Thursday, July 30, 2015

West Point Has Had a Good Week


The academies usually do better on Forbes's list than on Newsweek's because Newsweek emphasizes spending per student (which is stupid if you care about tuition costs) where Forbes tries to calculate Return on Investment (ROI).  It was primarily for this reason that Forbes ranked USMA #1 a few years ago, causing a kind of existential crisis amongst some of the traditionally top tier schools on the Newsweek list.  West Point has finished consistently somewhere around the #10 mark on the Forbes list ever since, which makes me think that maybe Forbes tweaked their algorithm a bit in the wake of the controversy.

Regardless, Forbes still considers affordability and attempts to calculate outcomes per graduate, and this has consistently made its list a quite bit different from some of the others.  It certainly gives West Point an advantage because at the Academy, every cadet is commissioned into the Army upon graduation.  That's a 100% employment rate into a career with excellent advancement prospects.  For this same reason, I think the Forbes list probably holds a little more value for most would be students than do most of the others.  However, if money is not an issue in your house, then you may get more out of Newsweek's list since it's more well known.


The Forbes thing didn't surprise me, but this one did.  Granted, I personally really enjoy games at Michie Stadium, but I'd have bet millions that the schools in the SEC would dominate this list.

This next bit doesn't concern the Academy but is nevertheless excellent news.

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