The College Fix

Who says U.S. News & World Report has the monopoly on ranking colleges? Business Insider has gotten in on the action, saying “it turns out there are some majorly underrated and overrated schools.”

Business Insider created its own methodology, noting that “in order to determine which schools were underrated (and overrated), we considered two factors: reputation and salary. We figured that schools with a bad reputation but a high salary would be underrated, and schools with a great reputation but terrible salary would be overrated.”

Here’s the list, but visit Business Insider’s website for a fuller explanation of why each one was picked:

#25 Widener University

#24 Northern Illinois University

#23 University of San Francisco

#22 Michigan Technological University

#21 University of the Pacific

#20 Hampden-Sydney College

#19 Catholic University of America

#18 Adelphi University

#17 Oregon State University

#16 George Mason University

#15 University of Houston

#14 Illinois Institute of Technology

#13 University of Colorado–​Denver

#12 Hofstra University

#11 Louisiana Tech University

#10 Missouri University of Science & Technology

#9 San Diego State University

#8 Clarkson University

#7 University of Maryland–​Baltimore County

#6 Texas Tech University

#5 Pace University

#4 Florida Institute of Technology

#3 New Jersey Institute of Technology

#2 Polytechnic Institute of New York University

And the No. 1 university on this list?

#1 University of Massachusetts–​Lowell

Ranked #680 in our composite of U.S. News’s  college and university lists.

Ranked #82 in PayScale’s  mid-career salary list.

Located in Lowell, MA, UMass Lowell earned the top spot in our ranking this  year. The public school ranked low on US News’ list at #170, but its graduates earned a high average mid-career salary of over $92,000.

Most of the 14,000 students major in business and engineering, which can lead  to well-paying careers.

Note: Although U.S. News ranks colleges and universities  separately, we combined these lists by doubling the ranking. Read  the full methodology here.

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IMAGE: Business Insider screenshot/via Facebook