/rankings/best-public-colleges/.
To identify the Best Public Colleges 2018, College Consensus combined the latest results from the most respected college rankings with thousands of real student reviews to produce a unique consensus score for each school. According to College Consensus founder Jeremy Alder, “Like Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic does for movies, College Consensus gathers the publisher rankings and student reviews from around the web and distills the results into simple, easy to understand scores so students can quickly and easily compare schools. It is the ranking of all rankings, so to speak.” Learn more about the College Consensus rankings methodology at https://www.collegeconsensus.com/about/.
To help prospective college students and their families evaluate the educational options open to them, College Consensus has identified the best public colleges, according to the combination of published rankings and student reviews.
The top 10, out of more than 350, are:
1. University of California, Berkeley – Berkeley, CA
2. University of California, Los Angeles – Los Angeles, CA
3. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor – Ann Arbor, MI
4. University of Virginia – Charlottesville, VA
5. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – Chapel Hill, NC
6. University of Wisconsin – Madison, WI
7. University of Texas at Austin – Austin, TX
8. College of William & Mary – Williamsburg, VA
9. James Madison University – Harrisonburg, VA
10. SUNY College at Geneseo – Geneseo, NY
“Public schools often get ignored in rankings, despite their critical mission,” as Managing Editor Carrie Sealey-Morrisexplains, “But College Consensus is different.” While the Ivy League and the wealthy, elite private research universities may get the most press and attention, dominating rankings and general awareness, “Public colleges & universities are a vital part of higher education in America.”
That is because of what public institutions offers, namely accessibility: “Public schools generally provide a more affordable and accessible option for students than private colleges,” according to Sealey-Morris, “helping to democratize higher education and build a more broadly educated citizenship.” That has an overall impact on society as a whole, ensuring that the “future leaders and scholars across the nation can find the best options for their needs.” That’s why the College Consensus ranking of the Best Public Colleges & Universities is a valuable guide for college-bound young people, nontraditional-aged students, working professionals, and everyone else.
“College Consensus gets the broadest ranking of the best public schools in the US,” according to Managing Editor Carrie Sealey-Morris, by “bringing together a full selection of data from publishers and student reviews.” “National publishers use surveys, investigation, and statistics to rank colleges, while students writing their own reviews use their own experience,” as Sealey-Morris explains, and College Consensus “gives every method and voice its due.”
It’s this College Consensus methodology that makes Consensus rankings exceptional: “We are interested in the big picture, not relying just on one perspective or methodology.” By taking the long view, College Consensus can become an invaluable part of a prospective college student’s research process. As Sealey-Morris asserts, College Consensus is “letting the unsung but much-loved smaller college have its day right alongside the biggest names. That’s what makes College Consensus unique.”
College Consensus is a new approach to college rankings. We combine the latest results from the most respected college ranking systems with thousands of real student review scores from around the web to produce an aggregate College Consensus rating for each school.
Source: College Consensus