2020 Best Universities in USA According to Times Higher Education

In these popular destinations that are well-known for their higher education opportunities, the universities at the very top of the ranking are concentrated; the top five are located in California, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

It is important to remember that in collaboration with the Wall Street Journal, we also create separate US College Rankings crafted with students in mind. A student survey taken by more than 170,000 students across the US, is at the center of the US College Rankings, capturing the most important topics for prospective learners, such as teaching quality, learning atmosphere, facilities, campus diversity and whether a student will recommend their institution.

Best universities in the United States 2020

Among the best in the world ranking, there are 172 US universities and schools; and wherever you choose to study in the US a top university is within reach. In the best US universities list, almost all states and about 130 cities are represented.

Review of Top 5 universities in the US

1. California Institute of Technology (CalTech)

CalTech has a remarkable number of outstanding graduates and associates, including 39 Nobel laureates, six Turing Award winners and four Fields Medallists, compared to the tiny size of its student population.

At CalTech, there are about 2,000 students, and the main campus in Pasadena, near Los Angeles, occupies 124 acres. On campus, almost all undergraduates live.

There is an emphasis on science and engineering through the six departments.

The CalTech graduate community includes, in addition to Nobel laureates and top scholars, a number of politicians and public advisers, especially in the fields of science, technology and energy.

As part of the college’s alternative model to fraternities and sororities, all first-year students belong to one of four houses. Each house is associated with a series of house traditions and events.

The university has the largest proportion of students who continue to pursue a PhD, and the figure of the postgraduate CalTech has spread into popular culture; all the main characters work or research at CalTech in the TV comedy The Big Bang Theory.

2. Stanford University

Stanford, based in Palo Alto, right next to Silicon Valley, has played a prominent role in promoting the growth of the tech industry in the area.

Many faculty members, students and graduates, including Google, Snapchat and Hewlett-Packard, have established successful technology firms and start-ups.

In total, Stanford alumni-founded businesses make $2.7 trillion (£2.2 trillion) per year.

As the campus was built on the site of the Palo Alto Stock Farm of the Stanford family, the university is sometimes referred to as the Farm.” 8,180 acres are covered by the campus, but more than half of the land is not yet developed.

Stanford’s campus is thought to be one of the most stunning in the world with its distinctive sand-coloured, red-roofed houses. It includes a variety of sculpture gardens and art museums, and a meditation center for the public.

Stanford is highly competitive, as would be expected from one of the best universities in the world. At present, the admission rate stands at just over 5%.

22 per cent of the 15,000 students, most of whom live on campus, are foreign.

3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

A strong entrepreneurial community is also cultivated by MIT, which has seen many alumni discover prominent companies like Intel and Dropbox.

Unusually, the MIT undergraduate and postgraduate programs are not completely separate; at either level, several courses can be taken.

The undergraduate program is one of the most selective in the world, accepting just 8% of applicants. The most famous among undergraduates are engineering and computer science programs.

Thirty-three percent of the 11,000 students hailing from 154 countries are foreign.

Buzz Aldrin, an astronaut and former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and physicist Richard Feynman are prominent alumni.

4. Princeton University

Like Harvard, with a tradition going back more than 200 years, Princeton is a renowned Ivy League university.

The distinctive social atmosphere of Princeton includes private “eating clubs” that act as both social houses and dining halls. Many clubs are selective and competitive, but others simply require the sign-up of undergraduates.

At Princeton, fewer than 8,000 students are enrolled, and just over a fifth are foreign.

In New Jersey, Princeton’s campuses are about an hour away from both New York City and Philadelphia.

Degree courses have strict criteria. As part of their degrees, all students are expected to do independent study, and some must take a foreign language course.

The method for applying is highly selective. Princeton does not offer an early decision application path, unlike most US universities.

US presidents, astronauts, businesspeople and Olympians are renowned Princeton alumni. This includes Michelle Obama’s former first lady, author F. Scott Fitzgerald with Alan Turing, a mathematician.

5. Harvard University

Harvard is undoubtedly the world’s best-known university, most years toping the prestige rankings of Times Higher Education.

Established in 1636, it is the US’s oldest institution of higher education.

Around 20,000 students, a fifth of whom are foreign, are enrolled. Although the tuition expenses are costly, the financial endowment of Harvard helps students to receive plenty of financial assistance.

Prestigious Harvard is able to account for 8 former US presidents, 158 Nobel laureates, 14 Turing Award winners and 62 living billionaires, among many prominent alumni.

Harvard is at least as valued for the arts and humanities as it is for science and technology, if not more so, unlike several other universities at the top of the list.

Top Universities in the United States 2020

To display the full report on the World University Ranking 2020 results, click on each institution.

US Rank 2020	World University Rank 2020	University	City	State
1	2	California Institute of Technology	Pasadena	California
2	4	Stanford University	Stanford	California
3	5	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Cambridge	Massachusetts
4	6	Princeton University	Princeton	New Jersey
5	7	Harvard University	Cambridge	Massachusetts
6	8	Yale University	New Haven	Connecticut
7	9	University of Chicago	Chicago	Illinois
8	11	University of Pennsylvania	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania
9	12	Johns Hopkins University	Baltimore	Maryland
10	=13	University of California, Berkeley	Berkeley	California
11	16	Columbia University	New York City	New York
12	17	University of California, Los Angeles	Los Angeles	California
13	19	Cornell University	Ithaca	New York
14	20	Duke University	Durham	North Carolina
15	21	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	Ann Arbor	Michigan
16	22	Northwestern University	Evanston	Illinois
17	26	University of Washington	Seattle	Washington
18	=27	Carnegie Mellon University	Pittsburgh	Pennsylvania
19	29	New York University	New York City	New York
20	31	University of California, San Diego	San Diego	California
=21	=38	Georgia Institute of Technology	Atlanta	Georgia
=21	=38	University of Texas at Austin	Austin	Texas
23	=48	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	Champaign	Illinois
24	51	University of Wisconsin-Madison	Madison	Wisconsin
25	52	Washington University in St Louis	St. Louis	Missouri
26	53	Brown University	Providence	Rhode Island
27	54	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	Chapel Hill	North Carolina
28	=55	University of California, Davis	Davis	California
29	=57	University of California, Santa Barbara	Santa Barbara	California
30	61	Boston University	Boston	Massachusetts
31	=62	University of Southern California	Los Angeles	California
32	70	Ohio State University (Main campus)	Columbus	Ohio
33	78	Penn State (Main campus)	State College	Pennsylvania
34	79	University of Minnesota	Minneapolis	Minnesota
35	=80	Emory University	Atlanta	Georgia
36	84	Michigan State University	East Lansing	Michigan
37	88	Purdue University West Lafayette	West Lafayette	Indiana
38	=91	University of Maryland, College Park	College Park	Maryland
39	=94	Dartmouth College	Hanover	New Hampshire
40	=96	University of California, Irvine	Irvine	California
41	=102	Georgetown University		Washington D.C
42	104	University of Arizona	Tucson	Arizona
43	=105	Rice University	Houston	Texas
44	=107	University of Virginia (Main campus)	Charlottesville	Virginia
45	=113	University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh campus	Pittsburgh	Pennsylvania
46	116	Vanderbilt University	Nashville	Tennessee
47	119	Case Western Reserve University	Cleveland	Ohio
48	124	University of Colorado Boulder	Boulder	Colorado
49	=134	Indiana University	Bloomington	Indiana
50	=139	Tufts University	Medford	Massachusetts
51	=155	Arizona State University	Tempe	Arizona
52	=157	University of Notre Dame	Notre Dame	Indiana
53	=168	Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey	New Brunswick	New Jersey
54	172	University of Alabama at Birmingham	Birmingham	Alabama
=55	=173	Northeastern University	Boston	Massachusetts
=55	=173	University of Rochester	Rochester (NY)	New York
57	=175	University of Florida	Gainesville	Florida
58	178	Texas A&M University	College Station	Texas
59	=179	University of California, Santa Cruz	Santa Cruz	California
60	=198	George Washington University		Washington D.C
=61	201–250	Brandeis University	Waltham	Massachusetts
=61	201–250	University of Hawai’i at Mānoa	Honolulu	Hawai’i
=61	201–250	Howard University		Washington D.C
=61	201–250	University of Iowa	Iowa City	Iowa
=61	201–250	University of Massachusetts	Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, Worcester	Massachusetts
=61	201–250	University of Miami	Coral Gables	Florida
=61	201–250	University of South Florida (Tampa)	Tampa	Florida
=61	201–250	University of Utah	Salt Lake City	Utah
=61	201–250	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	Blacksburg	Virginia
=61	201–250	Wake Forest University	Winston-Salem	North Carolina
=61	201–250	William & Mary	Williamsburg	Virginia
=72	251–300	University at Buffalo	Buffalo	New York
=72	251–300	University of California, Riverside	Riverside	California
=72	251–300	University of Cincinnati	Cincinnati	Ohio
=72	251–300	University of Delaware	Newark (DE)	Delaware
=72	251–300	Florida State University	Tallahassee	Florida
=72	251–300	George Mason University	Fairfax	Virginia
=72	251–300	University of Illinois at Chicago	Chicago	Illinois
=72	251–300	University of Oregon	Eugene	Oregon
=72	251–300	Oregon Health and Science University	Portland	Oregon
=72	251–300	Syracuse University	Syracuse	New York
=82	301–350	Boston College	Boston	Massachusetts
=82	301–350	Colorado School of Mines	Golden	Colorado
=82	301–350	University of New Mexico (Main campus)	Albuquerque	New Mexico
=82	301–350	North Carolina State University	Raleigh	North Carolina
=82	301–350	Nova Southeastern University	Davie	Florida
=82	301–350	Rush University	Chicago	Illinois
=82	301–350	Stony Brook University	Stony Brook	New York
=82	301–350	Temple University	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania
=82	301–350	The University of Tennessee-Knoxville	Knoxville	Texas
=82	301–350	University of Texas at Dallas	Richardson	Texas
=82	301–350	Tulane University	New Orleans	Louisiana
=93	351–400	University of Alaska Fairbanks	Fairbanks	Alaska
=93	351–400	University of California, Merced	Merced	California
=93	351–400	Clark University	Worcester	Massachusetts
=93	351–400	University of Connecticut	Mansfield	Connecticut
=93	351–400	University of Denver	Denver	Colorado
=93	351–400	Hofstra University	Hempstead	New York
=93	351–400	Iowa State University	Ames	Iowa
=93	351–400	Oregon State University	Corvallis	Oregon
=93	351–400	State University of New York Albany	Albany	New York
=93	351–400	Washington State University	Pullman	Washington
=93	351–400	Wayne State University	Detroit	Michigan
=104	401–500	University of Alabama	Tuscaloosa	Alabama
=104	401–500	American University		Washington D.C
=104	401–500	Colorado State University, Fort Collins	Fort Collins	Colorado
=104	401–500	Drexel University	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania
=104	401–500	University of Georgia	Athens	Georgia
=104	401–500	Georgia State University	Atlanta	Georgia
=104	401–500	University of Houston	Houston	Texas
=104	401–500	University of Kansas	Lawrence	Kansas
=104	401–500	University of Kentucky	Lexington	Kentucky
=104	401–500	University of Missouri-Columbia	Columbia	Missouri
=104	401–500	University of Missouri-St Louis	St. Louis	Missouri
=104	401–500	University of Nebraska-Lincoln	Lincoln	Nebraska
=104	401–500	New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology	Socorro	New Mexico
=104	401–500	Oklahoma State University	Stillwater	Oklahoma
=104	401–500	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	Troy	New York
=104	401–500	University of South Carolina-Columbia	Columbia	South Carolina
=104	401–500	University of Texas at San Antonio	San Antonio	Texas
=104	401–500	University of Tulsa	Tulsa	Oklahoma
=122	501–600	University of Alabama in Huntsville	Huntsville	Alabama
=122	501–600	Binghamton University, State University of New York	Binghamton	New York
=122	501–600	Florida International University	Miami	Florida
=122	501–600	University of Idaho	Moscow	Idaho
=122	501–600	Louisiana State University	Baton Rouge	Louisiana
=122	501–600	Missouri University of Science and Technology	Rolla	Missouri
=122	501–600	University of Nebraska Medical Center	Omaha	Nebraska
=122	501–600	New Jersey Institute of Technology	Newark (NJ)	New Jersey
=122	501–600	Northern Arizona University	Flagstaff	Arizona
=122	501–600	University of Rhode Island	South Kingstown	Rhode Island
=122	501–600	San Diego State University	San Diego	California
=122	501–600	University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee	Milwaukee	Wisconsin
=134	601–800	University of Arkansas	Fayateville	Arkansas
=134	601–800	Auburn University	Auburn	Alabama
=134	601–800	Baylor University	Waco	Texas
=134	601–800	University of Central Florida	Orlando	Florida
=134	601–800	Clemson University	Clemson	South Carolina
=134	601–800	Creighton University	Omaha	Nebraska
=134	601–800	Kansas State University	Manhattan	Kansas
=134	601–800	Kent State University	Kent	Ohio
=134	601–800	Lehigh University	Bethlehem	Pennsylvania
=134	601–800	University of Maryland, Baltimore County	Baltimore	Maryland
=134	601–800	Montana State University	Bozeman	Montana
=134	601–800	University of Nevada, Las Vegas	Las Vegas	Nevada
=134	601–800	New Mexico State University (Main campus)	Las Cruces	New Mexico
=134	601–800	University of North Carolina at Greensboro	Greensboro	North Carolina
=134	601–800	Ohio University (Main campus)	Athens	Ohio
=134	601–800	Old Dominion University	Norfolk	Virginia
=134	601–800	Portland State University	Portland	Oregon
=134	601–800	University of South Dakota	Vermillion	South Dakota
=134	601–800	Stevens Institute of Technology	Hoboken	New Jersey
=134	601–800	University of Texas at Arlington	Arlington	Texas
=134	601–800	Texas Tech University	Lubbock	Texas
=134	601–800	University of Toledo	Toledo	Ohio
=134	601–800	Western Washington University	Bellingham	Washington
=134	601–800	West Virginia University	Morgantown	West Virginia
=134	601–800	Worcester Polytechnic Institute	Worcester	Massachusetts
=159	801–1000	Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University	Daytona Beach	Florida
=159	801–1000	Florida Atlantic University	Boca Raton	Florida
=159	801–1000	Florida Institute of Technology	Melbourne	Florida
=159	801–1000	Louisiana Tech University	Ruston	Louisiana
=159	801–1000	Marquette University	Milwaukee	Wisconsin
=159	801–1000	Mississippi State University	Starkville	Mississippi
=159	801–1000	The New School	New York City	New York
=159	801–1000	Rochester Institute of Technology	Rochester (NY)	New York
=159	801–1000	University of Texas at El Paso	El Paso	Texas
=168	1001+	California State University, Long Beach	Long Beach	California
=168	1001+	University of North Carolina Wilmington	Wilmington	North Carolina
=168	1001+	University of North Florida	Jacksonville	Florida
=168	1001+	Oakland University	Rochester	Michigan
=168	1001+	Texas State University	San Marcos	Texas

Top 10 universities in the US According to THE/WSJ US College Ranking 2020

WSJ/THE US College Rank 2020	University	City	State
1	Harvard University	Cambridge	Massachusetts
2	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Cambridge	Massachusetts
3	Yale University	New Haven	Connecticut
4	University of Pennsylvania	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania
=5	California Institute of Technology	Pasadena	California
=5	Princeton University	Princeton	New Jersey
=7	Brown University	Providence	Rhode Island
=7	Stanford University	Stanford	California
9	Cornell University	Ithaca	New York
10	Duke University	Durham	North Carolina

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2020 Best Universities in USA According to Times Higher Education

Best universities in the United States 2020

Review of Top 5 universities in the US

1. California Institute of Technology (CalTech)

2. Stanford University

3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

4. Princeton University

5. Harvard University

Top Universities in the United States 2020

Top 10 universities in the US According to THE/WSJ US College Ranking 2020

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Best universities in the United States 2020

Review of Top 5 universities in the US

1. California Institute of Technology (CalTech)

2. Stanford University

3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

4. Princeton University

5. Harvard University

Top Universities in the United States 2020

Top 10 universities in the US According to THE/WSJ US College Ranking 2020

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