Case Study 06 · Research Leadership & Institutional Impact
I started this work at fifteen. By the time I left at twenty-two, we had changed how people measured colleges.
Overview — For Skimmers
In the early 2010s, college rankings measured institutional prestige — selectivity, faculty resources, peer reputation. They measured selectivity and how many students they kept out, not what students got out of them. The Center for College Affordability and Productivity, in partnership with Forbes, set out to change that. I was part of the research team behind the Forbes America's Best Colleges list — the first major ranking built around student outcomes. I started as a fifteen-year-old learning Excel and writing macros. I left at twenty-two as de facto Chief of Staff to one of the country's leading education economists, with a Wall Street Journal op-ed and a Federal Reserve Bank citation to my name. The ranking changed the national conversation. The work shaped how I have approached everything since.
The Situation
In the early 2010s, college rankings were built almost entirely around inputs — selectivity, faculty resources, peer reputation, selectivity, and what other college presidents thought. They were valued based on how many students they kept out, not what students got out of them. For families making six-figure decisions about their children's futures, the most important question "which colleges are actually worth it?" had no credible answer in the market.
The Center for College Affordability and Productivity, in partnership with Forbes, built one.
The Approach
As a researcher, I was part of the founding team behind what became the Forbes America's Best Colleges list — the first major college ranking built around student outcomes rather than institutional prestige. I led research efforts that formed the methodological and data foundation of the ranking, sourcing and analyzing outcome-centered datasets, collaborating with editorial leadership, and supporting data visualization projects across multiple years of publication.
The work required holding two things in tension simultaneously: rigorous quantitative analysis and a genuine commitment to making the findings accessible and actionable for real families making real decisions. That tension — between analytical depth and human clarity — is one I've been navigating ever since.
My research on graduate underemployment was cited in an academic paper by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. I co-authored a Wall Street Journal op-ed on the higher education bubble with Dr. Richard Vedder, one of the country's leading education economists. I contributed regularly to Forbes on economic and policy issues through 2018.
The Outcome
The Forbes Best Colleges ranking became one of the most recognized alternative college ranking systems in the country, shifting the national conversation around how college value is measured and influencing how students, families, and policymakers think about higher education return on investment.
I was fifteen years old when I started this work — technically too young to receive my first paycheck. While my peers were working summer jobs, I was learning Excel, writing macros, building rigorous data analysis skills, and developing a writing voice alongside one of the country's leading education economists. By the time I left at twenty-two, I had served as Dr. Vedder's de facto Chief of Staff — managing operations, supporting Congressional hearing preparation, and representing him in Washington at various think tank events when he was unavailable.
The most powerful thing you can do is change the question everyone is asking.