University Benchmarks

Ranking the Top 100 Academic Universities

UniversityBenchmarks.com ranks the universities that attract and produce the best academic students.

There are many 'University Rankings' on the internet. Most rankings rely heavily on subjective metrics like 'reputation' and 'selectivity'. UniversityBenchmarks is purely an academic ranking model. The rankings are based on the reported academic and financial metrics of the colleges. There are no subjective factors like 'reputation' that are used. The calculations are performed using normal statistical models. All universities are considered equal and there is no weighting of the ranking categories.

The university 2014-2015 dataset is comprised of over 2400 US Universities & Colleges and comes from multiple sources using the most favorable reported metrics for a university.

The universities are ranked against each other in each filtered set. It is an iterative process whereby lower ranking universities are removed and the set is re-ranked until the final set of 100 is reached.

Selecting 'Rank Top 10 Only' will show the Top 10 for each filter category ranked against each other.

The academic rankings of the universities within the major conferences (ACC, Big12, Big10, Pac12, SEC) are available.

The 2017 rankings will be available in August.

Notes:
  • It is possible for universities to be ranked higher/lower than one another depending on the filter set.
  • Conference averages are based on the top 8 schools in the conference.
  • Public Schools are highlighted
  • Clicking on the university's seal icon will take you to the university's website.

Ranking Fields

Rank - Overall rank based on the average of the ranking fields (Scores, Difficulty, Smartest, Brainpower, Faculty and Research).

Scores - SAT & ACT scores. The university's test scores are corrected for dropout rate when score level is Good, Excellent or Elite. This will slightly boost scores for highly competitive schools.

Difficulty - Academic rigor is estimated based on how difficult it is to get an "A" at the university. An estimated GPA at the university is calculated for the average US Student. University grade inflation, average GPA, and STEM density are factors.

Smartest - University that can field the highest scoring students based on the average US University size. Higher Smartest Rank = "Smartest for the Average University"

Brainpower - The average "smartest" rank using 5 reference populations (CalTech, MIT, Stanford, GaTech and Berkeley). Higher Brainpower Rank = "Higher Density of Smart Students". The university ranked higher can mathematically field 'X' number of smarter students than universities ranked below them.

Faculty - Ranking based on number of % of faculty with awards and academy membership.

Research - Ranking is achieved by iteratively ranking the average of 3 research metrics (r-pop, r-stem, r-other ). The lowest ranked college is then removed and the new set is re-ranked. The result is the schools with potentially the strongest research environments per student bubble up to the top regardless of size or research budget.

  • r-pop - Average research spending for student population
  • r-stem - STEM research spending
  • r-other - Other/Medical/Health research spending

Salary ROI - "Salary Return on Investment" is not used in the overall ranking but is provided for additional information. Using the undergraduate average starting and mid-career salaries, the rank is based on a 20yr salary accumulation (with raises) minus the cost of a 4 year education at the university. Salaries are normalized across the country using the average COLA for the university's geo-economic region (7 regions total). The COLA effect is diminished by the level of the university. Elite, Excellent and Good universities have a greater distribution of graduates across the country and a diminishing COLA effect. The resultant value would be the graduate's spending potential over the 20yr period.

Overall ROI - "Overall Return on Investment" is not used in the overall ranking but is provided for additional information. The average of Overall Rank and Salary ROI. This would be the "Best academic bang for the buck". Colleges that produce the best education, at the best price, with the best return will be ranked higher.

Color Key - ranks are colorized as follows 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 50 100

The 2016 University Academic Rankings

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    The 2016 University Academic Rankings:
    rank value university state scores difficulty smartest brainpower faculty research salaryROI overallROI scores level
    ====================================================================================================================
    1	4.00  California Institute of Technology	CA	1	1	14	2	2	4	18	3	2306/1537/35	Elite
    2	7.17  Harvard University	MA	2	10	1	1	1	28	24	9	2262/1508/34	Elite
    3	8.00  Princeton University	NJ	4	4	4	4	3	29	23	9	2259/1506/34	Elite
    4	8.67  Yale University	CT	5	14	3	5	12	13	59	23	2258/1505/34	Elite
    5	9.17  Massachusetts Institute of Technology	MA	6	2	10	11	24	2	9	2	2241/1494/34	Elite
    6	9.33  Georgia Institute of Technology	GA	23	3	12	6	4	8	1	1	2167/1445/33	Elite
    7	11.83  Columbia University in the City of New York	NY	9	11	6	7	21	17	62	26	2221/1481/33	Elite
    8	13.17  Washington University in St Louis	MO	7	13	5	8	35	11	15	6	2226/1484/33	Elite
    9	13.67  Stanford University	CA	11	32	11	14	4	10	26	14	2214/1476/33	Elite
    10	13.83  University of Chicago	IL	3	5	2	3	33	37	22	13	2261/1507/34	Elite
    11	15.83  Northwestern University	IL	13	16	8	9	16	33	20	12	2207/1471/33	Elite
    -	16.17  Ivy Group (Average)		13	17	9	10	16	32	30	17	2209/1473/33	Elite
    12	17.00  University of Pennsylvania	PA	17	23	9	10	27	16	13	7	2190/1460/33	Elite
    13	18.67  Vanderbilt University	TN	8	8	7	13	55	21	12	7	2223/1482/33	Elite
    14	18.83  Duke University	NC	16	21	13	20	36	7	5	3	2191/1461/33	Elite
    15	21.33  Cornell University	NY	31	30	16	17	20	14	56	28	2130/1420/32	Elite
    16	22.50  University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	MI	42	33	15	12	28	5	19	14	2078/1385/31	Excellent
    17	22.67  University of California-Berkeley	CA	50	29	18	15	4	20	41	21	2057/1371/31	Excellent
    18	22.83  Johns Hopkins University	MD	30	18	28	41	19	1	61	34	2132/1421/32	Elite
    19	23.33  Dartmouth College	NH	15	25	20	22	24	34	36	20	2195/1463/33	Elite
    20	25.83  Rice University	TX	18	12	26	27	14	58	2	5	2189/1459/33	Elite
    21	28.67  Carnegie Mellon University	PA	26	20	27	36	12	51	8	11	2150/1433/32	Elite
    22	31.17  Tufts University	MA	19	24	21	26	37	60	48	27	2181/1454/33	Elite
    23	31.50  University of Southern California	CA	38	35	17	18	43	38	79	50	2091/1394/31	Elite
    24	33.17  Brown University	RI	24	83	22	32	16	22	47	28	2161/1441/32	Elite
    25	33.33  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	IL	56	49	25	19	11	40	17	17	2012/1341/30	Excellent
    26	34.50  University of California-San Diego	CA	72	50	39	35	8	3	70	46	1946/1298/29	Excellent
    27	36.83  University of California-Los Angeles	CA	67	64	32	24	22	12	80	52	1974/1316/30	Excellent
    28	37.67  University of Notre Dame	IN	28	38	23	23	51	63	7	14	2141/1428/32	Elite
    29	37.83  Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	NY	41	9	43	61	18	55	45	32	2084/1389/31	Excellent
    -	38.50  Ivy Group (Low)		33	47	27	32	33	59	30	22	2127/1418/32	Elite
    30	39.00  University of Minnesota-Twin Cities	MN	65	56	29	21	39	24	31	22	1977/1318/30	Excellent
    31	39.17  University of Wisconsin-Madison	WI	73	67	35	30	24	6	32	23	1945/1296/29	Excellent
    32	41.17  Case Western Reserve University	OH	43	27	49	74	28	26	10	17	2074/1383/31	Excellent
    33	41.33  University of Virginia	VA	55	40	31	28	42	52	35	25	2038/1359/31	Excellent
    34	42.33  New York University	NY	48	58	19	16	60	53	82	56	2063/1375/31	Excellent
    35	42.50  University of Maryland-College Park	MD	63	48	33	25	50	36	64	47	1982/1321/30	Excellent
    36	44.83  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	NC	69	65	41	39	32	23	63	47	1964/1309/29	Excellent
    37	45.17  The University of Texas at Austin	TX	79	78	37	33	9	35	54	38	1896/1264/28	Good
    38	45.67  Emory University	GA	46	68	38	51	46	25	33	28	2067/1378/31	Excellent
    39	46.50  Northeastern University	MA	37	46	24	29	72	71	85	65	2103/1402/32	Elite
    40	48.17  Franklin W Olin College of Engineering	MA	10	7	64	44	82	82	52	40	2219/1479/33	Elite
    41	48.67  Harvey Mudd College	CA	12	6	72	38	82	82	6	17	2210/1473/33	Elite
    42	49.33  Ohio State University	OH	80	66	36	31	56	27	49	38	1893/1262/28	Good
    43	49.67  Georgetown University	DC	34	62	30	37	69	66	74	57	2115/1410/32	Elite
    44	51.17  University of Washington-Seattle Campus	WA	87	97	52	47	15	9	58	50	1840/1226/28	Good
    45	52.33  Pomona College	CA	14	17	76	43	82	82	91	71	2200/1467/33	Elite
    46	53.17  University of Florida	FL	77	74	40	34	64	30	42	37	1908/1272/29	Good
    47	53.33  University of Rochester	NY	53	41	51	81	53	41	78	68	2040/1360/31	Excellent
    48	55.67  Boston College	MA	49	71	34	45	58	77	66	55	2062/1375/31	Excellent
    49	55.83  University of Miami	FL	57	54	44	59	79	42	75	65	2008/1339/30	Excellent
    50	57.00  Williams College	MA	20	22	86	50	82	82	97	79	2180/1454/33	Elite
    51	57.33  Brandeis University	MA	54	57	75	87	4	67	89	74	2038/1359/31	Excellent
    52	57.67  Bowdoin College	ME	21	19	89	53	82	82	97	82	2175/1450/33	Elite
    53	57.83  Pennsylvania State University	PA	92	87	53	49	48	18	69	64	1785/1190/27	AboveAverage
    54	58.00  Boston University	MA	70	79	42	40	63	54	90	78	1964/1309/29	Excellent
    55	59.67  University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus	PA	81	84	57	56	65	15	65	62	1889/1260/28	Good
    56	60.17  Swarthmore College	PA	22	28	90	57	82	82	38	42	2172/1448/33	Elite
    57	60.67  University of California-Santa Barbara	CA	85	92	65	64	9	49	86	75	1845/1230/28	Good
    58	61.67  George Washington University	DC	61	80	50	70	44	65	94	85	1988/1325/30	Excellent
    59	61.83  Rutgers University-New Brunswick	NJ	89	86	55	52	41	48	84	75	1805/1203/27	AboveAverage
    60	62.00  Purdue University	IN	94	88	68	63	28	31	14	32	1775/1183/27	AboveAverage
    60	62.00  Texas A & M University-College Station	TX	97	95	60	55	33	32	11	28	1730/1153/26	AboveAverage
    62	62.33  College of William and Mary	VA	51	51	47	76	75	74	57	59	2052/1368/31	Excellent
    63	63.83  University of California-Davis	CA	92	85	70	65	52	19	93	88	1785/1190/27	AboveAverage
    64	65.17  Carleton College	MN	27	31	94	75	82	82	28	40	2145/1430/32	Elite
    64	65.17  University of Iowa	IA	86	93	62	60	47	43	60	65	1845/1230/28	Good
    66	65.50  SUNY at Binghamton	NY	66	63	46	67	78	73	87	87	1974/1316/30	Excellent
    67	66.00  Brigham Young University-Provo	UT	78	76	45	42	77	78	16	36	1899/1266/28	Good
    67	66.00  North Carolina State University at Raleigh	NC	90	81	71	72	37	45	27	42	1795/1197/27	AboveAverage
    69	66.67  Wellesley College	MA	29	45	91	71	82	82	96	93	2137/1425/32	Elite
    70	67.00  Lehigh University	PA	68	52	81	94	31	76	25	44	1970/1313/30	Excellent
    71	67.17  Amherst College	MA	25	59	93	62	82	82	95	94	2160/1440/32	Elite
    72	67.33  Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	VA	88	96	61	58	62	39	29	49	1834/1222/28	Good
    73	67.50  University of Georgia	GA	83	99	48	46	73	56	46	59	1877/1251/28	Good
    74	67.67  Wesleyan University	CT	36	60	66	80	82	82	88	92	2103/1402/32	Elite
    75	68.33  Tulane University of Louisiana	LA	59	82	56	78	73	62	72	79	1995/1330/30	Excellent
    76	68.67  Colorado School of Mines	CO	75	43	92	99	39	64	3	34	1926/1284/29	Good
    77	68.83  Worcester Polytechnic Institute	MA	62	36	82	93	61	79	30	52	1984/1322/30	Excellent
    78	69.00  Wake Forest University	NC	58	75	74	90	71	46	39	57	2001/1334/30	Excellent
    78	69.00  Stony Brook University	NY	82	77	63	66	67	59	73	84	1880/1253/28	Good
    80	69.83  Florida State University	FL	90	90	58	54	66	61	68	81	1795/1197/27	AboveAverage
    81	70.00  Reed College	OR	40	26	98	92	82	82	77	89	2084/1390/31	Excellent
    82	70.17  Oberlin College	OH	44	47	78	88	82	82	37	59	2071/1381/31	Excellent
    82	70.17  The University of Texas at Dallas	TX	76	73	59	73	68	72	43	68	1910/1273/29	Good
    84	70.50  Haverford College	PA	33	44	97	85	82	82	97	98	2116/1411/32	Elite
    84	70.50  Polytechnic Institute of New York University	NY	74	39	79	97	53	81	53	72	1940/1293/29	Good
    86	70.67  Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art	NY	47	15	100	98	82	82	34	62	2065/1377/31	Excellent
    87	70.83  Vassar College	NY	35	61	83	82	82	82	97	99	2110/1406/32	Elite
    88	71.50  University of Colorado Boulder	CO	95	91	77	77	45	44	44	70	1745/1163/26	AboveAverage
    89	71.67  Claremont McKenna College	CA	32	55	96	83	82	82	71	91	2127/1418/32	Elite
    90	72.00  Stevens Institute of Technology	NJ	71	34	95	100	57	75	21	54	1964/1309/29	Excellent
    91	73.17  United States Air Force Academy	CO	64	42	87	96	81	69	4	44	1982/1321/30	Excellent
    92	73.33  Grinnell College	IA	45	37	99	95	82	82	67	90	2070/1380/31	Excellent
    92	73.33  Southern Methodist University	TX	60	72	69	89	70	80	51	75	1989/1326/30	Excellent
    94	73.50  University of Connecticut	CT	84	89	67	68	76	57	83	97	1852/1235/28	Good
    95	73.67  Middlebury College	VT	39	70	85	84	82	82	81	96	2088/1392/31	Elite
    95	73.67  University of Central Florida	FL	96	94	54	48	80	70	76	95	1740/1160/26	AboveAverage
    97	74.00  Colgate University	NY	52	53	84	91	82	82	55	85	2051/1367/31	Excellent
    97	74.00  University of Houston	TX	99	69	80	79	49	68	40	72	1690/1127/25	AboveAverage
    97	74.00  University of California-Irvine	CA	100	100	88	86	23	47	92	100	1685/1123/25	AboveAverage
    100	74.50  Arizona State University-Tempe	AZ	98	98	73	69	59	50	50	83	1705/1137/26	AboveAverage

    ACC Academic Rankings:
    1	1.33 Georgia Institute of Technology	GA	2	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	2167/1445/33	Elite
    2	1.83 Duke University	NC	1	2	2	2	3	1	2	2	2191/1461/33	Elite
    -	2.17 Ivy Group (Average)		1	2	1	2	2	5	7	4	2209/1473/33	Elite
    -	4.83 Atlantic Coast Conference (Average)		4	3	5	5	7	5	7	4	2071/1381/31	Excellent
    3	5.00 University of Virginia	VA	5	4	4	4	5	8	7	4	2038/1359/31	Excellent
    4	5.17 University of Notre Dame	IN	3	3	3	3	6	13	3	3	2141/1428/32	Elite
    4	5.17 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	NC	8	6	6	5	2	4	9	4	1964/1309/29	Excellent
    -	5.33 Ivy Group (Low)		4	5	4	5	3	11	7	4	2127/1418/32	Elite
    6	7.33 Boston College	MA	4	7	5	6	7	15	11	8	2062/1375/31	Excellent
    7	7.83 University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus	PA	9	10	8	8	9	3	10	8	1889/1260/28	Good
    8	8.17 University of Miami	FL	6	5	7	10	15	6	14	11	2008/1339/30	Excellent
    9	9.17 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	VA	10	13	10	9	8	5	6	7	1834/1222/28	Good
    9	9.17 North Carolina State University at Raleigh	NC	11	9	11	11	4	9	5	4	1795/1197/27	AboveAverage
    11	9.83 Florida State University	FL	11	12	9	7	10	10	13	13	1795/1197/27	AboveAverage
    12	10.00 Wake Forest University	NC	7	8	12	13	13	7	8	11	2001/1334/30	Excellent
    -	11.00 Atlantic Coast Conference (Low)		8	7	8	12	16	15	7	11	1966/1310/29	Excellent
    13	11.83 Clemson University	SC	11	11	13	12	12	12	4	8	1795/1197/27	AboveAverage
    14	13.67 Syracuse University	NY	14	15	14	14	11	14	15	15	1730/1153/26	AboveAverage
    15	14.00 University of Louisville	KY	15	14	15	15	14	11	12	14	1610/1073/24	Average   
 
    Big 10 Academic Rankings:
    1	2.00 Northwestern University	IL	1	1	1	1	2	6	4	1	2207/1471/33	Elite
    2	2.17 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	MI	2	2	2	2	4	1	3	1	2078/1385/31	Excellent
    -	2.50 Ivy Group (Average)		1	2	2	2	2	6	5	4	2209/1473/33	Elite
    3	3.83 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	IL	3	4	3	3	1	9	2	1	2012/1341/30	Excellent
    4	4.67 University of Minnesota-Twin Cities	MN	5	5	4	4	6	4	5	4	1977/1318/30	Excellent
    5	5.00 University of Wisconsin-Madison	WI	6	7	6	6	3	2	6	5	1945/1296/29	Excellent
    -	5.00 Big Ten Conference (Average)		4	5	4	5	6	6	7	7	1997/1332/30	Excellent
    -	6.00 Ivy Group (Low)		2	3	4	8	6	13	5	5	2127/1418/32	Elite
    5	6.17 University of Maryland-College Park	MD	4	3	5	5	10	10	12	8	1982/1321/30	Excellent
    7	7.17 Ohio State University	OH	7	6	7	7	11	5	8	7	1893/1262/28	Good
    8	7.83 Pennsylvania State University	PA	10	9	8	8	9	3	13	11	1785/1190/27	AboveAverage
    9	9.00 University of Iowa	IA	8	11	10	10	8	7	11	9	1845/1230/28	Good
    9	9.00 Rutgers University-New Brunswick	NJ	9	8	9	9	7	12	14	12	1805/1203/27	AboveAverage
    9	9.00 Purdue University	IN	11	10	11	11	4	7	1	5	1775/1183/27	AboveAverage
    -	11.00 Big Ten Conference (Low)		9	15	9	10	11	12	7	9	1834/1223/28	Good
    12	12.50 Michigan State University	MI	14	13	13	13	11	11	7	9	1640/1093/25	Average
    13	13.00 Indiana University-Bloomington	IN	13	14	12	12	13	14	10	12	1740/1160/26	AboveAverage
    14	13.17 University of Nebraska-Lincoln	NE	12	12	14	14	14	13	9	12	1745/1163/26	AboveAverage

    SEC Academic Rankings:
    PAC 12 Academic Rankings:
    Big 12 Academic Rankings:
    Power 5 Academic Rankings: