The aim of TheBestSchools.org is to help you gain the knowledge, skills, and credentials you need to achieve personal happiness and career success.
To that end, we research and write primarily about online and on-campus colleges & universities, which include undergraduate, graduate, doctoral, and post-doc programs. While our focus is on secondary and higher education, we also address trade & vocational education, primary (K–8) education, certifications, select alternative schools, and general topics of interest to learners.
The Need for The Best Schools
Education changes lives for the better. Since our founding in 2011, our mission has been to provide the best resources and advice to assist learners through every step of their education, into their careers, and toward sustainable lifelong learning. You matter to us. It’s why we as the team at TheBestSchools.org are committed to being approachable and personable. Too much of the education process has become distant, and that’s an impediment we wish to overcome.
Without a doubt, education in America is a proven means to better employability. And satisfying work is a foundation for a happy life. But we also believe that learning is its own reward, and it’s why we create a place where you can find the facts and tools you need to make the best choices for your education at every stage of life. We want to partner with you in your lifelong learning to help find the best school for you.
What We Make Available to You
For you to reach your goals for education and beyond, we offer the following on TheBestSchools.org website:
- Rankings of fully accredited online and on-campus colleges, universities, graduate and postgraduate schools, and specialty schools;
- Degree program information covering rankings and general info at the associate, bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral, and postdoctoral levels;
- Careers information for help making the most of the skills gained through education;
- Feature articles of interest to lifelong learners that cover a variety of educational topics, challenging ideas, profiles of thought leaders, and much more;
- Resources for learning, which include our one-stop Source pages on financial aid, schooling affordability, online colleges, learning tools, and also our helpful Savvy Student’s Guides; and
- The Quad, our online ’zine catering to high school juniors and seniors, and college & graduate school students, with an eye to what’s hot in pop culture, online education, education policy, and college life.
In all our school rankings and recommendations, we strive to be objective and balanced. We carefully research our rankings and recommendations, and we do so apart from any financial incentives as stated in our advertising disclosure. Our articles never promote or disregard a school for financial gain. We simply provide the best rankings on the web, and we make our process no mystery:
Ranking Methodology: How We Rank SchoolsProfessional Affiliations
TheBestSchools.org is proud to be an organizational member of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC). Founded in 1937, NACAC is dedicated to serving students as they make choices about pursuing postsecondary education. NACAC is committed to maintaining high standards that foster ethical and social responsibility among those involved in the transition process….
We are also an organizational member of the American Council on Education (ACE), which mobilizes the higher education community to shape effective public policy and foster innovative, high-quality practice.
Among ACE’s members are 1,700 college and university presidents and their school’s executive staff, covering all types of two-year & four-year, public & private, accredited, degree-granting institutions in the U.S., which represent two-thirds of the nation’s students. ACE promotes economic opportunity and social mobility; champions affordable, high-quality, innovative higher education that is open to all; and creates forward-thinking services and programs to help build visionary leaders within the educational field.
Our commitment to affiliations with the nation’s leading education-focused organizations reflects our desire to offer students the best possible resources and counsel. To that end, we seek memberships and partnerships that will help us help you.
Who We Are
TheBestSchools.org is an independent organization comprised of a dedicated group of educators, editors, authors, and web professionals who—like you—believe learning transforms lives for the better and should remain a lifelong pursuit. The members of our Academic Advisory Board serve as experienced, professional, academic guides for TheBestSchool.org, providing needful insights into the field of education and its ever-changing dynamics. Editors at TheBestSchools.org know the academic world inside out, with some holding Ph.D.s and having extensive experience in teaching, research, and publishing at the university level. Committed to freedom of thought and expression, we seek to avoid bias and conflicts of interest.
Casey Head | General Manager
Casey Head has worked at RedVentures (TBS's parent company) for about 6 years. In that time, she has been a part of a variety of different marketing teams — ranging from SEO, to paid media, to website experience. She joined the TBS team in the summer of 2019 as the General Manager, helping to guide and craft the vision for TBS and the Quad.
Brendan Gawlowski | Managing Editor
Brendan Gawlowski is the Managing Editor of TBS. He has worked in content for seven years, including five in education. He earned his undergraduate degree in history from the University of Washington.
Morgan W. | Senior Editor
Morgan earned a bachelor's degree in English and creative writing from the University of Washington. She has almost a decade of experience working as an editor and proofreader for online content, print journalism, and entertainment. Sometimes she writes things, too.
Serena Dickerson | Content Manager
Serena joined TBS as a Content Manager in 2020, coming from a similar role at RedVentures. She has a background in outreach, marketing, and content creation at a number of companies — everything from a vegetarian cafe/gas station to a law firm. She earned her undergraduate degree in international communications from Walla Walla University.
Natalie Freeman | User Experience Analyst
Natalie Freeman joined the TBS team in 2020 in a digital marketing role. She has a background in public relations and social media analytics, earning her undergraduate degree in journalism from UNC-Chapel Hill.
Elizabeth Petty | Content Analyst
Elizabeth Petty joined the TBS team as an SEO Analyst at the start of 2020 but has worked in SEO for the past two years. Prior to joining TBS, Elizabeth was a content and SEO strategist at Mattress Advisor and The Mattress Nerd.
The Mission of TheBestSchools.org
We are passionate about learning as a lifetime endeavor. You might even say we’re learning geeks. Helping you achieve your educational goals is at the heart of what we do, and every testimonial of a life changed because of learning excites us and justifies our mission and vision:
As a team, we use our collected wisdom in the field of education to:
- Help learners find the best schools in America,
- Raise awareness of trends, important voices, and topics in education that affect our lives every day, and
- Foster an informed, rational, and civil conversation about knowledge and learning that benefits us all.
How TheBestSchools.org Generates Income
The majority of our visitors come to our site because they are interested in pursuing a college degree. Schools recognize this and partner with us for referrals. We create referral forms for each of our partnered schools, so our visitors can choose a school, fill out the form, and submit their information. We make sure a visitor’s information only goes to the school(s) they selected. When the information submitted on the form meets the criteria of the partnered school selected by the visitor, the school compensates us for the referral.
