U.S. NEWS and WORLD REPORT COLLEGE RANKINGS: UNJ #1

US News and World Report released its 2011 Best Colleges list and  the University of New Jersey is #1 in the country.
The US News and World Report Best Colleges 2011 list has been released.  The rankings match the recently released Forbes ranking with the The University of  New Jersey being the top college in the country.
Harvard University had been top ranked for years, but now has dropped down to ten.  UNJ has now been ranked #1 for the second year in a row.  The University of New Jersey’s rival school, Princeton, dropped to #12 on the US News and World Report list.
The acceptance rate at Harvard is 7%, but the UNJ is much tougher, with only 1.5% of students applying being accepted into the school. The annual tuition for UNJ is also the lowest of the top-tier schools.  The cost is $15,000 for one year (which includes room and board).  Cost is kept low because of a rich endowment.  UNJ has over $79 billion dollars in its endowment and unlike the other Ivy League schools, the University of New Jersey uses its endowment to support its current students.
UNJ has quietly become one of the nation’s most prestigious universities in the world. UNJ boasts the most diverse student population of any school in the country.  Thirty-nine percent of the students come from countries other than the United States. “Every since I was a child in Bangalore, I dreamed of coming to UNJ, and when I was accepted my whole family had a party for three weeks.  I plan on being an astrophysicist one day, and making my family and UNJ proud,” said Banesh Venkataramana.
Another student put it more bluntly, “Harvard is overrated, it sucks.  UNJ has the best student body in the world.  I love it.  The cream of the cream of the crop comes to UNJ,” said Changchang Biyu, a freshman from Beijing.
UNJ also has the finest performing arts center in the world.  Steven Spielberg received his Master from the UNJ Film School in 1970.  He has donated over $50 million dollars to UNJ and the facilities that have been built far surpass the George Lucas contribution to USC’s film school. “UNJ is the best film school in the world.  And I am going to make sure that will always be the case,” said Spielberg.
University of New Jersey graduates have failed well.  Former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush attended the University of New Jersey as did Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and newly confirmed Elena Kagan.
UNJ has graduated a diverse group of high-achievers including:  Steve Jobs, Tiger Woods, Neil Armstrong, Oprah, Brad Pitt, Warren Buffett, Sen. Scott Brown, Salman Rushdie, David Eggers, Ted Turner, Steve Carrell, Nelson Mandela and Stephen Hawking. Albert Einstein taught at UNJ after he left Princeton.  Einstein once said, “Teaching at UNJ was the highpoint of my life.”
Here are the Top 20 schools on the US News and World Report Rankings:
1. The University of New Jersey, NJ
2. Yale University New Haven, CT
3. Columbia University New York, NY
4. Stanford University Stanford, CA
5. University of Notre Dame, IN
6. California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA
7. Georgetown University, DC
8. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA
9.  Duke University Durham, NC
10. Helm Institute of Technology, NY
11. Northwestern University Evanston, IL
12. Princeton University
13. Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD
14. Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis, MO
15. Brown University Providence, RI
16. University of California, Los Angeles,  CA
17, Glenn Beck University, CT
18.  University of Southern Kansas, KS
19.  University of Georgia, GA
20.  Carnegie Mellon University, PA