The top universities in the United States

With a grand total of 147 US universities in the World University Rankings, there are plenty of options for a world-class education you may never have thought of.

Rankings for Students

Carly Minsky

November 24 2015

So you’ve set your hopes on attending one of the most elite universities in the world?

You’ve heard of Harvard, Stanford and MIT of course.

But with a grand total of 147 US universities in the World University Rankings, there are plenty of options for a world-class education you may never have thought of.

For the fourth year running California Institute of Technology has reigned as the best university in the world.

The prestigious Ivy League universities, which include Columbia University, Harvard and Princeton, among others, fare particularly well in the rankings, but many younger or public universities also perform extremely well when judged on teaching, research, international outcome and influence.

University of California, Berkeley, is the highest ranked public institution, at position 13.

Other state schools (outside California, which has a high concentration) include Pennsylvania State University and Ohio State University, both ranked within the best 100 universities in the world.

These state universities generally charge lower fees than private colleges, even for international students.

See the full ranking for 2015-16 here.

Rank 2015-16	University
1	California Institute of Technology
3	Stanford University
5	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
6	Harvard University
7	Princeton University
10	University of Chicago
11	Johns Hopkins University
12	Yale University
13	University of California, Berkeley
15	Columbia University
16	University of California, Los Angeles
17	University of Pennsylvania
18	Cornell University
20	Duke University
21	University of Michigan
22	Carnegie Mellon University
25	Northwestern University
30	York University
32	University of Washington
36	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
=39	University of California, San Diego
=39	University of California, Santa Barbara
41	Georgia Institute of Technology
=44	University of California, Davis