NICHE’S 100 BEST COLLEGES IN AMERICA 2025
The biggest difference between the Niche 2025 ranking and the other big university-wide rankings for U.S. institutions for 2025 is the fate of Princeton University.
Princeton has topped Wall Street Journal/College Pulse’s ranking of Best Colleges in the U.S. in both 2024 and 2025, Forbes’ America’s Top Colleges for the last two years, as well as U.S. News & World Report’s 2024 National University Rankings. However, Niche’s 2025 ranking places it at No. 22.
Niche puts Yale University at the very top, followed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology at No. 2. Stanford, Columbia, and Harvard universities round out the top five.
Niche’s ranking compares data from more than 1,000 U.S. based universities for its ranking. The top 100 schools are listed below. You can find the full ranking here.
Rank |
School |
Acceptance Rate |
Net Price |
SAT Range |
| 1 | Yale University | 5% | $18,647 | 1500-1580 |
| 2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 4% | $20,232 | 1530-1580 |
| 3 | Stanford University | 4% | $18,279 | 1500-1580 |
| 4 | Columbia University | 4% | $22,058 | 1490-1580 |
| 5 | Harvard University | 3% | $19,491 | 1490-1580 |
| 6 | University of Pennsylvania | 7% | $26,123 | 1500-1570 |
| 7 | Dartmouth College | 6% | $19,208 | 1500-1580 |
| 8 | Brown University | 5% | $26,723 | 1490-1580 |
| 9 | Vanderbilt University | 7% | $25,606 | 1490-1570 |
| 10 | Johns Hopkins University | 7% | $24,034 | 1520-1570 |
| 11 | Northwestern University | 7% | $22,095 | 1490-1570 |
| 12 | Georgetown University | 12% | $35,566 | 1410-1560 |
| 13 | Duke University | 6% | $23,694 | 1490-1570 |
| 14 | California Institute of Technology | 3% | $20,755 | 1530-1580 |
| 15 | Rice University | 9% | $19,902 | 1490-1570 |
| 16 | University of California – Los Angeles | 9% | $16,999 | N/A |
| 17 | Cornell University | 7% | $26,060 | 1470-1570 |
| 18 | University of Michigan – Ann Arbor | 18% | $19,318 | 1350-1530 |
| 19 | Harvey Mudd College | 13% | $39,850 | 1480-1560 |
| 20 | Washington University in St. Louis | 12% | $23,432 | 1500-1570 |
| 21 | University of Chicago | 5% | $36,991 | 1500-1580 |
| 22 | Princeton University | 6% | $18,698 | 1490-1580 |
| 23 | Carnegie Mellon University | 11% | $33,499 | 1490-1570 |
| 24 | Pomona College | 7% | $19,962 | 1480-1560 |
| 25 | Boston University | 14% | $27,829 | 1350-1500 |
| 26 | Georgia Institute of Technology | 17% | $17,402 | 1370-1550 |
| 27 | University of Virginia | 19% | $19,469 | 1400-1540 |
| 28 | Claremont McKenna College | 10% | $28,701 | 1440-1550 |
| 29 | University of Southern California | 12% | $36,808 | 1450-1550 |
| 30 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | 17% | $10,614 | 1350-1530 |
| 31 | Northeastern University | 7% | $35,827 | 1440-1550 |
| 32 | University of Florida | 23% | $11,740 | 1300-1490 |
| 33 | Emory University | 11% | $26,680 | 1430-1550 |
| 34 | New York University | 12% | $29,499 | 1470-1570 |
| 35 | University of California – Berkeley | 11% | $19,257 | 1310-1530 |
| 36 | University of Notre Dame | 13% | $28,474 | 1450-1550 |
| 37 | Williams College | 8% | $20,965 | 1480-1570 |
| 38 | Swarthmore College | 7% | $20,715 | 1440-1560 |
| 39 | Davidson College | 17% | $26,704 | 1350-1500 |
| 40 | University of California – Irvine | 21% | $14,033 | 1230-1430 |
| 41 | University of Texas – Austin | 31% | $17,434 | 1230-1500 |
| 42 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | 45% | $14,544 | 1320-1510 |
| 43 | University of California – San Diego | 24% | $16,111 | N/A |
| 44 | Barnard College | 9% | $26,009 | 1440-1550 |
| 45 | Tufts University | 10% | $30,479 | 1450-1550 |
| 46 | Middlebury College | 13% | $22,181 | 1400-1540 |
| 47 | University of Washington | 48% | $10,603 | N/A |
| 48 | Wellesley College | 14% | $21,362 | 1430-1550 |
| 49 | University of California – Davis | 37% | $17,385 | 1160-1400 |
| 50 | University of Georgia | 43% | $17,180 | 1220-1420 |
| 51 | Washington and Lee University | 17% | $24,733 | 1410-1530 |
| 52 | Bowdoin College | 9% | $22,776 | 1460-1560 |
| 53 | Florida State University | 25% | $14,003 | 1210-1370 |
| 54 | Boston College | 17% | $30,559 | 1430-1540 |
| 55 | Purdue University | 53% | $12,576 | 1200-1470 |
| 56 | University of Miami | 19% | $36,467 | 1310-1480 |
| 57 | University of Maryland – College Park | 45% | $16,210 | 1360-1520 |
| 58 | Lehigh University | 37% | $30,453 | 1340-1490 |
| 59 | University of Wisconsin-Madison | 49% | $13,376 | 1340-1510 |
| 60 | University of South Florida | 44% | $11,004 | 1140-1330 |
| 61 | Texas A&M University | 63% | $20,375 | 1150-1390 |
| 62 | University of California – Santa Barbara | 26% | $16,874 | 1230-1460 |
| 63 | Wake Forest University | 21% | $26,197 | N/A |
| 64 | Villanova University | 23% | $34,837 | 1360-1500 |
| 65 | Virginia Tech | 57% | $19,301 | 1240-1430 |
| 66 | University of Minnesota Twin Cities | 75% | $16,018 | 1290-1500 |
| 67 | North Carolina State University | 47% | $14,852 | 1280-1460 |
| 68 | Haverford College | 14% | $23,476 | 1430-1540 |
| 69 | University of Pittsburgh | 49% | $24,286 | 1280-1470 |
| 70 | Amherst College | 7% | $21,367 | 1420-1550 |
| 71 | Tulane University | 11% | $50,263 | 1370-1510 |
| 72 | The Ohio State University | 53% | $19,582 | 1310-1480 |
| 73 | Hamilton College | 12% | $24,503 | 1420-1540 |
| 74 | Wesleyan University | 14% | $21,270 | 1320-1510 |
| 75 | University of Central Florida | 41% | $13,108 | 1200-1360 |
| 76 | Case Western Reserve University | 27% | $38,279 | 1410-1540 |
| 77 | University of Massachusetts Amherst | 64% | $22,291 | 1260-1480 |
| 78 | Vassar College | 19% | $30,603 | 1430-1540 |
| 79 | Rutgers University–New Brunswick | 66% | $17,535 | 1270-1480 |
| 80 | Bates College | 14% | $27,491 | 1420-1520 |
| 81 | William & Mary | 33% | $25,688 | 1370-1520 |
| 82 | Michigan State University | 88% | $22,803 | 1160-1360 |
| 83 | Macalester College | 28% | $36,095 | 1340-1500 |
| 84 | Colgate University | 12% | $27,074 | 1410-1530 |
| 85 | George Washington University | 49% | $42,723 | 1330-1490 |
| 86 | Trinity University | 31% | $30,038 | 1310-1470 |
| 87 | University of Connecticut | 55% | $23,985 | 1220-1440 |
| 88 | Clemson University | 43% | $24,577 | 1220-1410 |
| 89 | Florida International University | 64% | $9,881 | 1060-1250 |
| 90 | Colorado School of Mines | 58% | $29,425 | 1330-1480 |
| 91 | University of Rochester | 39% | $39,775 | 1390-1540 |
| 92 | Reed College | 30% | $33,106 | 1320-1500 |
| 93 | Binghamton University, SUNY | 42% | $19,535 | 1340-1510 |
| 94 | Indiana University – Bloomington | 82% | $16,234 | 1180-1400 |
| 95 | Oklahoma State University | 71% | $16,718 | 1010-1250 |
| 96 | University of Utah | 89% | $12,399 | 1190-1390 |
| 97 | Babson College | 22% | $28,400 | 1350-1510 |
| 98 | Auburn University | 44% | $25,271 | 1220-1380 |
| 99 | Drexel University | 80% | $39,267 | 1230-1430 |
| 100 | University of South Carolina | 64% | $22,427 | 1180-1380 |
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