Mass. school takes amazing leap in WSJ list of best colleges

Babson College jumped from 126th to 2nd in just a few years.

The Wall Street Journal has ranked three Massachusetts schools among the nation’s top 10 colleges. But the college that finished highest among the three might be surprising.

In a real comeback story, Babson College soared up the rankings from the 126th spot in 2022 to No. 10 last year before jumping to second place in the 2025 Best Colleges in the U.S. ranking.

While Princeton University again received first place out of 500, other Mass. schools also ranked highly. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology ranked No. 6, Harvard University ranked No. 7, and Bentley University ranked No. 11.

The Wall Street Journal said its ranking measures how well each college prepares graduates for financial success. The rankings examined how the school improves students’ chances of graduating and their future earnings, while balancing those outcomes with student feedback on college life.

The rankings did not include reputation or the college’s finances.

Schools with strong tech or business programs ranked well, including Babson College and Stanford University, which ranked third.

The Wall Street Journal says Babson’s ranking was based on the real-world experience students gain as soon as they step on campus. Opportunities for experiential learning are built into the curriculum, like the mandatory Foundations of Management and Entrepreneurship class, where students are given $3,000 to launch a startup during their first year at school.

Classes also teach students how to deal with unexpected challenges any new business will likely face.

“It is not a simulation,” Ethan Ide, a junior at Babson, told the Wall Street Journal. “You’re working with international suppliers, and you have a website, and you’re selling to people across the globe. Getting that hands-on experience from day one was kind of insane.”

The college’s president, Stephen Spinelli, told the Wall Street Journal that he aims to graduate not just entrepreneurs but “entrepreneurial leaders” — people entering the workforce who are more likely to pioneer new initiatives within broader organizations.

Here are the Top 20 Colleges in Massachusetts according to the WSJ:

2. Babson College

6. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

7. Harvard University

11. Bentley University

65. College of the Holy Cross

86. Wellesley College

90. Worcester Polytechnic Institute

100. Boston College

120. Amherst College

168. Northeastern University

171. Boston University

172. Wentworth Institute of Technology

173. Stonehill College

174. Williams College

205. Simmons University

246. Suffolk University

281. University of Massachusetts Amherst

282. Tufts University

313. University of Massachusetts Lowell

331. University of Massachusetts Boston

The WSJ’s national top 20 colleges and universities:

1. Princeton University

2. Babson College

3. Stanford University

4. Yale University

5. Claremont McKenna College

6. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

7. Harvard University

8. University of California, Berkeley

9. Georgia Institute of Technology, Main Campus

10. Davidson College

11. Bentley University

12. University of California, Davis

13. University of Pennsylvania

14. Columbia University

15. Lehigh University

16. San José State University

17. University of Notre Dame

18. University of California, Merced

19. Virginia Tech

20. Harvey Mudd College