Princeton Is 'Best' But USC Is America's Most Expensive University

Princeton Is 'Best' But USC Is America's Most Expensive University

The latest ranking of America’s best universities is here, perfectly timed for the approaching admissions season.

“Best” is of course subjective, and U.S. News and World Report has compiled 19 metrics on which they evaluated more than 400 national universities. Some of them include:

Graduation rates & performance: A four-year rolling average of the proportion of each entering class earning a bachelor’s degree in six years or less. Performance is measured against predictions made by the publishers, and when beaten, the university gains a higher scoring.

Peer assessment: A two-year weighted average of ratings from top academics—presidents, provosts and deans of admissions—on academic quality of peer institutions with which they are familiar.

Financial resources: The average per student spend on instruction, research, student services and related educational expenditures in the 2021 fiscal year.

Debt: A school’s average accumulated federal loan debt among borrowers only.

Pell graduation rates & performance: the same calculation as stated above, but focused only on Pell Grant students, adjusted to give more credit to schools with larger Pell student proportions.

The website’s methodology section details how they sourced their data, the weights assigned to each metric, and their changes over the years.

And, as Visual Capitalist's Pallavi Rao and Niccolo Conte detail below, from the hundreds assessed come the nearly 50 best universities that offer a variety of undergraduate majors, post-graduate programs, emphasize research, or award professional practice doctorates.

Which are the Best Universities in America?

At the top of the list, Princeton University is the best university in the country, known for its physics, economics, and international relations departments. Notably, it’s a rare Ivy league university that does not have a law, medical, or business school.

Here’s the full ranking of America’s best universities, along with annual tuition requirements.

Rank School Name State Tuition 1 Princeton University New Jersey $59,710 2 Massachusetts
Institute of
Technology Massachusetts $60,156 3 Harvard University Massachusetts $59,076 3 Stanford University California $62,484 5 Yale University Connecticut $64,700 6 University of
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania $66,104 7 California Institute
of Technology California $63,255 7 Duke University North Carolina $66,172 9 Brown University Rhode Island $68,230 9 Johns Hopkins
University Maryland $63,340 9 Northwestern University Illinois $65,997 12 Columbia University New York $65,524 12 Cornell University New York $66,014 12 University of Chicago Illinois $65,619 15 University of
California, Berkeley California $48,465 (out-state)
$15,891 (in-state) 15 University of
California, LA California $46,326 (out-state)
$13,752 (in-state) 17 Rice University Texas $58,128 18 Dartmouth College New Hampshire $65,511 18 Vanderbilt University Tennessee $63,946 20 University of Notre Dame Indiana $62,693 21 University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor Michigan $57,273 (out-state)
$17,786 (in-state) 22 Georgetown University Washington, DC $65,082 22 University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill North Carolina $39,338 (out-state)
$8,998 (in-state) 24 Carnegie Mellon University Pennsylvania $63,829 24 Emory University Georgia $60,774 24 University of Virginia Virginia $58,950 (out-state)
$22,323 (in-state) 24 Washington
University, St. Louis Missouri $62,982 28 University of
California, Davis California $46,043 (out-state)
$15,266 (in-state) 28 University of
California, San Diego California $48,630 (out-state)
$16,056 (in-state) 28 University of Florida Florida $28,658 (out-state)
$6,381 (in-state) 28 University of
Southern California California $68,237 32 University of
Texas, Austin Texas $41,070 (out-state)
$11,698 (in-state) 33 Georgia Institute
of Technology Georgia $32,876 (out-state)
$11,764 (in-state) 33 University of
California, Irvine California $47,759 (out-state)
$15,185 (in-state) 35 New York University New York $60,438 35 University of
California, Santa
Barbara California $45,658 (out-state)
$14,881 (in-state) 35 University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign Illinois $36,068 (out-state)
$17,572 (in-state) 35 University of
Wisconsin, Madison Wisconsin $40,603 (out-state)
$11,205 (in-state) 39 Boston College Massachusetts $67,680 40 Rutgers University,
New Brunswick New Jersey $36,001 (out-state)
$17,239 (in-state) 40 Tufts University Massachusetts $67,844 40 University of Washington Washington $41,997 (out-state)
$12,643 (in-state) 43 Boston University Massachusetts $65,168 43 The Ohio State University Ohio $36,722 (out-state)
$12,485 (in-state) 43 Purdue University,
Main Campus Indiana $28,794 (out-state)
$9,992 (in-state) 46 University of
Maryland, College
Park Maryland $40,306 (out-state)
$11,505 (in-state) 47 Lehigh University Pennsylvania $62,180 47 Texas A&M University Texas $40,607 (out-state)
$12,413 (in-state) 47 University of Georgia Georgia $30,220 (out-state)
$11,180 (in-state) 47 University of Rochester New York $64,384 47 Virginia Tech Virginia $36,090 (out-state)
$15,478 (in-state) 47 Wake Forest University North Carolina $64,758 53 Case Western
Reserve University Ohio $62,234 53 Florida State University Florida $21,683 (out-state)
$6,517 (in-state) 53 Northeastern University Massachusetts $63,141 53 University of
Minnesota, Twin
Cities Minnesota $36,402 (out-state)
$16,488 (in-state) 53 William & Mary Virginia $48,841 (out-state)
$25,041 (in-state)

MIT places second, and Harvard and Stanford tie for third. Yale rounds out the top five.

Private universities, including seven Ivy League colleges, dominate the top of the rankings. Meanwhile, the highest-ranked public schools are tied at 15th, both state schools in California.

For affordability, since the higher ranks are populated by private universities, there tends to be a broad correlation of better universities being more expensive. That said, the most expensive school in the top 50 ranks is actually the University of Southern California, tied at 28th, for $68,237/year.

As it happens, also tied at 28th, the University of Florida is the most affordable public school for in-state students ($6,381/year) and Florida State University tied at 53rd, is the most affordable for out-of-staters at $21,683/year.

However these costs are tuition-only, and don’t account for other necessary expenses: accommodation, food, and textbooks.

Best University versus Best “Fit”

Finding the best university for prospective students is more than just perusing a long ranking list.

Aside from the numerous schools present within each university—which can often be the best for specific majors—factors like location, proximity to family, campus culture, the non-academic pursuits (sports, extracurriculars, internships) are also taken into consideration.

In fact, research has found that just attaining a university degree improves future earnings potential and employability.

Furthermore, individual engagement at college (irrespective of the rank of the school in question) plays a far bigger role in learning and general well-being than simply attending a highly-ranked school.

However, for low income and minority students, attending a top-ranked school does improve future earnings considerably. For women, it also often results in delaying marriage and kids, which results in more work-hours and as a result, more pay.

Tyler Durden Thu, 11/30/2023 - 23:20