The 10 US colleges with the most graduates who have top secret clearance
Vice considered over 50 factors in putting its ranking together - including number of graduates with top secret-level federal security clearances, schools' affiliations with the Department of Homeland Security and the military, and federal funding tied to partnerships with the military.
Business Insider looked at the schools on Vice's list and put together a ranking of schools based on their top secret employment rank.
The top 10 schools by top secret-level security clearances are:
1. University of Maryland
2. American Military University
3. University of Phoenix
4. George Washington University
5. George Mason University
6. Strayer University
7. Cochise University
9. Johns Hopkins University
10. Troy University
Vice reviewed resumes of more than 90,000 people who have worked in the intelligence community since September 11, 2001 and condensed the list to individuals who had top secret clearance.
For resumes that did not include clearance level, Vice included resumes of people in one of the 17 agencies that comprise the intelligence community.
Of the top 10 schools based on top secret clearance, four are public, three are private, and three are for-profit.
The list provides a unique glimpse into schools with strong ties to the military and intelligence. On the broader list of the 100 most militarized universities, Vice describes 20 of the top 100 schools as "online diploma mills." A dozen are for-profit schools.
Vice takes that observation a step further, questioning the implications of having certain schools on the list be accountable for educating the intelligence community.
"The funny thing about the list is that not one liberal arts school that ranks in the top 100 nationwide is on the list," William Arkin, an author of the Vice Investigation, said. "There's no overlap whatsoever between what are considered to be the best academic colleges in America, and the top 100 militarized schools in America."