It’s no surprise that Princeton University landed at the top of a new report ranking New Jersey’s best colleges and universities but how did other Garden State schools fare? With the first early decision college-application deadline looming on Nov. 1 and colleges adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic, WalletHub has just released its 2021’s Best College & University Rankings report.
To come up with its rankings, WalletHub compared more than 1,000 higher-education institutions in the U.S. based on 30 measures grouped into seven categories, such as student selectivity, cost and financing and career outcomes. More specifically, the report looked at things like student-faculty ratio, graduation rate and post-attendance median salary.
Here are NJ’s top 10 colleges and universities, according to Wallet Hub’s new ranking:
1. Princeton University (which also ranked 4th in the country) |
2. Stevens Institute of Technology |
3. Rutgers University-New Brunswick |
4. College of New Jersey
5. New Jersey Institute of Technology |
6. Rutgers University-Newark |
7. Rutgers University-Camden |
8. Ramapo College of New Jersey |
9. Seton Hall University |
10. Stockton University |
Here’s a closeup look at how the top three schools fared on the key metrics measured:
Princeton University (1 = Best; 11 = Average; 21 = Worst):
- 1st– Admission Rate
- 20th– Net Cost
- 1st– Student-Faculty Ratio
- 18th– On-Campus Crime
- 4th– Gender & Racial Diversity
- 1st – Graduation Rate
- 2nd– Post-Attendance Median Salary
Stevens Institute of Technology (1 = Best; 11 = Average; 21 = Worst):
- 2nd– Admission Rate
- 21st– Net Cost
- 4th– Student-Faculty Ratio
- 15th– On-Campus Crime
- 21st– Gender & Racial Diversity
- 3rd– Graduation Rate
- 1st– Post-Attendance Median Salary

Rutgers University-New Brunswick (1 = Best; 11 = Average; 21 = Worst):
- 4th– Admission Rate
- 14th– Net Cost
- 15th– Student-Faculty Ratio
- 1st– On-Campus Crime
- 2nd– Gender & Racial Diversity
- 4th– Graduation Rate
- 5th– Post-Attendance Median Salary
To see the full list of national rankings, click here.
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