Visualized: The Best Universities in America – Visual Capitalist

Visualized: The Best Universities in America

The United States is home to many world-class universities like Harvard, Princeton, and Yale, which boast innovative research programs, famous alumni, prestigious awards, and students and faculty from all over the world.

But which schools are actually the best ones in America?

This ranking uses data from U.S. News & World Report to rank Americas 50 best universities from the Ivy League to public institutions. Additionally, this visual shows the average tuition and acceptance rate of each school.

Heres a look at how different categories are scored in the ranking. It is worth noting that U.S. News relies on each universitys independent reporting of data and information and does not standardize or corroborate the reported information themselves.

How categories are weighted:

Ivy League universities are often assumed to be the top schools in America, but in reality, only four of the eight make the top 10.

Heres a closer look:

One of the Ivies, Columbia University, actually dropped 16 spots from last years ranking due to a scandal involving misreported statistics by the university, which was exposed by one of its own professors. There have been critiques of the U.S. News & World Report ranking since, as it doesnt provide a uniform set of standards for the universities, but lets them determine how they score their categories themselves.

Among the top 10 schools admittance is very competitive, and none of the acceptance rates surpass the 7% mark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University, and Caltech are among the most difficult universities to get into, with only 4% of applicants receiving that exciting acceptance letter. On the flip side, the universities of Illinois and Wisconsin, for example, accept 60% of all applicants.

A few more things to knowthere are eight private schools in the U.S. that have earned the distinction of Ivy League, due to their history and prestige. A number of schools are also classified as land-grant universitiesbuilt on land which was essentially given to them by the U.S. government. This was in an effort to provide higher education to lacking communities across the country, and there is at least one in every state.

These are the U.S. eight Ivy League Institutions:

Beyond these prestigious academies, there are many high caliber institutions likeThe Ohio State University and theUniversity of Wisconsinboth of which are land-grant universities.

Among the top 50, there are another four land-grant universities:

There is ripe controversy, however, surrounding land-grant universities, as, in many cases, the U.S. government funded these institutions through expropriated indigenous land.

U.S. college tuition is famous for being unaffordable. Combining all the federal and private loans in the country, the total student debt comes out to $1.75 trillion and the average borrower owes $28,950.

Heres a look at how tuition breaks down on average:

The most expensive school in America is Columbia University, with the cost of admission coming out to a whopping$65,524,with some estimates showing even higher rates for the 2022/2023 academic year. The least expensive among the top 50 is the University of Florida at $6,380 for in-state tuitionmore than 10x cheaper than Columbia.

But many Americans may soon see their college loans forgiven. The Biden administrations initiative to cancel student debt will roll out any day now and will be available on federal loans for select qualifying individuals. It has the potential to provide 40 million people with as much as $20,000 in debt forgiveness.

And given that American universities make up eight of the 10 best universities in the world,perhaps the price tag will be worth it.

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Visualized: The Best Universities in America - Visual Capitalist