Forbes: University of Michigan No. 2 public university in nation

U-M ranked No. 20 overall on annual America's Top Colleges list

Students and fans walk to Michigan Stadium for the first home football game of the season on Sept. 9, 2017. (Credit: Meredith Bruckner)

ANN ARBOR – This week, Forbes released its 12th annual America's Top Colleges ranking and the University of Michigan snagged the No. 2 spot for a public university and placed 20th overall.

University of Michigan is the only Midwestern school to make the top 10 public universities list and the third on the overall list, ranking just below University of Chicago and Northwestern University.

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Here are the top five public universities in the country, according to the ranking:

  • University of California, Berkeley 
  • University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
  • United States Naval Academy
  • United States Military Academy
  • University of Virginia

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Caroline Howard, the director of editorial operations at Forbes, explained how Forbes ranks the schools.

"Forbes’ college ranking is distinguished by its consumer-centric approach," she said in a statement. 

"The evaluation of the 650 undergraduate institutions is based exclusively on the quality of the education they provide, the experiences of the students and their post-graduate success and financial well-being. The ranking provides students and families guidance for a very important and expensive decision that can impact their future."

To determine its rankings, Forbes avoids more common metrics such as acceptance rate, freshman SAT scores and endowments and instead considers student satisfaction, student debt, graduation rate and alumni salary.

See the full list here.

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