The Wall Street Journal ranked the top 500 US colleges. These 13 NC schools made the list
Thirteen of the best colleges and universities in the country are in North Carolina.
That’s according to a new poll from The Wall Street Journal and College Pulse, a firm specializing in research on college students, in collaboration with Statista.
There are many ways to rank colleges. Architectural Digest and College Rover prioritize by most beautiful campuses. Niche looks at schools with great resources in classrooms, performance venues, housing and recreational facilities. The Associated Press Top 25 poll considers success in athletics.
But in this case, the WSJ/College Pulse 2025 Best Colleges in the U.S. ranking scored according to student outcomes, learning environment and diversity at each campus, resulting in a list of 500 institutions.
Rankings: colleges & universities in North Carolina
More than a dozen public and private academic institutions in North Carolina made the list, with two in the top 50.
The highest-ranking school in the state is Davidson College. Located in Davidson, the private institution received a score of 97 for its graduation rate and 88 for its salary impact. Of the categories measured, Davidson received the lowest score, 64, for diversity.
Here’s how the North Carolina schools measured up:
- Davidson College: No. 10 rank, overall score 85.6
- Duke University: No. 45 rank, overall score 80.8
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: No. 59 rank, overall score 79.5
- Wake Forest University: No. 137 rank, overall score 73.1
- Elon University: No. 155 rank, overall score 71.2
- North Carolina State University: No. 167 rank, overall score 70.4
- East Carolina University: No. 222 rank, overall score 65.2
- University of North Carolina at Charlotte: No. 298 rank, overall score 58.7
- Appalachian State University: No. 365 rank, overall score 52.1
- University of North Carolina at Greensboro: No. 380 rank, overall score 50.3
- Western Carolina University: No. 398 rank, overall score 48.5
- North Carolina A&T State University: No. 406 rank, overall score 47.8
- North Carolina Central University: No. 429 rank, overall score 43.6
Scores for Triangle universities
Four schools in the Triangle ranked in the top 500 best schools in the country. Here’s a look at some high and low points in their student outcomes, learning environment and diversity scores.
▪ Duke scored highest in the salary impact (94) and recommendation score (81) categories. It scored lowest in diversity (48).
▪ UNC-Chapel Hill had a perfect graduation rate score (100), and it scored lowest in diversity (58).
▪ N.C. State scored highest in graduation rate (82) and lowest in diversity (50).
▪ N.C. Central scored highest in character development (78) and diversity (76) and lowest in salary impact (16).
How rankings changed from 2024
While the same 13 institutions that made this year’s ranking also made last year’s list, the schools’ placement on the list (which contained only 400 schools in 2024) shifted.
Here’s how the schools ranked last year:
- No. 16: Duke University
- No. 30: Davidson College
- No. 83: UNC-Chapel Hill
- No. 85: Wake Forest University
- No. 106: N.C. State
- No. 215: UNC-Greensboro
- No. 232: Elon University
- No. 235: UNC-Charlotte
- No. 248: East Carolina University
- No. 289: Appalachian State University
- No. 314: North Carolina A&T State University
- No. 353: N.C. Central
- No. 359: Western Carolina University
Methodology behind the 2025 best colleges list
The ranking considered three main categories, with the weight each category received in the rankings listed as a percentage:
- Student outcomes: 70%
- Learning environment: 20%
- Diversity: 10%
Within each component, schools were scored on specific metrics, which were weighted.
The student outcomes score considered:
- Salary impact, 33%: How much a college increased its graduates’ salaries beyond what they would be expected to earn, regardless of which school they attended
- Years to pay off net price, 17%: An estimate of how fast an education at the institution pays for itself through the salary boost it provides
- Graduation rate impact, 20%: A measure of an institution’s performance in ensuring that students graduate, beyond what would have been expected of the students regardless of which school they attended
Learning environment included:
- Learning opportunities, 4%: Measured the quality and frequency of learning opportunities through a student survey asking about interactions with faculty, feedback and the quality of teaching
- Preparation for career, 4%: Reflects the quality and frequency of chances for students to prepare for their careers — through networking opportunities, career advice and support and applied learning — as reported by students
- Learning facilities, 4%: Measures students’ satisfaction with learning-related facilities and services including libraries, internet reliability, classrooms and teaching facilities
- Recommendation score, 4%: The extent to which students would recommend their college
- Character score, 4%: The extent to which students feel their school has developed character strengths that will help them contribute to society, including moral courage, hopefulness, resilience, wisdom and justice
Diversity included:
- Opportunities to interact with students from different backgrounds, 5%
- Ethnic diversity, 1.7%: The probability that two students or two members of faculty chosen at random would be of different ethnicities; higher probability resulted in higher scores
- Inclusion of students with lower family earnings, 1.7%: Proportion of students receiving Pell Grants; higher percentages resulted in higher scores
- Inclusion of students with disabilities, 1.7%: Proportion of students who are disabled; higher percentages resulted in higher scores
This story was originally published September 19, 2024 at 6:00 AM with the headline "The Wall Street Journal ranked the top 500 US colleges. These 13 NC schools made the list."
