在美国大约150所四年制大学和学院里面，哪些能给学生带来最大的回报率，即是在相对合理的价格提供学生良好的教育，然后让他们拥有薪酬丰厚的职业生涯？为了找到答案，我们去掉一些有财务困难或数据不充分的学校，并精选了一些处于或高于同级别学校毕业率的（公立或私立）学校名单。在余下来的665所学校中，我们用三个同样重要的分类（教育质量、经济能力和毕业生薪酬），共18个因素（包括：一个附加价值的评分，由该校学生的经济和学术背景和该单位主要的专业构成）。以下是得分前50的学校：
| 排名 | 名称 | 位置 | 附加价值得分 | 获得学位费用估值 | 位早期职业薪酬 |
| 1 | Babson College | Wellesley, Mass. | A | $198,900 | $59,700 |
| 2 | Webb Institute | Glen Cove, N.Y. | B | $77,600 | $65,400 |
| 3 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Cambridge, Mass. | B | $154,800 | $68,600 |
| 4 | Princeton University | Princeton, N.J. | B | $146,200 | $56,100 |
| 5 | Stanford University | Stanford, Calif. | B+ | $168,800 | $61,300 |
| 6 | Harvard University | Cambridge, Mass. | B | $181,200 | $55,300 |
| 7 | Harvey Mudd College | Claremont, Calif. | B+ | $187,700 | $73,300 |
| 8 | Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art | New York, N.Y. | B- | $146,800 | $61,400 |
| 9 | Brigham Young University | Provo, Utah | A- | $82,000 | $50,000 |
| 10 | California Institute of Technology | Pasadena, Calif. | B- | $174,800 | $68,400 |
| 11 | University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia, Pa. | B+ | $201,600 | $57,200 |
| 12 | Maine Maritime Academy | Castine, Maine | A | $105,000 | $64,100 |
| 13 | University of California – Berkeley | Berkeley, Calif. | A- | $126,800 | $54,700 |
| 14 | Williams College | Williamstown, Mass. | B | $168,600 | $50,400 |
| 15 | Yale University | New Haven, Conn. | B | $182,800 | $50,000 |
| 16 | University of Virginia | Charlottesville, Va. | B | $94,100 | $51,000 |
| 17 | Amherst College | Amherst, Mass. | B | $156,700 | $53,000 |
| 18 | Virginia Military Institute | Lexington, Va. | B+ | $89,100 | $54,200 |
| 19 | Brown University | Providence, R.I. | B+ | $192,000 | $52,300 |
| 20 | Rice University | Houston, Texas | B- | $149,900 | $55,700 |
| 20 | Notre Dame | Notre Dame, Ind. | B | $184,500 | $54,000 |
| 22 | University of Michigan – Ann Arbor | Ann Arbor, Mich. | B | $94,500 | $54,000 |
| 22 | Columbia University | New York, N.Y | B- | $206,800 | $57,600 |
| 24 | Texas A & M University | College Station, Texas | B+ | $86,000 | $51,900 |
| 24 | Cornell University | Ithaca, N.Y. | B | $194,300 | $57,000 |
| 24 | Dartmouth College | Hanover, N.H. | B | $189,000 | $55,000 |
| 27 | Colgate University | Hamilton, N.Y | B | $186,500 | $51,800 |
| 28 | Bentley University | Waltham, Mass. | A | $177,500 | $54,700 |
| 28 | University of Florida | Gainesville, Fla. | B+ | $87,000 | $47,600 |
| 28 | Lafayette College | Easton, Pa. | B+ | $178,400 | $57,600 |
| 31 | University of California – Los Angeles | Los Angeles, Calif. | A | $126,700 | $49,600 |
| 32 | Swarthmore College | Swarthmore, Pa. | B- | $174,800 | $51,000 |
| 32 | Lehigh University | Bethlehem, Pa. | B+ | $190,600 | $58,500 |
| 32 | Principia College | Elsah, Ill. | B | $65,500 | $42,200 |
| 32 | University of California – Irvine | Irvine, Calif. | A | $122,900 | $48,900 |
| 32 | Duke University | Durham, N.C. | B | $192,800 | $55,900 |
| 37 | University of Washington at Bothell | Bothell, Wash. | A | $125,700 | $52,100 |
| 37 | Georgetown University | Washington, D.C. | B+ | $204,500 | $53,000 |
| 39 | Washington and Lee University | Lexington, Va. | B | $149,400 | $48,000 |
| 40 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | Chapel Hill, N.C. | B | $84,100 | $44,200 |
| 40 | Manhattan College | Riverdale, N.Y. | A | $161,500 | $55,200 |
| 42 | Georgia Institute of Technology | Atlanta, Ga. | B- | $107,800 | $60,700 |
| 42 | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | Blacksburg, Va. | B+ | $115,300 | $51,700 |
| 44 | Bowdoin College | Brunswick, Maine | B- | $179,800 | $48,500 |
| 45 | Bucknell University | Lewisburg, Pa. | B+ | $198,100 | $53,400 |
| 46 | University of California – San Diego | La Jolla, Calif. | A | $124,900 | $49,300 |
| 47 | University of Washington at Seattle | Seattle, Wash. | B+ | $117,500 | $49,300 |
| 47 | Middlebury College | Middlebury, Vt. | B | $202,800 | $51,900 |
| 47 | Claremont McKenna College | Claremont, Calif. | B | $196,700 | $50,100 |
| 50 | Pomona College | Claremont, Calif. | B- | $162,800 | $48,500 |
| 50 | Massachusetts Maritime Academy | Buzzards Bay, Mass. | B | $98,700 | $54,700 |
| 50 | Vanderbilt University | Nashville, Tenn. | C+ | $160,800 | $52,100 |
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