The 50 schools on our list of Colleges That Create Futures empower students to discover practical applications for their talents and interests through experiences that complement their classes and coursework.
From internships and co-op programs to assisting with faculty research, the students on these campuses have tons of opportunities to gain the professional experience they need to launch great careers.
Criteria for Our List
To cull our list of the fifty schools in Colleges That Create Futures, 2nd edition, we began with a pool of nearly 1,000 academically outstanding schools we profile for The Best 384 Colleges, The Best Value Colleges, and/or our Best Regional Colleges lists.
From that core group of exemplary and highly diverse colleges, we worked to establish some parameters by which we could identify the schools that were not only academically first-rate but also first-rate at helping their students move on to successful and rewarding post-graduate chapters. We looked at data from our own surveys of students and administrators, and we personally reached out to administrators, faculty, students and alumni at dozens of schools. We also sought feedback from our Princeton Review editors and test-prep experts who are on college campuses and have their ears to the ground about exemplary programs at various institutions.
In particular, we identified schools that reported a significant percentage of graduates pursuing further study, and colleges at which students we surveyed gave their schools high ratings in categories that ranged from career services and internship opportunities to community service and extracurricular engagement.
Student, Faculty, and Staff Opinion
Our interviews with administrators, faculty, and alumni at these schools generated a wealth of rich and useful insights about their campus facilities and programs. Among other things, we asked administrators to identify unique hands-on learning programs on campus. We asked faculty to give us the scoop on the specific skills their students acquire by graduation. Finally, we asked alumni to share the ways their campus experiences shaped their career trajectories.
From that broad range of data, student and administrator surveys, and insightful feedback from current students, deans, professors, and alumni, we present our profiles of these 50 extraordinary colleges. We hope our profiles will give you a panoramic picture of how each of these schools prepares their students for careers that suit them and well into their futures.