Forbes’ 2025 “New Ivies” list names 20 U.S. colleges—10 public and 10 private—that passed the publisher’s admissions and enrollment screens and drew favorable employer survey responses. It is Forbes’s label, not an official designation or a ranking of the best colleges for every student; the schools are presented in no particular order.
Which colleges are on Forbes’ 2025 New Ivies list?
Forbes published its list on March 26, 2025, and updated the article on August 18, 2026. These are the 20 selected institutions, grouped by public or private status rather than ranked. Forbes’ list and methodology and University Business’ coverage describe the selection.
Private colleges
- Carnegie Mellon University (Pennsylvania)
- Emory University (Georgia)
- Georgetown University (District of Columbia)
- Johns Hopkins University (Maryland)
- Northwestern University (Illinois)
- Rice University (Texas)
- Tufts University (Massachusetts)
- University of Notre Dame (Indiana)
- Vanderbilt University (Tennessee)
- Washington University in St. Louis (Missouri)
Public colleges
- Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia)
- Purdue University (Indiana)
- University of Texas at Austin (Texas)
- United States Military Academy at West Point (New York)
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (Illinois)
- University of Michigan–Ann Arbor (Michigan)
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (North Carolina)
- University of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania)
- University of Virginia (Virginia)
- William & Mary (Virginia)
Six schools were newcomers to the 2025 list: Washington University in St. Louis, Tufts, Purdue, West Point, the University of Pittsburgh, and William & Mary.
What does “employers love” mean in this list?
Forbes surveyed more than 380 C-suite executives, vice presidents, and other managers about their hiring preferences and views of how colleges prepare entry-level candidates. The responses indicate perceptions among those participants; they are not a count of graduates hired, a measure of graduate salaries, or proof that a degree from any listed school causes a better job outcome.
#1 Best Overall
In Forbes’ 2025 survey, 38% of respondents said they were more likely than five years earlier to hire graduates of public colleges, about one-third said the same about non-Ivy private-college graduates, and 6% said they were more likely to hire Ivy League graduates. On preparation for entry-level work, 42% said public colleges were doing a better job than five years earlier, 30% said about the same, and 16% said worse. For non-Ivy private colleges, the corresponding responses were 37% better, 33% about the same, and 17% worse.
Views of Ivy League candidates were also mixed: 37% of respondents said they were less likely than five years earlier to hire an Ivy League graduate, and 12% said they would never hire one. Forbes reported that four in ten respondents thought Ivies were doing worse at preparing entry-level candidates, three in ten about the same, and 8% improving. These are survey answers, not representative estimates of all employers: Forbes does not provide a probability-sampling basis, full questionnaire, or respondent-level data.
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How did Forbes choose the schools?
Forbes started with four-year U.S. public and private nonprofit degree-granting colleges, using the latest National Center for Education Statistics data available to it. It excluded the eight traditional Ivy League institutions and the four schools it calls “Ivy plus”: Stanford, MIT, Duke, and the University of Chicago. Its stated screens were:
- At least 3,500 students enrolled at a private college or 4,000 at a public college.
- An admissions rate below 20% for private colleges or below 50% for public colleges.
- High standardized test scores.
Schools meeting those screens were then considered by employers who subscribe to Forbes C-suite newsletters. Forbes reported median SAT/ACT scores of 1530/34 for the private schools and 1410/32 for the public schools. Those are list-level medians, not minimum scores for admission or a promise about a particular college. Because thresholds and usable score reporting shape eligibility, the list reflects Forbes’ chosen method rather than every possible measure of academic quality, value, or employer interest.
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Why isn’t UCLA or UC Berkeley on the list?
Forbes said it did not consider the University of California system because it does not report scores for this ranking. That excludes UCLA and UC Berkeley under Forbes’ stated process; it is not evidence that either school lacks academic strength or employer appeal. The San Francisco Chronicle’s account of California schools and the list also notes that Caltech fell below the 3,500-undergraduate enrollment threshold and that Pepperdine’s acceptance rate was around 50%, above Forbes’ private-college cutoff. It reports that the CSU system’s elimination of SAT/ACT from admissions contributed to its absence. These are methodology-related exclusions, not verdicts on the schools.
Does the list identify a single best college?
No. Forbes says West Point scored highest among the public schools with the employers it surveyed, with favorable responses associated with discipline, leadership, and teamwork. But the academy is not a conventional civilian-college choice: Forbes says tuition is free for cadets who graduate, who become Army lieutenants and owe five years of active duty plus three years in the reserves. The military mission and service obligation are central to that choice.
Rank #4
Other schools illustrate why a single label cannot capture campus fit. Forbes describes William & Mary, founded in 1693, as a smaller public option with academic rigor. College counselor Chris Teare characterized it as suited to “more scholarly students who relish academic rigor,” while contrasting the University of Virginia as more pre-professional, with major Division I sports and a stronger campus “rah-rah” atmosphere. These are perspectives, not a formal comparison or a rule about who will thrive at either institution.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How should applicants use the New Ivies list?
Treat it as one signal about employer perceptions, then compare schools against your own finances and goals. For a practical shortlist, check:
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- Helpful in various ways
- Program: Does the specific major, curriculum, advising, and experiential learning match the work you want to pursue?
- Cost: Compare net price after grants and scholarships, likely borrowing, and the terms of any aid. A public/private label alone does not determine what you will pay.
- Career access: Look at internships, co-ops, alumni networks, recruiting in your intended field, and outcomes for the program—not just a broad employer-reputation label.
- Place and campus: Consider geography, size, setting, student culture, and distance from family or likely job markets.
- Admissions reality: Build a balanced list based on your own academic record and circumstances; Forbes’ eligibility screens are not admissions advice or an individual prediction.
Forbes reported that William & Mary received 17,799 applications in 2024, 25% more than in 2020, and that Washington University admitted 13% of 27,900 applicants in 2024. Those historical figures show that demand can be intense, but they are not current admissions forecasts or a substitute for each school’s latest published data.
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