America’s Top 15 Colleges: The Rankings Are In

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The U.S. is full of great colleges. It has world-class schools that people come from all over the world to attend. These schools attract the best and brightest for the high quality of education they receive.

Research.com considered various factors, including cost, acceptance rate, academic performance, enrollment numbers, graduation rates, and degree offerings. The data presented here provides a comprehensive overview of the general trends among the top-ranked colleges in the USA.

The top colleges are highly sought after and have low acceptance rates because of the competition to get in.

Caltech

The beautiful campus of CalTech (California Technology Institute)
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California Institute of Technology, also known as Caltech, is the top school in the nation for many reasons. It has a very high tuition, but its graduates also command high salaries. It has an acceptance rate of 4%.

Stanford University

Stanford University Hoover Tower. Completed in 1941, the 50th year of Stanford University's anniversary, the tower was inspired by the cathedral tower in Salamanca, Spain.
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This college is among the top in the world and has a 4% acceptance rate. It has students who have very high average scores on the SAT and ACT. Being in California is also a big draw to students across the country and the world.

MIT

The famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA, USA at sunset. Photo of the main building in neoclassic architecture.
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology teaches some of the world’s best students. The median alumni salary is over $100,000. It also requires high test scores and has a 4% acceptance rate.

Harvard University

The Harvard Memorial Hall, at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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One of the premier universities in the world, Harvard has an acceptance rate of 4%. It has a large number of different schools under its university umbrella, including professional degrees in industries such as law and medicine.

Yale University

View of Yale University central campus from Harkness Tower on June 25, 2018. Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut.
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Yale is full of traditions and has its own unique culture. This Ivy League school has a 5% acceptance rate and is located in picturesque New Haven, Connecticut.

University of Pennsylvania

University of Pennsylvania entrance sign
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The University of Pennsylvania is another Ivy League school. It accepts 6% of applicants and is highly sought-after for its Wharton School, a very prestigious business school that attracts some of the top business students in the country.

Johns Hopkins University

Mason Hall, at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
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This university is well known for its impressive medical school, but it has much more to offer with its nine academic divisions. It has an acceptance rate of 8%.

Princeton University

Princeton University on a sunny afternoon. Princeton University is a Private Ivy League University in New Jersey, USA and ranked as best university in USA.
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It’s another Ivy League school, but it’s an impressive private university in Princeton, NJ. Students who apply generally have very high test scores, and only 4% of applicants are accepted.

Duke University

Entrance Sign of Duke University on campus of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, Duke is a private top ranked research university in NC.
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Located in Durham, NC, it’s the first college in a Southern state on the list. It has an acceptance rate of 6% and an impressive array of programs. It also has a stunning 95% graduation rate.

Emory University

Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia, US.
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This private Atlanta college is just three miles away from downtown, so there’s always something to do. It’s academically rigorous and has an acceptance rate of 13%. It also has the lowest tuition rates of all the top 15 schools.

Carnegie Mellon University

The Mellon Institute of Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA. CMU is ranked top 25 Universities in USA
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This university is well known for its research and its advances in computing, but it’s equally strong in the arts. The acceptance rate for Carnegie Mellon is 14%, so applicants have a better chance at this school than with most of the other top schools.

Columbia University

Students in the Columbia University campus on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
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Officially known as Columbia University in the City of New York, it’s an Ivy League school in the middle of the country’s biggest city. It has an acceptance rate of just 4% and is well-known for its world-class research.

Brown University

Unidentfied individuals, and Sayles Hall on the campus of Brown University.
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With its 6% acceptance rate, Brown is a school with a great reputation for both academics and research. Located in Providence, Rhode Island, Brown is another Ivy League school.

New York University

Street view of New York University NYU in Greenwich Village Manhattan.
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Tuition for New York University is at the lower end of the top schools, and its alumni average a good salary after graduating. The university accepts about 8% of applicants and is located in New York City.

Boston University

Boston University Entrance
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Boston University has the highest acceptance rate and lowest average SAT scores of any of the 15 colleges on this list. It accepts 19% of applicants and has two campuses located in this bustling city.

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