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Hot off the Press - US News Rankings of Best Colleges in the United States just released

Vol. 1, No. 5

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Table of Contents

Welcome to The Thirsty Scholar newsletter—if you’re an international high school student looking to study abroad in the US, UK, and beyond, this is exactly where you need to be!

Students at TISB, Bangalore

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IN THIS ISSUE

Love it or hate it, the annual US News & World Report College Rankings wield undeniable influence as the most closely watched and dominant of all college rankings in the US. Critics like Education Secretary Miguel A. Cardona argue however they foster "an unhealthy obsession with selectivity" and create a "false altar." Yet, as noted by Alan Blinder in The New York Times, the rankings' clout as a “cultural force,” albeit imperfect, is unquestionable.

Here's the latest list (released today) of Top 25 National Universities and Top 25 National Liberal Arts Colleges in the United States. While they will offer valuable insights for the college search process, for God’s sake, do yourself a favor and don’t treat it as gospel.

US News & World Report College Rankings (2025)

Best National University Rankings, (2025)

TOP 25

Albert Einstein at Princeton, the university that is ranked #1 yet again (14th consecutive year) as the top national university in the United States

Rank

University Name

Location

#1

Princeton University

Princeton, NJ

#2

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Cambridge, MA

#3

Harvard University

Cambridge, MA

#4

Stanford University

Stanford, CA

#5

Yale University

New Haven, CT

#6

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

Pasadena, CA

#6

Duke University

Durham, NC

#6

Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, MD

#6

Northwestern University

Evanston, IL

#10

University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA

#11

Cornell University

Ithaca, NY

#11

University of Chicago

Chicago, IL

#13

Brown University

Providence, RI

#13

Columbia University

New York, NY

#15

Dartmouth College

Hanover, NH

#15

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

Los Angeles, CA

#17

University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, CA

#18

Rice University

Houston, TX

#18

University of Notre Dame

Notre Dame, IN

#18

Vanderbilt University

Nashville, TN

#21

Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh, PA

#21

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor, MI

#21

Washington University in St. Louis

St. Louis, MO

#24

Emory University

Atlanta, GA

#24

Georgetown University

Washington, DC

#24

University of Virginia

Charlottesville, VA

The University of Pennsylvania (Penn) dropped four places to #10

For a full list, click here

Best National Liberal Arts College Rankings, (2025)

TOP 25

Williams College in Williamstown, MA has been ranked #1 national liberal arts college in the US every year since 2004

Rank

College Name

Location

#1

Williams College

Williamstown, MA

#2

Amherst College

Amherst, MA

#3

Swarthmore College

Swarthmore, PA

#4

United States Naval Academy

Annapolis, MD

#5

Bowdoin College

Brunswick, ME

#5

Pomona College

Claremont, CA

#7

Wellesley College

Wellesley, MA

#8

Carleton College

Northfield, MN

#8

Claremont McKenna College

Claremont, CA

#8

United States Air Force Academy

USAF Academy, CO

#8

United States Military Academy at West Point

West Point, NY

#12

Harvey Mudd College

Claremont, CA

#12

Vassar College

Poughkeepsie, NY

#14

Barnard College

New York, NY

#14

Davidson College

Davidson, NC

#14

Hamilton College

Clinton, NY

#14

Smith College

Northampton, MA

#14

Wesleyan University

Middletown, CT

#19

Grinnell College

Grinnell, IA

#19

Middlebury College

Middlebury, VT

#19

Washington and Lee University

Lexington, VA

#22

Colgate University

Hamilton, NY

#22

University of Richmond

Univ. of Richmond, VA

#24

Haverford College

Haverford, PA

#25

Colby College

Waterville, ME

For a full list, click here

BEFORE YOU GO…
(Don’t forget to forward to that friend at Brown!)

Credit: Leo Cullum, The New Yorker

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