Kellogg SOM | Mr. Fertilizer Financier
GMAT 735 GMAT Focus, GPA 3.85
Harvard | Ms. Indian Engineer
GMAT 760, GPA 3.5
Wharton | Mr. Private Equity
GMAT 730, GPA 3.2
HEC Paris | Ms. M&A Lawyer
GMAT 700, GPA 3.5
Stanford GSB | Ms. UK In the USA
GMAT 720, GPA 1st class (UK scoring)
Kenan-Flagler | Mr. Do I Have A Shot?
GMAT EA: 151, GPA 3.1
Chicago Booth | Ms. Tech4Good
GMAT 760, GPA 3.76
Columbia | Mr. Underdog
GMAT 695 GMAT Focus (750 Legacy GMAT equivalent), GPA 2.85
McCombs School of Business | Mr. Big Pharma
GRE N/A, GPA 3.1
Kenan-Flagler | Mr. Non-Traditional Undergrad
GMAT 660, GPA 2.9
Kellogg SOM | Ms. Talent Acquisition
GRE 316, GPA 3.6
Ross | Mr. Tax Accountant
GMAT N/A, GPA 3.3
Tuck | Mr. Nothing Is Perma
GMAT 760, GPA 7/10
Kellogg SOM | Mr. Desi Product Manager
GMAT 740, GPA 2.90
Columbia | Mr. Clean
GMAT 770, GPA 3.1

Wall Street Journal’s 2025 Best Colleges In America

by: Kristy Bleizeffer on September 07, 2024 | 16,927 Views

THE 100 BEST U.S. COLLEGES BY WSJ

WSJ evaluated 500 U.S. private and public universities. For its full, overall ranking, it scored each school on student outcomes (70% weight), learning environment (20%) and diversity (10%).

It employed one of the largest independent student surveys and combined it with a “rigorous statistical analysis” of government data to calculate its school scores. It also factors cost of attendance (average net price) against student outcomes.

The top 100 schools from WSJ’s 2025 Best Colleges in the U.S. are shown in the table below. The full list is available here.

Wall Street Journal/College Pulse Top 100
Rank
School
State
Type
Score
1 Princeton University NJ Private 92.3
2 Babson College MA Private 91.9
3 Stanford University CA Private 91.6
4 Yale University CT Private 89.3
5 Claremont McKenna College CA Private 89.2
6 Massachusetts Institute of Technology MA Private 87.4
7 Harvard University MA Private 86.2
8 University of California, Berkeley CA Public 86.1
9 Georgia Institute of Technology GA Public 85.8
10 Davidson College NC Private 85.6
11 Bentley University MA Private 85.3
12 University of California, Davis CA Public 85.3
13 University of Pennsylvania PA Private 85.1
14 Columbia University NY Private 85
15 Lehigh University PA Private 84.6
16 San José State University CA Public 84.4
17 University of Notre Dame IN Private 84.2
18 University of California, Merced CA Public 84
19 Virginia Tech VA Public 83.9
20 Harvey Mudd College CA Private 83.6
21 California State Polytechnic University, Pomona CA Public 83.6
22 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI Public 83.5
23 Loyola University Maryland MD Private 83.1
24 California State University, Stanislaus CA Public 83.1
25 Colgate University NY Private 83
26 University of Delaware DE Public 82.9
27 Cornell University NY Private 82.8
28 Texas A&M University, College Station TX Public 82.6
29 Rice University TX Private 82.4
30 University of California, San Diego CA Public 82.2
31 University of California, Irvine CA Public 82
32 Washington University in St. Louis MO Private 81.8
33 University of Virginia, Main Campus VA Public 81.8
34 Georgetown University DC Private 81.7
35 Swarthmore College PA Private 81.6
36 Brown University RI Private 81.6
37 Augustana College IL Private 81.3
38 Santa Clara University CA Private 81.3
39 California Institute of Technology CA Private 81.2
40 Towson University MD Public 81.2
41 University of Texas at Austin TX Public 81.1
42 St. Joseph’s University PA Private 81
43 University of Detroit Mercy MI Private 81
44 Vanderbilt University TN Private 80.9
45 Duke University NC Private 80.8
46 California State University, San Bernardino CA Public 80.5
47 University of San Diego CA Private 80.4
48 California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo CA Public 80.4
49 University of Southern California CA Private 80.3
50 Washington and Lee University VA Private 80.3
51 California State University, Fresno CA Public 80.2
52 Manhattan College NY Private 80
53 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign IL Public 79.8
54 Albion College MI Private 79.7
55 Marquette University WI Private 79.7
56 Carnegie Mellon University PA Private 79.7
57 Dartmouth College NH Private 79.6
58 Lafayette College PA Private 79.5
59 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill NC Public 79.5
60 Michigan State University MI Public 79.5
61 Baruch College, CUNY NY Public 79.5
62 Northwestern University IL Private 79.5
63 Brigham Young University UT Private 79.5
64 Colby College ME Private 79.4
65 College of the Holy Cross MA Private 79.4
66 San Francisco State University CA Public 79.3
67 California State University, Long Beach CA Public 79.1
68 University of California, Los Angeles CA Public 79
69 Siena College NY Private 79
70 James Madison University VA Public 79
71 University of Portland OR Private 79
72 California State University, Sacramento CA Public 78.9
73 University of Wisconsin, Madison WI Public 78.7
74 Bryant University RI Private 78.7
75 University of Chicago IL Private 78.4
76 George Mason University VA Public 78.3
77 Florida International University FL Public 78.2
78 University of Dayton OH Private 78.1
79 Villanova University PA Private 78.1
80 University of La Verne CA Private 77.9
81 California State University, Northridge CA Public 77.8
82 University of Washington WA Public 77.7
83 University of Florida FL Public 77.7
84 University of Rhode Island RI Public 77.5
85 California State University, Fullerton CA Public 77.4
86 Wellesley College MA Private 77.4
87 University of the Pacific CA Private 77.3
88 Haverford College PA Private 77.1
89 Ohio Northern University OH Private 77
90 Worcester Polytechnic Institute MA Private 77
91 Quinnipiac University CT Private 77
92 Johns Hopkins University MD Private 76.9
93 Clemson University SC Public 76.8
94 The College of New Jersey NJ Public 76.7
95 California State University, Los Angeles CA Public 76.7
96 Bucknell University PA Private 76.7
97 California State University, San Marcos CA Public 76.5
98 Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology IN Private 76.3
99 University of Connecticut CT Public 76.3
100 Boston College MA Private 76.3

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