An assortment of institutions as diverse and differentiated as colleges and universities can be ranked and sorted in any number of ways. If not all listing criteria are equally relevant, which ones should you trust to find your best fit schools? Amy and Mike asked Washington Monthly editor-in-chief Paul Glastris to clarify his rankings for the best colleges for your tuition dollars.
What are five things you will learn in this episode?
What's wrong with the metrics that U.S. News and similar ranking systems use to rate colleges?
What alternative metrics would be better to rate colleges?
How can upward mobility of graduates be measured?
Which "hidden gem" colleges should rank highly but don't show up prominently on other lists?
What makes a school a good value for most students?
MEET OUR GUEST
Paul Glastris is editor in chief of the Washington Monthly and founder of the magazine's alternative college rankings. He was previously a speechwriter for President Bill Clinton and a correspondent and editor at U.S. News and World Report. He is a co-founder of the National Vote at Home Institute and co-author of two books, The Other College Guide: A Roadmap to the Right School for You and Elephant in the Room: Washington in the Bush Years. He has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, Politico Magazine, Slate, and other publications.
Paul can be reached at editors@washingtonmonthly.com.
LINKS
Washington Monthly's 2025 College Guide and Rankings
2025 Trends in College Pricing 🎓🦅
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US NEWS & WORLD REPORT COLLEGE RANKINGS
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RETURN ON INVESTMENT IN COLLEGE
ABOUT THIS PODCAST
Tests and the Rest is THE college admissions industry podcast. Explore all of our episodes on the show page.
ABOUT YOUR HOSTS
Mike Bergin is the president of Chariot Learning and founder of TestBright, Roots2Words, and College Eagle. Amy Seeley is the president of Seeley Test Pros and LEAP. If you're interested in working with Mike and/or Amy for test preparation, training, or consulting, get in touch through our contact page.
