Aug 02, 2012 - Claremont, Calif. -

Harvey Mudd College ranked No. 28 in Forbes'  2012 list of America's Top Colleges, and was listed as a Most Entrepreneurial College, coming in at no. 15 among the 20 selected.

Forbes based its rankings on five categories: post-graduate success, student satisfaction, debt loads and default rates, four-year graduation rates and competitive awards, like the Rhodes, Marshall and Fulbright fellowships, and Ph.D scholarships. The rankings were compiled for Forbes by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for College Affordability and Productivity.

MSNBC's "Morning Joe" highlighted HMC in its reporting about Forbes' rankings. Forbes editor Randall Lane, a guest on the show, explained that HMC ranked highly because of student outcomes, including Ph.D. completion rates and salary levels ten years after graduation. Lane explained that overall small colleges did well in the rankings because Forbes took student satisfaction into account.

The criteria for Forbes' rankings were chosen to "focus on the things that matter the most to students: quality of teaching, great career prospects, high graduation rates and low levels of debt," writes Michael Noer of Forbes. "They do not attempt to assess a school's reputation, nor are they a measure of academic selectivity, and we pointedly ignore any metrics that would encourage schools to engage in wasteful spending."

View Forbes'  America's Top Colleges

View Forbes'  The Most Entrepreneurial Colleges

View MSNBC's coverage of the Forbes rankings. HMC is mentioned at 01:45.