For a second year in a row, Babson College, a private institution in Wellesley, beat out the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University to earn second place in The Wall Street Journal and College Pulse’s new ranking of the 2026 best colleges in the United States.
Before that, Babson placed 10th in the 2024 ranking from the publication.
“This moment is a clear testament to the transformative power of entrepreneurial leadership — not just as a business discipline, but as a catalyst for change. It tells the world that entrepreneurial leadership is essential in every field, every sector, and every community,” Stephen Spinelli, Babson’s president said in a statement.
He said the top position in the rankings is a “springboard for continued growth and impact.”
The rankings were based on factors such as: graduation rates and diversity and learning environments. Babson earned top scores for its learning environment, according to the outlet.
Meanwhile, Stanford University took first place in the rankings from the outlet, the first time since 2017. Other institutions, including Ivy League institutions like Yale University, Princeton University and Harvard University, ran down the list following Babson.
Other Massachusetts institutions also earned top spots, including MIT taking 11th and Bentley University taking 12th.
Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania took eighth and ninth. Smaller institutions, including Claremont McKenna College and Davidson College took sixth and 10th.
Eighteen of the top 20 schools are the same this year, according to the outlet.
The entrepreneurial emphasis and hands-on learning at Babson were highlighted by the outlet as reasons for its top position.
The outlet particularly mentioned Babson’s year-long course, where groups of students pitch an entrepreneurial project and receive a loan of up to $3,000 to fund it, as a reason for its high placement.
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