The top 50 colleges in the United States, ranked
- Harvard, MIT, and Yale are the top three colleges in the US.
- The Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education released its rankings for the best colleges in America in 2019.
- The ranking was based on 15 key indicators, including post-graduation salary, diversity of the school, and student instruction.
The Wall Street Journal released its rankings for the top colleges in the US in 2019.
The ranking, which was done in conjunction with Times Higher Education, was based on 15 key indicators, which were grouped as Outcomes, Resources, Engagement, and Environment.
Outcomes (40% of the ranking) judged aspects like post-graduation salaries and how much debt they take on. The average salary for students 10 years after entering Yale University, for instance, is $74,467, while 1.5% of students default on loans.
Resources (30%) accounted for how much the school spends on instruction and student services.
Engagement (20%) drew from student feedback on teaching, interactions with faculty, and other topics.
Environment (10%) assessed the college's diversity.
The Journal also included the average net price of each university — the published cost of attendance minus average grant and scholarship aid.
Below, we included the top 50 colleges and universities, as well as where they ranked in last year's list for 2018. See if your school made the cut:
Location: Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Outcomes: 87
Resources: 35
Engagement: 501-600
Environment: 127
Average net price: $31,900
2018 ranking: 49
Location: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Outcomes: 65
Resources: 38
Engagement: 126
Environment: 356
Average net price: $27,478
2018 ranking: 50
Location: Champaign, Illinois
Outcomes: 31
Resources: 306
Engagement: 34
Environment: 93
Average net price: $16,683
2018 ranking: 48
Location: Coral Gables, Florida
Outcomes: 68
Resources: 78
Engagement: 34
Environment: 78
Average net price: $37,424
2018 ranking: 44
Location: Middletown, Connecticut
Outcomes: 64
Resources: 35
Engagement: 345
Environment: 193
Average net price: $20,490
2018 ranking: 45
Location: La Jolla, California
Outcomes: 32
Resources: 186
Engagement: 387
Environment: 13
Average net price: $14,770
2018 ranking: 47
Location: Brunswick, Maine
Outcomes: 47
Resources: 38
Engagement: 142
Environment: 501-600
Average net price: $24,888
2018 ranking: 39
Location: West Lafayette, Indiana
Outcomes: 37
Resources: 92
Engagement: 68
Environment: 338
Average net price: $11,693
2018 ranking: 43
Location: Northampton, Massachusetts
Outcomes: 58
Resources: 40
Engagement: 304
Environment: 153
Average net price: $24,258
2018 ranking: 37
Location: Davis, California
Outcomes: 35
Resources: 171
Engagement: 201
Environment: 8
Average net price: $16,039
2018 ranking: 46
Location: Haverford, Pennsylvania
Outcomes: 50
Resources: 25
Engagement: 459
Environment: 323
Average net price: $21,144
2018 ranking: 42
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
Outcomes: 53
Resources: 32
Engagement: 459
Environment: 225
Average net price: $33,124
2018 ranking: 34
Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Outcomes: 29
Resources: 99
Engagement: 246
Environment: 417
Average net price: $10,077
2018 ranking: 33
Location: Middlebury, Vermont
Outcomes: 42
Resources: 37
Engagement: 499
Environment: 450
Average net price: $21,437
2018 ranking: 36
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Outcomes: 52
Resources: 58
Engagement: 68
Environment: 210
Average net price: $31,539
2018 ranking: 40
Location: Northfield, Minnesota
Outcomes: 44
Resources: 47
Engagement: 217
Environment: 292
Average net price: $28,587
2018 ranking: 38
Location: Claremont, California
Outcomes: 50
Resources: 28
Engagement: 246
Environment: 225
Average net price: $30,527
2018 ranking: 35
Location: Berkeley, California
Outcomes: 30
Resources: 181
Engagement: 126
Environment: 24
Average net price: $17,160
2018 ranking: 40
Location: Medford, Massachusetts
Outcomes: 48
Resources: 18
Engagement: 246
Environment: 323
Average net price: $28,076
2018 ranking: 32
Location: Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Outcomes: 49
Resources: 30
Engagement: 91
Environment: 105
Average net price: $19,641
2018 ranking: 30
Location: Washington, D.C.
Outcomes: 33
Resources: 50
Engagement: 142
Environment: 246
Average net price: $26,625
2018 ranking: 31
Location: Wellesley, Massachusetts
Outcomes: 43
Resources: 25
Engagement: 217
Environment: 141
Average net price: $20,013
2018 ranking: 28
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Outcomes: 20
Resources: 91
Engagement: 12
Environment: 309
Average net price: $16,107
2018 ranking: 27
Location: New York City
Outcomes: 39
Resources: 44
Engagement: 68
Environment: 78
Average net price: $35,147
2018 ranking: 29
Location: Notre Dame, Indiana
Outcomes: 24
Resources: 28
Engagement: 68
Environment: 500
Average net price: $26,683
2018 ranking: 24
Location: Los Angeles, California
Outcomes: 22
Resources: 119
Engagement: 16
Environment: 8
Average net price: $14,236
2018 ranking: 25
Location: Claremont, California
Outcomes: 39
Resources: 24
Engagement: 217
Environment: 46
Average net price: $18,140
2018 ranking: 26
Location: Williamstown, Massachusetts
Outcomes: 16
Resources: 25
Engagement: 501-600
Environment: 167
Average net price: $18,167
2018 ranking: 22
Location: Amherst, Massachusetts
Outcomes: 13
Resources: 30
Engagement: 601-800
Environment: 105
Average net price: $19,055
2018 ranking: 23
Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Outcomes: 19
Resources: 22
Engagement: 345
Environment: 118
Average net price: $27,352
2018 ranking: 17 (tie)
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Outcomes: 24
Resources: 19
Engagement: 170
Environment: 78
Average net price: $24,804
2018 ranking: 19
Location: Nashville, Tennessee
Outcomes: 23
Resources: 5
Engagement: 68
Environment: 406
Average net price: $23,150
2018 ranking: 21
Location: Saint Louis, Missouri
Outcomes: 20
Resources: 16
Engagement: 34
Environment: 246
Average net price: $28,824
2018 ranking: 11 (tie)
Location: Los Angeles, California
Outcomes: 24
Resources: 20
Engagement: 6
Environment: 69
Average net price: $32,932
2018 ranking: 15 (tie)
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Outcomes: 13
Resources: 20
Engagement: 16
Environment: 193
Average net price: $35,250
2018 ranking: 20
Location: Houston, Texas
Outcomes: 24
Resources: 7
Engagement: 34
Environment: 134
Average net price: $22,061
2018 ranking: 14
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Outcomes: 12
Resources: 10
Engagement: 499
Environment: 141
Average net price: $31,068
2018 ranking: 11 (tie)
Location: Evanston, Illinois
Outcomes: 17
Resources: 7
Engagement: 34
Environment: 270
Average net price: $29,326
2018 ranking: 15 (tie)
Location: Hanover, New Hampshire
Outcomes: 7
Resources: 12
Engagement: 25
Environment: 292
Average net price: $21,177
2018 ranking: 17 (tie)
Location: Ithaca, New York
Outcomes: 11
Resources: 13
Engagement: 52
Environment: 193
Average net price: $30,014
2018 ranking: 10
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Outcomes: 10
Resources: 10
Engagement: 106
Environment: 153
Average net price: $22,944
2018 ranking: 9
Location: Princeton, New Jersey
Outcomes: 4
Resources: 4
Engagement: 501-600
Environment: 167
Average net price: $17,732
2018 ranking: 9
Location: Durham, North Carolina
Outcomes: 1
Resources: 15
Engagement: 68
Environment: 180
Average net price: $19,950
2018 ranking: 5
Location: Providence, Rhode Island
Outcomes: 15
Resources: 6
Engagement: 6
Environment: 141
Average net price: $25,264
2018 ranking: 11 (tie)
Location: Stanford, California
Outcomes: 9
Resources: 16
Engagement: 52
Environment: 46
Average net price: $16,695
2018 ranking: 3 (tie)
Location: Pasadena, California
Outcomes: 7
Resources: 1
Engagement: 601-800
Environment: 246
Average net price: $26,839
2018 ranking: 7
Location: New York City
Outcomes: 5
Resources: 9
Engagement: 170
Environment: 54
Average net price: $22,973
2018 ranking: 2
Location: New Haven, Connecticut
Outcomes: 1
Resources: 13
Engagement: 68
Environment: 105
Average net price: $18,319
2018 ranking: 6
Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Outcomes: 5
Resources: 3
Engagement: 304
Environment: 118
Average net price: $21,576
2018 ranking: 3 (tie)
Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Outcomes: 1
Resources: 2
Engagement: 142
Environment: 134
Average net price: $16,205
2018 ranking: 1