Alabama is better than Auburn and state's best university, WalletHub study says
Brad Harper
The Auburn-Alabama rivalry isn’t much of a competition when it comes to best overall universities for students, according to a new study by a national financial advisory site.
An analysis by WalletHub ranks the University of Alabama as the best college or university in the state. It ranks Auburn number 9 in the state, just behind Alabama-Huntsville.
The rankings examined the cost of each school, the admission process, the faculty’s access to resources, on-campus safety, the median salary of former students and more. The University of Alabama had the state’s third-best graduation rate and sixth-best median salary among former students.
The University of West Alabama landed at second place overall, and had the state’s best admission rate, net cost, and gender and racial diversity. It also ranked number 7 for least amount of on-campus crime.
Third place in the Alabama rankings went to the University of Montevallo, which had the state’s third-best admission rate, fifth-best on-campus crime rate and fifth-best student-faculty ratio.
The rankings include all four-year public or non-profit private schools, with the exception of a few that didn’t have enough data across all categories. Those that weren’t considered in Alabama included Amridge University, Athens State University, Judson College, Miles College, Stillman College and Talladega College.
Even the state’s best couldn’t crack the top 200 overall. Among all of colleges and universities nationwide, the University of Alabama ranked number 258. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology took first place, followed by Harvard and Princeton. Vanderbilt was the top school in the Southeast at number 11.
Birmingham-Southern was the top-ranking college in Alabama, when excluding schools with graduate programs. WalletHub ranked it number 52 among all colleges nationwide. Huntingdon College in Montgomery landed at number 91 nationwide, good enough to be ranked the state’s second-best college.
Alabama's Top 10 schools, according to WalletHub
- University of Alabama
- University of West Alabama
- University of Alabama-Birmingham
- Birmingham-Southern College
- Jacksonville State University
- University of Alabama-Huntsville
- Auburn University
- Troy University
Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Brad Harper at bharper1@gannett.com.