U.S. News & World Report released its 2025 Best Colleges list Tuesday morning, ranking the nation’s top universities across a variety of categories for the 40th consecutive year.
The magazine said that in order to “prioritize social mobility,” more than 50 percent of this year’s college rankings are based on academic and professional success compared to debt and earnings after graduation.
The top three schools remain the same as in the previous list, with Princeton University topping the list for the 14th consecutive year. Following Princeton, Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) maintained their positions at second and third, respectively. Stanford University, which tied with MIT for third place last year, dropped to fourth place.
Many of the subcategories were similar or identical to the top rankings in 2024. Williams College maintained its top spot among liberal arts colleges. The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and University of California, Berkeley tied for first place among public universities in the 2024 rankings, but UCLA surpassed UC Berkeley for the top spot on the 2025 list.
Spelman College took the top spot among Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) this year, beating out Howard University.
According to The New York Times, the rankings have received a lot of criticism over the years based on the formula used to rank each university and the fact that many institutions pay licensing fees to promote their rankings.
In the same Times report, Education Secretary Miguel A. Cardona said the rankings have led to an “unhealthy obsession with selection.”
Eric Gertler, chairman and CEO of U.S. News & World Report, said in a press release accompanying the 2025 list that the rankings provide “important information for people trying to make the best decisions about their college education.”
The list of the top 20 universities and top 20 liberal arts colleges in this year’s rankings is as follows:
Top 20 National Universities:
1 – Princeton University (New Jersey)
2- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
3 – Harvard University (Massachusetts)
4 – Stanford University (California)
5 – Yale University (Connecticut)
6 – California Institute of Technology – Tie
Duke University (North Carolina) – Tie
Johns Hopkins University (MD) – Tie
Northwestern University (IL) – Tie
10 – University of Pennsylvania
11- Cornell University (New York) – Draw
University of Chicago (IL) – Tie
13 – Brown University (Rhode Island) – Tie
Columbia University (New York) – Tie
15 – Dartmouth College (NH) – Tie
University of California, Los Angeles – Tie
17 – University of California, Berkeley
18 – Rice University (TX) – Tie
Notre Dame (IN) – Tie
Vanderbilt University (Tennessee) – Tie
Top 20 Liberal Arts Colleges Nationwide:
1 – Williams College (Massachusetts)
2 – Amherst College (Massachusetts)
3 – Swarthmore College (Pennsylvania)
4 – United States Naval Academy (MD)
5 – Bowdoin College (ME) – Tie
Pomona College (CA) – Tie
7 – Wellesley College (Massachusetts)
8 – Carleton University (Minnesota) – Tie
Claremont McKenna College (CA) – Tie
United States Air Force Academy (CO) – Tie
West Point (New York) – Tie
12 – Harvey Mudd College (California) – Tie
Vassar College (New York) – Tie
14 – Barnard College (New York) – Tie
Davidson College (North Carolina) – Tie
Hamilton College (New York) – Tie
Smith College (Massachusetts) – Tie
Wesleyan University (CT) – Tie
19 – Grinnell College (Iowa) – Tie
Middlebury College (VT) – Tie
Washington and Lee University (Virginia) – Tie
