There are many factors that make a school "the best" for a given student. However, many clients ask me how New England's flagship public state universities compare academically. To answer that question objectively, I created the table below which compares the six state universities in New England across seven categories that help indicate the quality of the students, education, and experience at a college.

The categories I compared are as follows:

1. Six year graduation rate as listed in Naviance.

2. Freshman retention rate as listed in Naviance.

3. National university rank according to US News.

4. The percentage of students who were in the top 10% of their high school class from collegedata.com

5. The average freshman GPA listed on collegedata.com

6. The average freshman ACT score listed on collegedata.com

7. The acceptance rate listed in Naviance.

As seen in the table, with only a few exceptions, the order of indicators, from best to worst, is as follows:

1. University of Connecticut

2. University of Massachusetts-Amherst

3. University of Vermont

4. University of New Hampshire

5. University of Rhode Island

6. University of Maine

There are many other aspects to a university including location, majors, spirit, diversity, politics, and more. Contact me to discuss which of these colleges may be a good fit for your student.