Students and alumni rushed to the US News and World Report ’s annual college ranking on Tuesday (September 24) to see where their schools ranked.
Each year, the publication ranks the best colleges in the county , determined by the resources offered to students and faculty, and the bachelor’s degrees students graduate with. Rankings are also calculated by the number of graduates from each school who have entered the workforce with strong starting salaries and manageable debt.
There was little movement at the top of the 2025 list with Princeton University retaining its title at No 1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology is the second-best college in the nation for 2025, followed by Harvard University, Stanford University, and then Yale University.
Other schools have fallen in the rankings. For example, Stanford University dropped to fourth place after being tied with Harvard University for the third-best school in the country last year. The University of Pennsylvania was ranked number 10 on the latest list, going down four spots from last year. Meanwhile, the prestigious Brown University went from being tied for ninth place in the 2024 list to being tied for 13th on the 2025 list.