When you stop giving points for snob appeal, the truly excellent ones shine through. Plus, our first-of-its-kind ranking of the best colleges for rural America.
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Posted inCollege Guide
After the Closures
How the tidal wave of disappearing colleges will reengineer America’s class system.
Posted inCollege Guide
How Online Algorithms Rig the College Search Process
Search engines steer students with fewer resources toward schools with worse outcomes, many of them predatory for-profits.
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Best Colleges for Rural America
These small-town universities deliver better value by a country mile.
Posted inCollege Guide
America’s Best Colleges for Research
The universities driving American innovation aren’t just in blue states—and neither is the damage from Trump’s research cuts.
Posted inCollege Guide
America’s Best Hispanic-Serving Colleges
In a time of enrollment crunch, universities have a moral and existential obligation to serve the one student population that’s growing. We tracked how good a job they’re doing.
Posted inCollege Guide
A Note on Methodology: Best Colleges for Your Tuition (and Tax) Dollars
To establish the set of colleges included in the rankings, we started with the 1,950 colleges in the 50 states and Washington, D.C., listed in the U.S. Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) that awarded more bachelor’s degrees than associate’s degrees, participated in federal financial aid programs, were offering classes, and had […]
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Fear and Loathing in Palo Alto
Theo Baker’s debut book is a film-worthy investigation of Stanford’s culture of fraud. But his disdain for the tech bros keeps him from understanding them.
Posted in2026 College Guide
Mary Todd Lincoln Reconsidered
Abraham Lincoln’s widow has been lampooned as a narcissistic nut job, but her life of pain and loss was far more nuanced.
Posted in2026 College Guide
The Return of the Native
Nicholas Lemann’s family history illuminates what it means to be Jewish in America and explains how we choose our religious and ethnic identities.