Sep 29, 2016 08:07 AM EDT By Emily Marks, UniversityHerald Reporter

Stanford University is deemed as the best college in the United States. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and Times Higher Education (THE) has released its Top College Rankings.

According to WSJ, students who want a school that will engage their minds, with a diverse student body and a school that has plenty of resources for their education should head to Stanford University. The school is described as having "deep pockets, intellectually engaged students and solid student outcomes."

It is followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in second place while Columbia University placed third. Stanford has overtaken Bringham Young University, The City University of New York's City College as well as Ivy League schools such as Harvard and Yale.

Stanford University and MIT were also included in the top universities list by Times Higher Education in second and third place, respectively, as previously reported. CalTech nabbed the top spot.

The WSJ/THE rankings are based on 15 factors across four categories. 40 percent of each college's overall score came from student outcomes, which included how they did after leaving the school. 30 percent was based on the school's resources while 20 percent was taken from how well the institution engages with its students. 10 percent of the score came from the learning environment or diversity.

Another factor that influenced the WSJ/THE rankings was from the results of a survey of 100,000 college students. The survey had seven questions, including the students' experience with professors, how they collaborated on projects, how they were pushed to think critically as well as whether they would recommend their school to others.

This ranking, according to Phil Baty, rankings editor at Times Higher Education, "is driven entirely by what matters most to students and families." "The survey gets to the heart of what good teaching really is and how much a university is capable of stimulating and engaging students," he added.

TIME noted that Stanford University was also its top-ranked college last year. It was also Forbes' top college in 2016.

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