Harvard no longer ranked as a top 10 college

On August 31, 2022, Forbes shocked the American public with the unforeseen absence of our nation’s most prized and coveted school, Harvard University, from their top 10 list of colleges. At first glance, this decision seems impossible to be true, but after discovering the factors and ideologies that led to this ranking, it’s clear that Harvard is responsible for its own demotion, perhaps paving the way for the success of less-renowned public schools, and small communal private schools.

Like most American educational institutions, Harvard was forced to teach all of its classes online during 2020 and some of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, causing 33% of freshmen to discontinue their education at Harvard instead of returning for their Sophomore year. Colleges in America are known to be expensive, but Ivy-League schools in particular are known to be ridiculously high-priced. That said, many students who came from impoverished families, lost their jobs during the pandemic, or were otherwise subject to losing money during the pandemic, were forced to give up their studies at Harvard, increasing its rate of dropouts.

In addition to Harvard, three other Ivy-League institutions did not make the cut for the top 10 list, including Brown University, Cornell University and Dartmouth College. This left only Princeton University, Columbia University, Yale University, and the University of Pennsylvania as Ivy-League schools ranked in the top ten slots. 

Furthermore, in 2022, public colleges filled five of Forbes’ twenty-five spots, a much higher ranking for public schools in general. These five schools were the University of California, Berkeley as the second highest-ranked school, the University of California, Los Angeles in the 6th spot, the University of California, Davis ranked as number 12, and the University of Ann Arbor, Michigan as the 25th highest ranked school. This surge in public schools’ success was primarily due to its availability for low income students and small amounts of student debts and loans when compared to private institutions.The Massachusetts Institute of Technology became the second ever public college to reside in the top slot primarily because of its extremely high retention rate and alumni success.

Although Harvard might be living through its record-breaking low, it would take a continuous decline in ratings for it to fully lose its title and legacy as the idyllic, American-dream of a college.