Best east coast colleges

Below 10 Best east coast colleges

The Top 10 Most Underrated Schools on the East Coast:

1. SUNY Binghamton

The top school in the State University of New York system, SUNY Binghamton offers access to the New York City job market at an affordable price tag for in-state students. It ranks in the top 50 for ROI and career outcomes, but lands at the 81st spot in the US News and World Report rankings.

SUNY Binghamton is sometimes referred to as a “Public Ivy” due to the high quality of its educational offerings.

2. City College of New York

The City College of New York (CCNY) is located just outside of Manhattan in Hamilton Heights. It offers prime access to the NYC job market and lands in the top 50 for ROI and career outcomes. It falls outside of the top 300 according to US News and World Report.

Despite this, the school has graduated 10 Nobel Prize winners and 3 Pulitzer Prize winners. CUNY is rich with history, having been home to the first student government in the nation, the first national fraternity to accept members without regard to religion, race, color or creed, and the first degree-granting evening education program.

3. Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Located west of Boston, Worcester Polytechnic Institute specializes in programs in the technical arts and applied sciences. Students interested in pursuing Business, STEM, or premed programs should give Worcester Polytechnic Institute more than a cursory glance.

Though the US News and World Reports places it at the 58 spot nationally, Worcester Polytechnic Institute places in the top 35 for ROI and career outcomes. In 2016, it was awarded the prestigious Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Innovation by the National Academy of Engineering.

4. Fordham University

Another sleeper school located in New York City, Fordham is a private Catholic research university and the only Jesuit university in NYC. It is a little bit more expensive than the public schools on this list, but it still ranks in the top 35 for ROI and career outcomes.

Strong programs at Fordham include business, finance, and economics options. US News and World Report places it at the 70th spot nationally.

5. Babson College

Another private school, Babson specializes in business, and is consistently ranked among the top schools by publications such as The Economist, Money Magazine, and US News and World Report for its entrepreneurship education. In fact, every entrepreneurship professor at Babson has either started, sold, bought, or run a successful business.

Although it doesn’t even land on the US News and World Report overall rankings, Babson falls in the top 10 for ROI and career outcomes and offers excellent merit scholarships. Students with aspirations in the business world are guaranteed a top notch introduction at Babson.

6. Wellesley College

Although it’s already well-respected within the world of single-sex colleges, women’s only Wellesley College offers a top notch education that is on par with the coed Ivy Leagues. Its broad course offerings span from STEM to the humanities, and its location in the Boston suburbs offers access to a prime job market.

Wellesley ranks in the top 10 for women’s only ROI and career outcomes, and boasts high-profile graduates like Madeleine Albright, Hillary Clinton, and astronaut Pamela Melroy.

7. Stevens Institute of Technology

Located in Hoboken, NJ, Stevens is another lesser-known choice for aspiring engineers. Its location between Philadelphia and NYC means grads have access to two large job markets and its solid programming lands it in the top 30 for ROI and career outcomes.

Its unique cooperative education program offers the option to extend an undergraduate program to five years by adding 18 months of progressive, full-time, paid job experience. 95% of grads land a job in their intended field within 6 months of graduation. Despite these strong outcomes, US News and World Report ranks it 70th among national universities.

8. Carnegie Mellon

Carnegie Mellon is ranked 25 by the US News and World Report, but for prospective engineering and computer science majors, it could be among the best options. It lands in the top 5 for ROI and career outcomes, and its location in Pittsburgh, PA means that the NYC job market isn’t far.

For students going on to advanced degrees, Carnegie Mellon offers even more top notch choices, with its graduate program in computer science currently ranked #1 in the country by US News and World Report.

9. The College of New Jersey

The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) is a public university located just outside of Trenton, NJ. Though places outside the top 300 on the US News and World Report, it does rank in the top 150 for ROI and career outcome based on our data.

 Not far from Philadelphia, grads have access to a strong job market, and the business program at TCNJ is especially strong. The school also offers more than 50 liberal arts and professional programs.

10. Hofstra

Hofstra is Long Island’s largest private college, and its location makes it a great spot for students who want access to the Manhattan job market. In recent years, it has become well-known for hosting presidential debates, for elections in 2008, 2012, and 2016.

Hofstra offers a strong business program, with ROI and career outcomes in the top 70, despite its rank of 140 from US News and World Report. The school also grants extensive merit scholarships, with more than 50% of incoming students receiving some type of merit aid.

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May 27, 2019

How to Find Great Companies to Invest In

How to Find Great Companies to Invest In.

Smart investors put their money in reputable companies and investigate new companies thoroughly before committing their money. By carefully considering the qualities of the companies you invest in and incorporating your own knowledge of the market, you can make informed decisions in the hopes of choosing stocks of good quality and value. Be aware, however, this is no small task. Mutual fund companies and the like dedicate entire teams of experts whose full-time jobs are to research and understand how to invest in companies. Be sure you have the time and inclination to do this yourself, as well as the willingness to take the risks of doing so.

Method 1 Buying What You Know.
1. Stay within your circle of competence. If you have a field of expertise, you may be best able to identify quality within that area. Experience can provide you with the insights you need to make more informed choices. For example, if you work in retail, you may be better positioned to determine if you should invest in companies like Walmart, Target, or Best Buy, than you are in evaluating the latest bio-tech company.
Having competence in a certain area doesn't have to come from workplace experience. If you're a techie who spends his time buying and reading about the latest gadgets, you can draw on the information you obtain to help you make decisions on how to invest in the technology sector.
2. Focus on a few industries or markets. These can be either your direct area of competence or other areas that you are interested in investing in. The important thing is to realize that you can't keep track of everything going on in the global economy. Large financial institutions have whole departments for doing this so don't think you can do it on your own. Instead, narrow your focus to include only a few key industries or markets.
This doesn't mean you should avoid focusing on individual companies. You should always investigate every company you plan to invest in individually.
3. Stay up to date on news within that industry. Examples of quality sources for this are online finance websites like Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal. They'll give you up-to-date information on many of the goings-on in various sectors of the economy and the World. Again, focus your energy on a few key areas and become knowledgeable on the happenings in them. Look for things like trends, mergers, acquisitions, relevant legislation changes, and any global events that may affect your chosen market.
4. Plan ahead. Identify a company that you think stands to benefit from some change or trend in the market. Look ahead for when this change will take place and move around your money to prepare to invest in the company. For example, if you think that a new product being released by your favorite tech company is going to be a huge success, you may choose to invest in the company before the rest of the world realizes this and drives up the stock price.

Method 2 Investing in Companies with Competitive Advantages.
1. Understand competitive advantages. There are some companies that manage to be consistently profitable and successful in their industry over many years. These companies have succeeded in building a "moat" around them to keep their competitors away. This distance from their competitors is also known as a competitive advantage. Competitive advantages allow these companies to make money and retain customers more easily than others. In turn, these companies are able to provide greater value and return to their shareholders.
An investment in one of these companies allows you to participate in their competitive advantage. While they may not grow as quickly as smaller companies, they often can be less likely to fail in economic downturns and can provide consistent growth throughout the years to come.
Blue-chip stocks are examples of large, successful companies with competitive advantages. These companies have provided consistent growth or dividends over many years and are listed on large stock indexes.
2. Invest in trusted brands. Think Harley Davidson, Coke, BMW. These are brand names etched in the public mind as the best in their class. These companies can raise their prices on the strength of their brands, resulting in deeper profits.These companies are so well-known and essential that they are unlikely to lose a significant amount of customers to competitors.
3. Find companies with high switching costs. When was the last time you switched banks? Or cell phone providers? These services retain customers because switching between them is more time-consuming than it's worth. Companies that have high switching costs can be expected to hold on to their customers longer than companies that don't.
4. Search for economies of scale. Companies that are able to make products and sell them at much lower prices than their competition automatically attract customers -- lots of them -- as long as quality is not compromised. In a crowded market, this is generally the result of economies of scale, a phenomenon where a large company is able to experience lower production costs solely due to its size. Walmart and and Dell have perfected this concept to a science.
5. Invest in legal monopolies. Some companies are granted legal (if temporary) monopolies by the government. Large pharmaceutical companies and manufacturing companies with patents are able to bring a truly unique product to market. Companies that own copyrights, drilling rights, mining rights, and other forms of protected property are often the sole producer or service provider in their area. Thus, these companies can raise prices without fear of losing customers, resulting in higher profits.
Be sure to check how long the company's patent or usage rights are in effect. Some of these are temporary and when they go, there's a chance the company's profit will go with them.
6. Look for opportunities for easy growth. Some companies are easily scalable. That is, their products or services with the potential to network or add more users over time. Adobe has become the de facto standard in publishing; Microsoft's Excel has done the same in spreadsheets. eBay is a great example of a user network. Each additional user to the network costs the company virtually nothing. The additional revenues that come in as the network expands go straight to the bottom line.
For a more current example, consider Netflix. As a streaming service, they make more money for each subscriber, even as their costs remain virtually the same. That way, as they gain more users they will continue to grow in profitability, assuming they don't choose to increase costs significantly.

Method 3 Evaluating Company Performance and Valuation.
1. Check the quality of management. How competent is the management running the company? More importantly, how focused are they toward the company, customers, investors, and employees? In this age of rampant corporate greed, it's always a great idea to research the management of any company you're thinking of investing in. Newspaper and magazine articles are good places to get this information.
This doesn't just mean that management has provided good financial results recently. Rather, look for indications of other important qualities like responsiveness, adaptability, capacity for innovation, and organizational ability.
2. Watch for management changes. A good leader can successfully turn around a company that many consider to be a lost cause. Watch the news and financial reports for changes in management positions, especially CEOs. If you believe in the new CEO of a company, based on your research, you may choose to invest in that company. Here, you're essentially putting your faith in the person, not the company.
3. Avoid overvalued stocks. Even a great company can be overvalued. Learn to interpret financial statements and pick stocks with fundamental analysis to find companies the market has overvalued. Know that these companies may be some of the most buzzed-about and invested in companies around, but they are still overvalued and may experience drastic declines in price once their day in the spotlight is over.
One way to determine if a stock is overpriced is to examine its price-earnings-ratio. The price to earnings ratio can usually be found in the company's stock summary on financial websites. Generally, PE ratios are between 20-25, but this varies by industry.
To evaluate a company's PE ratio, search online for the average PE ratio in the company's industry. If the P/E ratio is over the industry average, the company could be overpriced in view of its earnings.
4. Buy undervalued stocks. Undervalued stocks are those that are trading at a lower value than their financial information would indicate. These may be companies that have only started to do well recently. In these cases, the market has not yet caught up with their newfound success. To identify stocks with room to grow in value, you can also use the price-earnings ratio mentioned above and look for companies with low PE ratios compared to the industry average.
You can also look for companies with a price-to-book-value of less than 2. The price-to-book ratio is the price of the company divided by the total value of its assets minus its liabilities and intangible assets. A low ratio may indicate that the company is relatively cheap.

FAQ.

Question : How can I know a company's management?
Answer : A company's stock prospectus will list its management personnel. For suggestions on researching company management, go here: Investopedia.com/articles/02/062602.asp.

Tips.
Start thinking about everyday companies in terms of this new framework.
Learn the basics of reading financial statements. Check the profitability of companies you're interested in. Check their debt position. See if they have been growing steadily.
Visit the company’s website and other financial websites that will give you insight into the stock.
While it may be advantageous to invest in companies you know, do not limit yourself to just one or two sectors of the economy. Try to research companies in a variety of sectors. Doing so further diversifies your portfolio to better insulate it from a downturn in a single sector or company.

Warnings.
Be aware of stock tips: Whether they come from someone you see on TV or someone you meet in person, these are more often not well-researched or are even based on someone's grandiose theory about getting rich quick. They may also be provided by salesmen paid to inflate a stock's price to allow a company to raise as much capital as possible.
Jumping into buying stocks in a company without doing thorough research can be a quick way to lose your money.
Investing always carries risk. Even if you do everything right, there's no guarantee that you'll make money.

April 07, 2020