If you or your child attends a New Jersey school odds are you should feel very lucky.

The Wall Street Journal/College Pulse rankings just came out. In The 2025 Best Colleges in the U.S., one university stood out as the best in New Jersey and the best in the entire nation. But many others in the Garden State ranked high as well.

They selected and ranked the 500 top schools in America based on the likelihood of graduating and being set up for financial success. Since it’s based on how much graduates can expect to earn it’s probably not a surprise that Princeton University was ranked as the best school in the country.

Photo by Tim Alex on Unsplash
Photo by Tim Alex on Unsplash
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That an Ivy League school can translate to very high earnings for its graduates isn’t exactly breaking news. However, Princeton beat out every other Ivy League school in the nation and that is impressive.

When the U.S. has thousands of colleges and universities, landing anywhere in the top 500 is nothing to sneeze at. Many other New Jersey schools did.

TSM Illustration
TSM Illustration
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The College of New Jersey was ranked 94th best in the nation. That’s my alma mater and I’m proud to see it ranked so high. (But come on, why couldn’t Campus Town have already been built when I was there!?)

The entrance to TCNJ in Ewing (Dan Alexander, Townsquare Media NJ)
The entrance to TCNJ in Ewing (Dan Alexander, Townsquare Media NJ)
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Montclair State showed up in 106th place among the nation’s 500 best.

From there the list went as follows:

1️⃣1️⃣4️⃣ NJ Institute of Technology

NJIT (Google Maps)
NJIT (Google Maps)
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1️⃣2️⃣4️⃣ Rutgers University

(Rutgers University) groper arrest
(Rutgers University)
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1️⃣2️⃣7️⃣ Stevens Institute of Technology

Stevens Institute of Technology
Stevens Institute of Technology
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2️⃣3️⃣7️⃣ Stockton University

TSM South Jersey
TSM South Jersey
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2️⃣8️⃣5️⃣ Seton Hall University

The outside of Seton Hall University
Townsquare Media
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3️⃣3️⃣8️⃣ Rowan University

There’s much to be proud of with New Jersey colleges and universities setting up graduates for higher pay. If you don’t move away after graduation, you’re going to need it.

Rowan University
Rowan University
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NJ schools that made the most calls to police

These are the 30 schools in New Jersey that made the most notifications to police during the 2022-23 school year for reasons including violence, weapons, vandalism, substances and harassment or bullying. The number of arrests made by police at the schools is also provided when applicable. The schools are listed by number of police calls from least to greatest. The data comes from the state Department of Education's annual School Performance Report.

Gallery Credit: New Jersey 101.5

Worst 30 public schools in New Jersey

These are the 30 lowest-ranking public and charter schools in New Jersey based on the 2022-23 summative ratings provided by the state Department of Education's annual NJ School Performance Report. The schools are listed in descending order, with the lowest rating being zero.

Gallery Credit: Rick Rickman

NJ schools with the worst attendance problems

These 30 schools had the highest rate of chronic absenteeism in the 2022-23 school year. Data is for the New Jersey Department of Education's annual NJ School Performance Reports.

Gallery Credit: New Jersey 101.5

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5's Kylie Moore. Any opinions expressed are Kylie's own. You can follow Kylie on Instagram.
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