College and University Rankings: Guide to study in the US

College and University Rankings: Study in the US

The US houses over 4,400 institutions offering a range of diverse and exciting range of academic programmes and cultural settings. Applying to higher education programmes in the US can be an exciting process, but it can be equally challenging and overwhelming too.

Choosing the college or university to attend will be one of the biggest decisions you will have to make. For most of you, the reputation of an institution could be the most important factor while making a decision.

How important are university rankings?

A recent survey says that around 2/3rds of the students consider national rankings during their application process. Most of them also believed that the rankings help to determine the differences between colleges.

How are universities in the US ranked?

Rankings of institutions in higher education are done with combinations of factors. Rankings are given to college and universities and also to specific programmes and departments. The rankings are based on factors like measure of wealth, research excellence, influence, student choices, demographics, surveys and others.

There is no official rankings of universities done by the government of the United States. The rankings of the American universities are done by the newspaper, magazine and book publishers.

When choosing the best university for you, the rankings can be a helpful starting point, although they can be very subjective and should not be the only criteria.

There are around 4,400 universities in America that grant degrees, but the university rankings are given only to the highest quality US universities.

We have considered the following five ranking systems to help you choose the best college for 2014.

U.S. News and World Report's 'Best Colleges' list only contains colleges which are in the top 32% of universities in the USA
Times Higher Education World University Rankings
'America's Top Colleges' by Forbes, lists the best 15% of US universities
QS World University Rankings includes 145 US universities, which represent the top 3.3% of universities in America
Washington Monthly World University Rankings

Here is the list of rankings given by different ranking systems to the top 25 universities in the US for 2013-14:

Rankings (2013-14)	U.S. News National University Rankings	Forbes America's Top Colleges	QS World University Rankings	Times Higher Education World University Rankings	Washington Monthly World University Rankings
1	Princeton University Princeton, NJ	Stanford University California	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)	California Institute of Technology (Caltech)	University of California-San Diego (CA)
2	Harvard University Cambridge, MA	Pomona College California	Harvard University	Harvard University	University of California-Riverside (CA)
3	Yale University New Haven, CT	Princeton University New Jersey	Stanford University	Stanford University	Texas A&M University-College Station (TX)
4	Columbia University New York, NY	Yale University Connecticut	Yale University	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)	Case Western Reserve University (OH)
5	Stanford University Stanford, CA	Columbia University New York	University of Chicago	Princeton University	University of California-Berkeley (CA)
6	University of Chicago Chicago, IL	Swarthmore College Pennsylvania	California Institute of Technology (Caltech)	University of California, Berkeley	Stanford University (CA)
7	Duke University Durham, NC	United States Military Academy New York	Princeton University	University of Chicago	University of Texas-El Paso (TX)
8	Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA	Harvard University Massachusetts	University of Pennsylvania	Yale University	Harvard University (MA)
9	University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA	Williams College Massachusetts	Columbia University	University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)	Georgia Institute of Technology-Main (GA)
10	California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA	Massachusetts Institute of Technology Massachusetts	Cornell University	Columbia University	University of California-Los Angeles (CA)
11	Dartmouth College Hanover, NH	University of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania	Johns Hopkins University	Johns Hopkins University	MA Institute of Technology (MA)
12	Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD	Brown University Rhode Island	University of Michigan	University of Pennsylvania	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (MI)
13	Northwestern University Evanston, IL	Amherst College Massachusetts	Duke University	Duke University	University of Washington-Seattle (WA)
14	Brown University Providence, RI	University of Chicago Illinois	University of California, Berkeley (UCB)	University of Michigan	University of NC-Chapel Hill (NC)
15	Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis, MO	Duke University North Carolina	Northwestern University	Cornell University	University of Wisconsin-Madison (WI)
16	Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN	Dartmouth College New Hampshire	University of Wisconsin-Madison	Northwestern University	University of Notre Dame (IN)
17	Rice University Houston, TX	Northwestern University Illinois	University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)	Carnegie Mellon University	Tennessee State University (TN)
18	University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN	California Institute of Technology California	New York University (NYU)	University of Washington	University of Texas-Austin (TX)
19	Emory University Atlanta, GA	Cornell University New York	Brown University	Georgia Institute of Technology	University of IL-Urbana-Champaign (IL)
20	Georgetown University Washington, DC	Bowdoin College Maine	University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill	University of Illinois	Vanderbilt University (TN)
21	University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA	Washington and Lee University Virginia	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	University of Wisconsin-Madison	University of Pennsylvania (PA)
22	Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA	University of California, Berkeley California	Carnegie Mellon University	University of California	University of CA-Santa Barbara (CA)
23	University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA	University of Notre Dame	Indiana University of Washington	New York University	University of California-Davis (CA)
24	University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA	Tufts University Massachusetts	University of California, San Diego (UCSD)	University of California	University of Florida (FL)
25	University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA	Georgetown University District of Columbia	University of Texas at Austin	Washington University in St Louis	Indiana State University (IN)