Overall Best Colleges

Comprehensive ranking based on a composite score combining acceptance rate, graduation rate, earnings potential, and value.

Showing 1–50 of 3,663 colleges

Overall Best Value Top Earnings Most Selective Graduation Rate Best Public Best Private Largest

Rank	College	Location	Type	Score	Composite
1	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Cambridge, Massachusetts	Private nonprofit	97.6	97.6
2	California Institute of Technology	Pasadena, California	Private nonprofit	94.2	94.2
3	Stanford University	Stanford, California	Private nonprofit	93.2	93.2
4	Princeton University	Princeton, New Jersey	Private nonprofit	92.1	92.1
5	Franklin W Olin College of Engineering	Needham, Massachusetts	Private nonprofit	92.0	92.0
6	University of Pennsylvania	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Private nonprofit	91.9	91.9
7	Harvey Mudd College	Claremont, California	Private nonprofit	91.6	91.6
8	Carnegie Mellon University	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Private nonprofit	89.7	89.7
9	Babson College	Wellesley, Massachusetts	Private nonprofit	89.5	89.5
10	Georgetown University	Washington, District of Columbia	Private nonprofit	89.4	89.4
11	Harvard University	Cambridge, Massachusetts	Private nonprofit	89.2	89.2
12	Yale University	New Haven, Connecticut	Private nonprofit	88.6	88.6
13	Columbia University in the City of New York	New York, New York	Private nonprofit	88.4	88.4
14	Cornell University	Ithaca, New York	Private nonprofit	87.9	87.9
15	Claremont McKenna College	Claremont, California	Private nonprofit	87.1	87.1
16	Duke University	Durham, North Carolina	Private nonprofit	86.6	86.6
17	Dartmouth College	Hanover, New Hampshire	Private nonprofit	86.3	86.3
18	University of Notre Dame	Notre Dame, Indiana	Private nonprofit	86.1	86.1
19	Brown University	Providence, Rhode Island	Private nonprofit	85.4	85.4
20	University of California-Berkeley	Berkeley, California	Public	85.2	85.2
21	University of Chicago	Chicago, Illinois	Private nonprofit	84.6	84.6
22	Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus	Atlanta, Georgia	Public	84.5	84.5
23	Boston College	Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts	Private nonprofit	84.3	84.3
24	Vanderbilt University	Nashville, Tennessee	Private nonprofit	84.3	84.3
25	Northwestern University	Evanston, Illinois	Private nonprofit	84.0	84.0
26	Rice University	Houston, Texas	Private nonprofit	83.3	83.3
27	Northeastern University	Boston, Massachusetts	Private nonprofit	83.2	83.2
28	Williams College	Williamstown, Massachusetts	Private nonprofit	83.2	83.2
29	Washington and Lee University	Lexington, Virginia	Private nonprofit	83.2	83.2
30	Johns Hopkins University	Baltimore, Maryland	Private nonprofit	82.7	82.7
31	University of Southern California	Los Angeles, California	Private nonprofit	82.3	82.3
32	University of California-Los Angeles	Los Angeles, California	Public	82.1	82.1
33	Bowdoin College	Brunswick, Maine	Private nonprofit	81.3	81.3
34	Lehigh University	Bethlehem, Pennsylvania	Private nonprofit	81.2	81.2
35	Villanova University	Villanova, Pennsylvania	Private nonprofit	80.9	80.9
36	Washington University in St Louis	St. Louis, Missouri	Private nonprofit	80.8	80.8
37	Wellesley College	Wellesley, Massachusetts	Private nonprofit	80.7	80.7
38	Swarthmore College	Swarthmore, Pennsylvania	Private nonprofit	80.5	80.5
39	Colby College	Waterville, Maine	Private nonprofit	80.4	80.4
40	University of Virginia-Main Campus	Charlottesville, Virginia	Public	80.3	80.3
41	Bentley University	Waltham, Massachusetts	Private nonprofit	80.2	80.2
42	Tufts University	Medford, Massachusetts	Private nonprofit	80.1	80.1
43	Colgate University	Hamilton, New York	Private nonprofit	79.6	79.6
44	Barnard College	New York, New York	Private nonprofit	79.2	79.2
45	Pomona College	Claremont, California	Private nonprofit	79.1	79.1
46	College of the Holy Cross	Worcester, Massachusetts	Private nonprofit	78.8	78.8
47	Davidson College	Davidson, North Carolina	Private nonprofit	78.3	78.3
48	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	Ann Arbor, Michigan	Public	78.1	78.1
49	Stevens Institute of Technology	Hoboken, New Jersey	Private nonprofit	78.1	78.1
50	Boston University	Boston, Massachusetts	Private nonprofit	78.0	78.0

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