THE 50 BEST U.S. COLLEGES BY WSJ--2025

WSJ evaluated 500 U.S. private and public universities. For its full, overall ranking, it scored each school on student outcomes (70% weight), learning environment (20%) and diversity (10%).

It employed one of the largest independent student surveys and combined it with a "rigorous statistical analysis" of government data to calculate its school scores. It also factors cost of attendance (average net price) against student outcomes.

Wall Street Journal/College Pulse Top 100
Rank
School
State
Type
Score
1
Princeton University
NJ
Private
92.3

2
Babson College
MA
Private
91.9

3
Stanford University
CA
Private
91.6

4
Yale University
CT
Private
89.3

5
Claremont McKenna College
CA
Private
89.2

6
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MA
Private
87.4

7
Harvard University
MA
Private
86.2

8
University of California, Berkeley
CA
Public
86.1

9
Georgia Institute of Technology
GA
Public
85.8

10
Davidson College
NC
Private
85.6

11
Bentley University
MA
Private
85.3

12
University of California, Davis
CA
Public
85.3

13
University of Pennsylvania
PA
Private
85.1

14
Columbia University
NY
Private
85

15
Lehigh University
PA
Private
84.6

16
San Jos State University
CA
Public
84.4

17
University of Notre Dame
IN
Private
84.2

18
University of California, Merced
CA
Public
84

19
Virginia Tech
VA
Public
83.9

20
Harvey Mudd College
CA
Private
83.6

21
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
CA
Public
83.6

22
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
MI
Public
83.5

23
Loyola University Maryland
MD
Private
83.1

24
California State University, Stanislaus
CA
Public
83.1

25
Colgate University
NY
Private
83

26
University of Delaware
DE
Public
82.9

27
Cornell University
NY
Private
82.8

28
Texas A&M University, College Station
TX
Public
82.6

29
Rice University
TX
Private
82.4

30
University of California, San Diego
CA
Public
82.2

31
University of California, Irvine
CA
Public
82

32
Washington University in St. Louis
MO
Private
81.8

33
University of Virginia, Main Campus
VA
Public
81.8

34
Georgetown University
DC
Private
81.7

35
Swarthmore College
PA
Private
81.6

36
Brown University
RI
Private
81.6

37
Augustana College
IL
Private
81.3

38
Santa Clara University
CA
Private
81.3

39
California Institute of Technology
CA
Private
81.2

40
Towson University
MD
Public
81.2

41
University of Texas at Austin
TX
Public
81.1

42
St. Joseph's University
PA
Private
81

43
University of Detroit Mercy
MI
Private
81

44
Vanderbilt University
TN
Private
80.9

45
Duke University
NC
Private
80.8

46
California State University, San Bernardino
CA
Public
80.5

47
University of San Diego
CA
Private
80.4

48
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
CA
Public
80.4

49
University of Southern California
CA
Private
80.3

50
Washington and Lee University
VA
Private
80.3