Brooklyn College was ranked no. 5 on CollegeNET’s latest Social Mobility Index (SMI), further validating the college’s work in propelling students up the socioeconomic ladder, finishing second among CUNY campuses. CollegeNET, a provider of web-based on-demand technologies for higher education, recently released their ninth annual rankings list on November 4, which highlights schools that enroll students from low-income backgrounds and graduate them into good paying jobs. “Brooklyn College is proud to consistently rank high related to social mobility and educational value,” said Brooklyn College President Michelle J. Anderson. “Students know that investing in themselves and an educational experience at Brooklyn College will pay great dividends down the road for them and their families.” The SMI is calculated using a formula designed to reflect the following concepts: access, outcome, and institutional capability. CollegeNET collects data from third-party sources including the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard and the National Center for Educational Statistics’ Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). More information about the SMI is available here. CollegeNET’s SMI is computed from several variables: published tuition, percent of student body whose family incomes are below the national median (in fall 2021, 34% of CUNY’s undergraduate students came from households earning less than $20,000 annually), graduation rate, median salary approximately five years after graduation, and endowment. This year, SMI included 1,414 four-year institutions and incorporated a sixth metric called “ethos.” The factor determines how schools’ messaging and communications teach their students and the public about their institutional mission and the value of a college degree. Other quantitative factors include the economic background of the student body, graduation score, early career net salaries, and endowment. In May, Brooklyn College also made The Princeton Review’s 2022 Best Value Colleges for the fourth straight year. Those rankings include public and private colleges that have earned the education services company’s highest ROI (Return on Investment) rating—a score the company tallies using more than 40 data points. The ratings are based on analyses that review more than 40 data points. They cover academic offerings, cost/financial aid, career placement services, graduation rates, and student debt as well as alumni salary levels and job satisfaction. And in April, the college was ranked in the top 8.7% out of 19,788 universities worldwide, according to the 2022–2023 edition of the Global 2,000 list by the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR). Colleges and universities are graded on four factors without relying on surveys and university data submissions: quality of education (25%), alumni employment (25%), quality of faculty (10%), and research performance (40%). This year, 19,788 institutions were ranked, and those that placed at the top made the global 2000 list. And further building on its reputation as an institution that offers high quality education at a great value, Brooklyn College was named a “Best Value” college by College Consensus in March, where it was ranked no. 12 in the nation and no. 4 in New York state. College Consensus rankings combine the results of the most respected college rankings publishers (including Forbes, Money, U.S. News & World Report, and The Wall Street Journal) with the averaged ratings of thousands of real student reviews from around the web to create a unique college meta-ranking. This methodology offers a comprehensive and holistic perspective missing from other college rankings.
