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Best Overall Universities

Top US national universities, ordered to match US News 2026 reference rankings (released Fall 2025).

Top entries are curated; the rest are auto-extended by selectivity.

#SchoolLocation Accept SAT mid-50% ACT mid-50% Undergrads Avg Class Size Type
#1 Princeton Princeton, New Jersey 4.6% 1500-1560 34-35 5,813 ~11 est. private View
#2 MIT Cambridge, Massachusetts 4.5% 1530-1580 35-36 4,600 ~8 est. private View
#3 Harvard Cambridge, Massachusetts 4.2% 1510-1550 34-36 6,975 ~13 est. private View
#4 Stanford Stanford, California 3.6% 1510-1570 34-35 7,904 ~11 est. private View
#5 Yale New Haven, Connecticut 3.9% 1480-1560 33-35 6,814 ~13 est. private View
#6 Caltech Pasadena, California 3.8% 1530-1580 35-36 987 ~8 est. private View
#7 Duke Durham, North Carolina 4.7% 1500-1570 34-35 6,523 ~13 est. private View
#8 Johns Hopkins Baltimore, Maryland 5.1% 1530-1560 34-36 5,500 ~15 est. private View
#9 Northwestern Evanston, Illinois 7.0% 1510-1560 33-35 8,500 ~13 est. private View
#10 UPenn Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 4.9% 1510-1550 33-35 9,995 ~13 est. private View
#11 Cornell Ithaca, New York 8.8% 1510-1560 33-35 16,128 ~20 est. private View
#12 Brown Providence, Rhode Island 5.4% 1510-1560 34-35 10,690 ~13 est. private View
#13 University of Chicago Chicago, Illinois 4.5% 1510-1560 34-35 7,500 ~11 est. private View
#14 Columbia New York, New York 3.9% 1500-1560 34-36 8,800 ~13 est. private View
#15 UCLA Los Angeles, California 9.4% — — 33,040 ~40 est. public View
#16 UC Berkeley Berkeley, California 11.0% — — 33,469 ~40 est. public View
#17 Dartmouth Hanover, New Hampshire 5.4% 1480-1560 33-35 4,570 ~15 est. private View
#18 Notre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana 9.0% 1470-1540 33-35 8,800 ~20 est. private View
#19 Vanderbilt Nashville, Tennessee 4.1% 1510-1560 34-35 7,221 ~15 est. private View
#20 Rice Houston, Texas 8.0% 1510-1560 34-35 4,789 ~13 est. private View
#21 Wash U St. Louis St. Louis, Missouri 12.0% 1500-1570 33-35 8,220 ~15 est. private View
#22 Carnegie Mellon Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 11.1% 1510-1560 33-35 7,369 ~13 est. private View
#23 University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan 16.4% 1370-1530 31-34 33,000 ~24 est. public View
#24 Emory Atlanta, Georgia 12.3% 1470-1540 32-35 7,000 ~20 est. private View
#25 UVA Charlottesville, Virginia 12.5% 1410-1520 32-35 17,901 ~33 est. public View
#26 Georgia Tech Atlanta, Georgia 12.7% 1370-1530 30-34 18,000 ~40 est. public View
#27 UNC Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, North Carolina 15.3% 1400-1530 28-34 19,000 ~31 est. public View
#28 USC Los Angeles, California 9.8% 1450-1550 32-35 20,630 ~20 est. private View
#29 Georgetown Washington, District of Columbia 13.0% 1410-1550 32-35 7,500 ~24 est. private View
#30 Carnegie Mellon Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 11.1% 1510-1560 33-35 7,369 ~13 est. private View
#31 NYU New York, New York 7.7% 1480-1550 34-35 29,060 ~20 est. private View
#32 Tufts Medford, Massachusetts 10.0% 1480-1540 33-35 6,700 ~22 est. private View
#33 Wake Forest Winston-Salem, North Carolina 20.8% 1420-1500 32-34 5,500 ~24 est. private View
#34 Case Western Cleveland, Ohio 35.3% 1450-1530 32-35 6,186 ~22 est. private View
#35 Boston College Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 16.2% 1460-1510 32-34 9,500 ~26 est. private View
#36 Tulane New Orleans, Louisiana 14.0% 1430-1500 31-34 8,500 ~20 est. private View
#37 Villanova Villanova, Pennsylvania 27.0% 1410-1490 32-34 6,734 ~26 est. private View
#38 University of Texas at Austin Austin, Texas 26.6% 1240-1460 27-33 42,000 ~40 est. public View
#39 University of Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin 45.2% 1370-1490 28-32 37,198 ~37 est. public View
#40 Lehigh Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 25.9% 1380-1490 31-34 5,500 ~20 est. private View
#41 University of Maryland College Park, Maryland 44.8% 1400-1530 32-35 31,133 ~37 est. public View
#42 William & Mary Williamsburg, Virginia 37.0% 1410-1520 33-35 6,700 ~24 est. public View
#43 University of Florida Gainesville, Florida 24.2% 1320-1470 29-33 34,000 ~35 est. public View
#44 Brandeis Waltham, Massachusetts 40.5% 1415-1520 31-34 3,500 ~22 est. private View
#45 Northeastern Boston, Massachusetts 5.2% 1450-1520 33-35 16,000 ~29 est. private View
#46 GWU Washington, District of Columbia 47.1% 1350-1470 31-34 12,000 ~29 est. private View
#47 Stevens Institute Hoboken, New Jersey 47.6% 1380-1505 31-34 4,000 ~24 est. private View
#48 University of Miami Coral Gables, Florida 17.5% 1340-1450 30-33 13,250 ~24 est. private View
#49 Fordham Bronx, New York 58.0% 1320-1490 31-34 10,000 ~33 est. private View
#50 American University Washington, District of Columbia 62.0% 1280-1460 29-32 6,700 ~26 est. private View
#51 Boston University Boston, Massachusetts 11.1% 1430-1500 32-34 17,600 ~24 est. private View
#52 Binghamton University Binghamton, New York 38.6% 1360-1490 31-34 14,321 ~40 est. public View
#53 University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 58.1% 1280-1460 29-33 20,418 ~31 est. public View
#54 Clemson Clemson, South Carolina 38.3% 1250-1400 28-32 23,401 ~33 est. public View
#55 University of Minnesota Minneapolis, Minnesota 79.8% 1300-1470 26-31 39,908 ~37 est. public View
#56 University of Washington Seattle, Washington 39.1% — — 36,000 ~44 est. public View
#57 University of Delaware Newark, Delaware 66.0% 1180-1370 26-31 19,000 ~33 est. public View
#58 George Mason Fairfax, Virginia 87.5% 1160-1360 25-30 27,819 ~37 est. public View
#59 Temple Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 80.4% 1130-1358 24-31 24,000 ~31 est. public View
#60 Drexel Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 79.4% 1240-1440 27-32 13,000 ~26 est. private View
#62 Penn State University Park, Pennsylvania 61.0% 1250-1410 27-32 42,619 ~37 est. public View
#63 Michigan State East Lansing, Michigan 84.8% 1100-1310 24-30 52,089 ~37 est. public View
#64 University of South Carolina Columbia, South Carolina 60.2% 1180-1360 25-31 27,000 ~37 est. public View
#65 San Diego State San Diego, California 36.0% 1140-1320 23-29 31,000 ~53 est. public View
#66 Florida State Tallahassee, Florida 24.2% 1290-1400 29-32 34,271 ~40 est. public View
#67 Auburn Auburn, Alabama 45.9% 1260-1380 26-29 28,953 ~40 est. public View
#68 Purdue West Lafayette, Indiana 49.9% 1220-1480 28-34 37,000 ~29 est. public View
#69 University of Connecticut Storrs, Connecticut 52.4% 1220-1420 28-33 20,056 ~35 est. public View
#70 Rutgers New Brunswick, New Jersey 65.0% 1270-1480 28-33 36,588 ~29 est. public View
#71 Virginia Tech Blacksburg, Virginia 55.0% 1280-1450 28-32 30,000 ~31 est. public View
#72 University of New Hampshire Durham, New Hampshire 88.2% 1090-1330 26-30 11,376 ~40 est. public View
#73 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon 88.0% 1130-1360 22-28 18,000 ~37 est. public View
#74 University of Vermont Burlington, Vermont 65.3% 1300-1420 29-32 11,300 ~33 est. public View
#75 Amherst Amherst, Massachusetts 6.8% 1490-1560 33-35 1,900 ~15 est. private View
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