When you look at college rankings, they grade schools overall, and in various specific categories. Some of these are intuitive; the #1 ranked college in computer science is, presumably, the best college for students interested in computer science based on the ranker’s metrics and calculations. Some categories, however, are more opaque, and it is one of those we are examining today: Social Mobility.
You can see an example of this kind of list from US News, one of the most-cited college ranking organizations. This is just another ranking amongst dozens they offer, but is quite relevant to many students, and sees some colleges ranked quite highly that otherwise do not on these lists. In this article, we’re going to look at what social mobility rankings mean, how they’re calculated, and whether or not this should impact where you apply to college.
What is a Social Mobility Ranking?
We’re going to begin by defining social mobility in terms of college education. This is the function where a college takes in a student of a low socio-economic background, and thanks to the education and opportunities they receive at the college, they are able to enter a higher socio-economic tier. This doesn’t mean that everyone who attends the college immediately becomes a millionaire; these are aggregated scores, looking at the whole population of students.
Thus these rankings are calculated by looking at where students are when they come in, and comparing it to how they fare after graduation. US News conveniently publishes their methodology behind their college rankings, allowing us to look at this in more detail.
Note that this ranking specifically looks at how students improve due to attending a college. If a college attracts a significant portion of students who are already from a high socio-economic background, then it doesn’t get any points if they remain such after they graduate. This can cause many top colleges to have lower ranks in this category; while top colleges do seek to serve all students, many of them have a high population of students from well-off backgrounds.
These rankings are also major and field of study blind. There are separate investigations which look at how well certain majors at a university prepare students for a career (And how well those careers pay), but that isn’t covered by social mobility rankings. The expectation for these rankings is that regardless of what a student majors in, the university should give them the resources and connections needed to see success.
Finally, as with all college rankings, these should be taken with a major grain of salt. Rankings do not, and cannot, capture every nuance of what a college offers, nor do they offer advice specific to your situation. They may give you a place to begin looking, but they can only ever be a starting point for more in-depth investigations.
What Are the Best Colleges for Social Mobility?
The top ranked universities for social mobility vary by who’s doing the ranking, so here’s the list from US News as a starting point. You can see their full list here, but here are their top five schools for social mobility in 2027:
- Florida International University
- UC Riverside
- Oakland City University
- UC Merced
- Rutgers University
None of these are bad schools, and you can get a great education at most of them. They are not, however, synonymous with excellence; none of them are in the top fifty, and the highest rated overall (Again by US News) is UC Merced at 69th. We’ve criticized college rankings plenty, but why is there such a gap between what schools rank well overall and which rank highly for social mobility.
To drive this point home, here are some of the top ranked colleges, and where they list on this social mobility ranking:
- MIT: #81 Social Mobility (#1 Overall)
- Princeton: #40 Social Mobility (#2 Overall)
- Harvard: #68 Social Mobility (#3 Overall)
- Yale: #68 Social Mobility (#4 Overall)
- Caltech: #123 Social Mobility (#5 Overall)
So what gives? Are these top schools actually terrible at helping students from less-advantaged backgrounds gain success? Not quite; the disconnect stems from how social mobility rankings are calculated.
These rankings are looking at how good the university is overall at helping students advance their social standing, and this is based on the percentage of students who attend who do so. A plurality of students entering Harvard, or Yale, or Princeton, or indeed most top-rated colleges already come from well-off backgrounds. Not all students, certainly, but a significant and high percentage of them.
Thus these rankings always rate top universities quite low. They simply do not help many students from less well-off backgrounds advance than some of their peers, either in terms of strict numbers, or as a percentage of attendees.
Social Mobility vs Return on Investment
An alternate, and perhaps more useful metric to use when evaluating these colleges is return on investment. Top colleges are expensive (though often not as much as they appear), and so a better thing for many students to look at is what return on investment they’ll get from attending a particular school.
US News and others often rank Return on Investment using terms like “Best Value Schools”, the colleges that give you the best value for your dollar. For many top universities, this is a far better measure of how well they will do at helping you advance your condition than their ranking on social mobility.
Most top colleges do a better job at helping any individual student from a low socio-economic background enter a higher one than schools which may have a much higher social mobility ranking. While top colleges are better at serving individual students, the schools that rank highly do a better job at improving the lot of larger numbers of students.
What Does This Mean for You?
The first and most important thing to be aware of when considering a college’s potential impact on your future is that attending and graduating from an accredited college, regardless of degree, has a significant positive impact on your future earnings. This does not mean that all degrees are equal, but college itself, the credentials it gives you and the doors it opens, is often the most important part.
What you should be looking for, if you are concerned about your future prospects, are schools that will best support your opportunities, and set you up for success. These are the factors we look at with students, especially those who are most concerned with social mobility.
Overall Cost
The most important factor to consider is the overall cost of a university. Note that this isn’t the same as their listed tuition, especially for top schools; this is how much you end up paying after financial aid, but while including things like housing and supplies. The less you spend on college, and the less debt you have when you graduate, the more of a leg up you have afterwards.
This metric generally makes top colleges more appealing. While they have much higher tuition costs, they also have far more generous need based aid, and often cover non-tuition costs with this aid. This will depend on you and your situation; we advise using tuition calculators to get estimates of how much each college will really cost you.
Networking and Connections
There is a very old cliche about who you know being more important than what you know. This isn’t entirely true; you do need some baseline qualifications to get any job. Many jobs, however, are easier to get with connections, and when choosing between two candidates, one with a networked “in” most often lands on top.
You can do networking at all colleges, but top ranked colleges often have more (and more prestigious) industry contacts, alumni networks with more connections, and more opportunities for students to find internships and job placements through campus. When it comes to finding a job after graduation, these connections can help as much if not more than the degree you hold.
Final Thoughts
Colleges are one of the best ways to improve your future prospects, to open up new career pathways, and to expand your options. We hope that this article has helped you understand how a college can boost your own prospects, and why social mobility rankings may not be the best measure to use.
These are an important measure, and top colleges certainly could do more to help an increased number of students, but as the metrics exist now, social mobility tells you more about a college’s impacts societally than on an individual basis. As always, however, which college is right for you is a fully individual determination, for each student and situation is different.
If you are looking for advice specific to your situation, or want help finding the college which will give you the best return on your investment, Ivy Scholars is here for you. Our mentors are skilled at every aspect of the admissions process, and specializing in assisting students in finding the universities which best align with their goals and needs. Schedule a free consultation today to learn more; we’re always happy to hear from you.
