Top 10 Universities in America in 2024

Princeton University has been ranked as the best university in the United States for the 13th consecutive year, according to US News rankings.

US News and World Report announced the 2024 rankings of America's best universities on September 17. The positions of the top universities remained almost stable compared to last year.

Occupying the top five spots are still familiar names, including Princeton University, Stanford University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Yale University.

Princeton University retained its number one spot, followed by MIT, unchanged from last year. Harvard and Stanford University both held onto their third spots, while Yale University, which had been tied for third last year, dropped to fifth.

The University of Pennsylvania rose one spot to sixth, followed by Duke University and the California Institute of Technology, both in seventh place. Brown University made the biggest jump, from 13th to ninth, tied with Northwestern University, up one spot. Also in ninth place was Johns Hopkins University, but it fell two spots from last year.

All of the universities in the top 10 are private. Tuition fees for these schools range from $54,000 to $68,000 per year.

Rating	School	Tuition (USD/year)
1	Princeton University	59,700
2	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	59,750
3	Harvard University	54,300
3	Stanford University	20,600/quarter
5	Yale University	64,700
6	University of Pennsylvania	58,600
7	California Institute of Technology	60,800
7	Duke University	63,500
9	Brown University	68,200
9	Johns Hopkins University	62,800
9	Northwestern University	64,900

The US News College and University Rankings, which was launched in 1983, is a popular reference for many students, alongside the QS and THE rankings.

This year, US News ranked a total of 1,500 schools, based on 19 criteria. The weight of each criterion varies, depending on whether the university uses SAT/ACT scores in admissions. Of these, self-assessment scores and graduation rates still have the highest weight (ranging from 16-21% each).

Seven new criteria were included for evaluation, including the graduation rate of students who are the first generation in their family to attend college, the rate of bachelors with higher incomes than high school graduates, the number of citations per publication or the number of international publications of lecturers...

Five old criteria, including the percentage of graduates who borrowed money, high school rank and class size, were dropped from this year's rankings.

The changes are designed to measure social mobility, specifically the ability of economically disadvantaged students to graduate from college, according to US News. Some measures, such as a student’s high school rank, are being eliminated because few schools report that data anymore.