Visualized: The Best Universities in America

Visualized: The Best Universities in America

The United States is home to many world-class universities like Harvard, Princeton, and Yale, which boast innovative research programs, famous alumni, prestigious awards, and students and faculty from all over the world.

But which schools are actually the best ones in America?

This ranking uses data from U.S. News & World Report to rank America’s 50 best universities from the Ivy League to public institutions. Additionally, this visual shows the average tuition and acceptance rate of each school.

The Methodology

Here’s a look at how different categories are scored in the ranking. It is worth noting that U.S. News relies on each university’s independent reporting of data and information and does not standardize or corroborate the reported information themselves.

How categories are weighted:

• Graduation & Retention Rates = 22%
• Undergraduate Academic Reputation = 20%
• Faculty Resources = 20%
• Financial Resources per Student = 10%
• Graduation Rate Performance = 8%
• Student Selectivity for Fall Entering Class = 7%
• Social Mobility = 5%
• Graduate Indebtedness = 5%
• Average Alumni Giving Rate = 3%

The Top Schools

Ivy League universities are often assumed to be the top schools in America, but in reality, only four of the eight make the top 10.

Here’s a closer look:

Rank	University	Acceptance Rate	School Type	Tuition and Fees (Private or Public Out-of-State)	In-State Tuition (Public Institutions Only)	State
#1	Princeton University	4%	Private, Ivy League	$57,410	N/A	New Jersey
#2	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	4%	Private	$57,986	N/A	Massachusetts
#3	Yale University	5%	Private, Ivy League	$62,250	N/A	Connecticut
#3	Harvard University	4%	Private, Ivy League	$57,261	N/A	Massachusetts
#3	Stanford University	4%	Private	$56,169	N/A	California
#6	University of Chicago	6%	Private	$62,940	N/A	Illinois
#7	University of Pennsylvania	6%	Private, Ivy League	$63,452	N/A	Pennsylvania
#7	Johns Hopkins University	8%	Private	$60,480	N/A	Maryland
#9	California Institute of Technology	4%	Private	$60,864	N/A	California
#10	Northwestern University	7%	Private	$63,468	N/A	Illinois
#10	Duke University	6%	Private	$63,054	N/A	North Carolina
#12	Dartmouth College	6%	Private, Ivy League	$62,430	N/A	New Hampshire
#13	Brown University	6%	Private, Ivy League	$65,146	N/A	Rhode Island
#13	Vanderbilt University	7%	Private	$60,348	N/A	Tennessee
#15	Washington University in St. Louis	13%	Private	$60,590	N/A	Missouri
#15	Rice University	9%	Private	$54,960	N/A	Texas
#17	Cornell University	9%	Private, Ivy League, Land-Grant	$63,200	N/A	New York
#18	Columbia University	6%	Private, Ivy League	$65,524	N/A	New York
#18	University of Notre Dame	15%	Private	$60,301	N/A	Indiana
#20	University of California, Los Angeles	11%	Public	$44,830	$13,804	California
#20	University of California, Berkeley	15%	Public	$43,980	$14,226	California
#22	Georgetown University	12%	Private	$62,052	N/A	District of Columbia
#22	Carnegie Mellon University	14%	Private	$61,344	N/A	Pennsylvania
#22	Emory University	13%	Private	$57,948	N/A	Georgia
#25	University of Southern California	13%	Private	$64,726	N/A	California
#25	New York University	13%	Private	$58,168	N/A	New York
#25	University of Michigan--Ann Arbor	20%	Public	$57,273	$17,786	Michigan
#25	University of Virginia	21%	Public	$56,837	$21,381	Virginia
#29	Wake Forest University	25%	Private	$62,128	N/A	North Carolina
#29	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	19%	Public	$37,558	$8,998	North Carolina
#29	University of Florida	30%	Public, Land-Grant	$28,658	$6,380	Florida
#32	Tufts University	11%	Private	$65,222	N/A	Massachussets
#32	University of California, Santa Barbara	29%	Public	$44,204	$14,450	California
#34	University of California, San Diego	34%	Public	$46,374	$15,348	California
#34	University of California, Irvine	29%	Public	$43,739	$13,985	California
#36	Boston College	19%	Private	$64,176	N/A	Massachussetts
#36	University of Rochester	41%	Private	$61,678	N/A	New York
#38	University of California, Davis	49%	Public	$44,494	$14,740	California
#38	University of Texas at Austin	29%	Public	$40,996	$11,752	Texas
#38	University of Wisconsin--Madison	60%	Public, Land-Grant	$39,427	$10,796	Wisconsin
#41	Boston University	19%	Public	$62,360	$18,229	Massachussetts
#41	William & Mary	37%	Public	$46,625	$23,970	Virginia
#41	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	6%	Public, Land-Grant	$35,110	$17,138	Illinois
#44	Tulane University	10%	Private	$62,844	N/A	Louisiana
#44	Brandeis University	39%	Private	$62,722	N/A	Massachussets
#44	Case Western Reserve University	30%	Private	$62,234	N/A	Ohio
#44	Northeastern University	18%	Private	$60,192	N/A	Massachusse
#44	Georgia Institute of Technology	18%	Private	$32,876	$11,764	Georgia
#49	The Ohio State University	57%	Private, Land-Grant	$35,019	$11,936	Ohio
#49	University of Georgia	40%	Private, Land-Grant	$30,220	$11,180	Georgia

One of the Ivies, Columbia University, actually dropped 16 spots from last year’s ranking due to a scandal involving misreported statistics by the university, which was exposed by one of its own professors. There have been critiques of the U.S. News & World Report ranking since, as it doesn’t provide a uniform set of standards for the universities, but lets them determine how they score their categories themselves.

Among the top 10 schools admittance is very competitive, and none of the acceptance rates surpass the 7% mark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University, and Caltech are among the most difficult universities to get into, with only 4% of applicants receiving that exciting acceptance letter. On the flip side, the universities of Illinois and Wisconsin, for example, accept 60% of all applicants.

Types of Universities

A few more things to know—there are eight private schools in the U.S. that have earned the distinction of “Ivy League,” due to their history and prestige. A number of schools are also classified as land-grant universities—built on land which was essentially given to them by the U.S. government. This was in an effort to provide higher education to lacking communities across the country, and there is at least one in every state.

These are the U.S.’ eight Ivy League Institutions:

• Princeton University
• Yale University
• Columbia University
• Brown University
• Harvard University
• Cornell University
• Dartmouth University
• University of Pennsylvania

Beyond these prestigious academies, there are many high caliber institutions like The Ohio State University and the University of Wisconsin—both of which are land-grant universities.

Among the top 50, there are another four land-grant universities:

• University of Florida
• University of Georgia
• University of Illinois
• Cornell University

There is ripe controversy, however, surrounding land-grant universities, as, in many cases, the U.S. government funded these institutions through expropriated indigenous land.

The Cost of an American Education

U.S. college tuition is famous for being unaffordable. Combining all the federal and private loans in the country, the total student debt comes out to $1.75 trillion and the average borrower owes $28,950.

Here’s a look at how tuition breaks down on average:

The most expensive school in America is Columbia University, with the cost of admission coming out to a whopping $65,524, with some estimates showing even higher rates for the 2022/2023 academic year. The least expensive among the top 50 is the University of Florida at $6,380 for in-state tuition—more than 10x cheaper than Columbia.

But many Americans may soon see their college loans forgiven. The Biden administration’s initiative to cancel student debt will roll out any day now and will be available on federal loans for select qualifying individuals. It has the potential to provide 40 million people with as much as $20,000 in debt forgiveness.

And given that American universities make up eight of the 10 best universities in the world, perhaps the price tag will be worth it.