Pitt was omitted from this year\u2019s Forbes Magazine \u201cNew Ivies\u201d list after being named for the first time in 2025.<\/p>\n
Forbes\u2019 annual \u201cNew Ivies\u201d list<\/a> \u2014 started three years ago \u2014 ranks 20 public and private colleges whose graduates are highly rated by employers. This year\u2019s list was released in early April, featuring a few new and returning entries but lacking a consecutive nod for Pitt. Universities, including Pitt, often publicize<\/a> the recognition widely, but names on this year\u2019s list say rankings aren\u2019t everything.<\/p>\n To build this year\u2019s list<\/a>, Forbes started with every four-year public and private nonprofit college in the U.S. and removed traditional Ivy League schools along with Stanford, MIT, Duke, the University of Chicago and Johns Hopkins. Schools then had to meet enrollment and admissions-rate thresholds and demonstrate that at least half of their students submitted SAT or ACT scores. Forbes pulled the latest numbers from the National Center for Education Statistics<\/a>, which were for the entering class of 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n After considering standardized test and admissions criteria, the remaining candidate schools were listed in a survey sent out to C-suite and hiring executives which asked them to rank graduates of individual schools.<\/p>\n All public colleges on the 2026 list had an undergraduate admissions rate of 50% or less. Pitt\u2019s acceptance rate was approximately 58% in 2024, given 60,898 first-time first-year applicants<\/a> on the Pittsburgh campus and 35,372 of those admitted.<\/p>\n In 2023<\/a>, it was just under 50%.<\/p>\n For public schools that made the list, the median SAT score was 1460 and ACT was 31. For the 2024-2025 year, Pitt had a median SAT score of 1360 and a median ACT score of 31.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pitt did not respond to a request for comment on its absence from this year\u2019s list.<\/p>\n Forbes Magazine<\/a> declined to comment on any inquiries beyond its published methodology.\u00a0<\/p>\n Similar to Pitt, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign also made the list in 2025<\/a> but not in 2026. On the other hand, the University of Florida<\/a> and the University of Wisconsin-Madison<\/a> both returned to the list after their initial 2024 appearance<\/a> and 2025 disappearance.<\/p>\n Although universities often post<\/a> their \u201cNew Ivy\u201d status in press<\/a> releases<\/a>, many universities expressed to The Pitt News that they hardly regard it and other rankings as their top priority.<\/p>\n UW-Madison spokesperson John Lucas said the university does not put much stock in recognitions like the Forbes \u201cNew Ivies\u201d list.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOverall, UW-Madison is glad to be recognized for its excellence, though we note that we typically take rankings with a grain of salt,\u201d Lucas said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lucas said UW-Madison suggests that prospective students and families use them as just one data point among many to make their decision about where they want to attend college.\u00a0<\/p>\n Illinois Urbana-Champaign spokesperson Patrick Wade said that it \u201cdoes not engage with this Forbes survey\u201d or measure its impact.<\/p>\n \u201cRankings alone do not capture a university\u2019s true impact on its students, staff, faculty, alumni, and others who benefit from its mission,\u201d Wade said.<\/p>\n