The Alumni Factor

The Alumni Factor equally weights all of its attributes, providing a more objective look at each college or university.

In September of last year, graduates of some of the nation’s most prestigious colleges and universities, who were accustomed to seeing their schools place high in popular college ranking publications, got an unexpected surprise, The Alumni Factor. This new college ranking platform shakes up the traditional college ranking approach using objective alumni data in rating schools based on how successful their graduates are in their careers and lives. There are many schools on the Alumni Factor’s list of America’s top colleges that have rarely achieved the coveted top 10 positions in established college rankings.

Other college ranking publications are based on such subjective factors as reputation and peer assessment. The Alumni Factor equally weights all of its attributes, providing a more objective look at each college or university. Its findings are based on surveys and interviews of more than 42,000 alumni from over 450 schools during the past four years. Researchers measured 15 different factors, including income, net worth, job opportunities, intellectual development and overall happiness. The Alumni Factor is also independent. It is not affiliated with any news organization, publishing house or any other organization in the secondary education arena.

According to the Alumni Factor website, they have three primary goals:

1. To give prospective students and their parents a more empowering performance-based method of measuring and choosing colleges.
2. To give colleges and universities an objective assessment of their performance, based on the actual results of and input from their own alumni that can be compared to other relevant colleges and universities. This is often difficult for an individual school to achieve on its own, but is essential to its improvement.
3. To give college alumni themselves a better perspective on the role their college played in their personal development and in the development of others, and how that compares to other colleges. This is interesting and entertaining for alumni, but it also helps improve colleges, since alumni are often active and influential voices as colleges set their improvement agendas.

On The Alumni Factor website, members have the option of creating personalized rankings based on weighting of its key attributes. For example, the “Match Me to U” feature allows students to weight attributes, which are critical to them, then it generates a personalized list of top college fits. The top 177 college and universities are listed on their website however, if you want to see the in-depth profiles you will have to purchase The Alumni Factor’s 512-page full color book for $29.95. The company also offers a monthly fee of $5.95 for unlimited access to its website, which includes information on over 1,300 colleges and universities.

The Alumni Factor ranking platform truly provides students and parents with a performance-based method of assessing and selecting the best college for each student’s unique needs.

Westface College Planning can help you navigate the college saving and funding process from start to finish. To learn how we can help you call us at 650-587-1559 or sign up for one of our Tackling the Runaway Costs of College Workshops or Webinars.

Photo Credit: adrielhampton