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Top U.S. Universities

Each year, US News and World Report ranks the top US universities. Even though it's completely arbitrary and wrong, try to guess the top 50.
2022–23 school year
This quiz will be updated every other year
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: September 13, 2022
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First submittedSeptember 17, 2012
Times taken99,977
Average score46.0%
Rating4.11
6:00
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#
School
1
Princeton
2
MIT
3
Harvard
3
Stanford
3
Yale
6
Chicago
7
Johns Hopkins
7
Penn
9
Cal Tech
10
Duke
10
Northwestern
12
Dartmouth
13
Brown
#
School
13
Vanderbilt
15
Rice
15
Washington (St. Louis)
17
Cornell
18
Columbia
18
Notre Dame
20
Berkeley
20
UCLA
22
Carnegie Mellon
22
Emory
22
Georgetown
25
NYU
25
Michigan
#
School
25
USC
25
Virginia
29
Florida
29
North Carolina
29
Wake Forest
32
Tufts
32
UC Santa Barbara
34
UC Irvine
34
UCSD
36
Boston College
36
Rochester
38
UC Davis
#
School
38
Texas
38
Wisconsin
41
Boston University
41
Illinois
41
William and Mary
44
Brandeis
44
Case Western
44
Georgia Tech
44
Northeastern
44
Tulane
49
Ohio State
49
Georgia
+4
Level 72
Sep 10, 2014
As a Michigan student, I'm not liking this new list.
+1
Level 39
Sep 10, 2014
That was the first thing I noticed, fell clean off the list.
+1
Level 59
Sep 10, 2014
#29 is falling clean off the list?

JeromesNiece - GO BLUE.

+2
Level ∞
Sep 10, 2014
Dont worry @JeromesNiece. Michigan is still #17 in the world according to QS.

http://www.jetpunk.com/quizzes/qs-world-university-rankings-quiz.php

+1
Level 60
Aug 7, 2016
Ya know what, at least the Victors are still above the Buckeyes. By a lot.

Go 'Cats!

#12 on the list!

+1
Level 79
Sep 10, 2014
Got 34, including all the California schools.
+3
Level 70
Sep 10, 2014
Enjoyed this quiz, but there's a problem with the way it reads answers. I tried typing in Michigan State and it said "Michigan has already been guessed". Michigan and Michigan State are NOT the same. This happened with another state also, but I can't remember which one.
+2
Level 20
Sep 12, 2015
I was kinda insulted when I realized that. People, pay attention! Michigan State is, like, amazing!!
+3
Level 60
Aug 7, 2016
Yeah, just about the only school in the world where you can get a PhD. in packaging. That must be some really outstanding education system you got there!
+9
Level ∞
Sep 14, 2016
You're only calling Michigan State a cow college because it was founded by a cow. Not fair at all.
+3
Level 81
Sep 10, 2014
What's wrong is your spelling of Caltech. :)

No space, only the C is capitalized.

+1
Level 37
Sep 10, 2014
I expected a lot more small, private liberal arts schools.
+8
Level 69
Aug 7, 2016
The question asks for *universities*, which by definition, are only PhD-granting institutions. This is why a lot of smaller colleges that would otherwise be on a "top schools" list do not appear.
+6
Level 63
Dec 26, 2017
US news has liberal arts schools as a separate list.
+2
Level 66
Sep 11, 2014
Yeah Rice represent!
+1
Level 34
Sep 24, 2014
penn st? don't most people call berkeley, cal?
+1
Level 59
Sep 26, 2014
no way is miami in there!!!??? no way
+1
Level 77
Nov 11, 2014
Damn. Didn't know there was Penn and Penn State separetely.
+7
Level 69
Aug 7, 2016
"Penn" refers to University of Pennsylvania, a private, Ivy League school in Philadelphia. Penn State is a HUGE public university, located in the boonies a couple hours west of Philadelphia, and is well-known for its successful football program under Joe Paterno (and the unfortunate Jerry Sandusky child rape scandal).
+3
Level 37
May 17, 2019
Is Penn State the one located in a town called "State College"?
+1
Level 69
Sep 16, 2019
Yep, that’s the one. There’s not much else out there except the school.
+1
Level 71
Sep 13, 2022
As a State College resident, I feel like I should be offended by someone saying that there's nothing else out here... but you're probably right. Still, if you're ever anywhere in the area I recommend it--it's a nice little town (and we have great ice cream!).
+1
Level 75
Jan 8, 2015
I typed in NY for NYU but it wasn't accepted. Other schools didn't require adding university as part of the name so I assumed NYU wouldn't either.
+1
Level 56
Sep 11, 2015
didn't take south Carolina or RIT
+3
Level 56
Sep 12, 2015
USC is Southern Cal, not South Carolina
+1
Level 72
Sep 15, 2015
Missed two of the colleges I applied to. Oddly enough, I ended up going to the one ranked lowest on this list out of the bunch
+1
Level 66
Sep 15, 2015
Please accept "University of" before several of the state schools and some others such as University of Rochester. Thanks!
+1
Level 60
Jan 4, 2016
I find it quite strange that the University of Florida made it and UT Austin didn't.
+1
Level 60
Aug 7, 2016
Same. When I first saw public institutions on the list, I was all like "Oh, Texas is probably on there," but then nothing worked- Texas, University of Texas Austin, UT Austin, Austin, Texas Austin. Nothing.
+1
Level 72
Oct 1, 2016
Can you not accept "Mellon" or "Carnegie" for Carnegie Mellon? I tried both separately but no go.
+1
Level 72
Aug 11, 2018
Second time around, and apparently you can't accept them as type ins. Oh well.
+1
Level 72
Sep 13, 2022
Third time and I did it again.
+2
Level 51
Jun 5, 2017
O-H!
+2
Level 71
Jun 28, 2017
I-O!
+4
Level 86
Sep 13, 2019
They're not on there anymore . . . OH-NO!
+3
Level 77
Sep 14, 2017
I know why, but still find it really funny that you have 51 universities in the top-50 ranking.
+1
Level 86
Sep 13, 2019
53 now :)
+1
Level 62
Sep 14, 2017
By "North Carolina", I'm assuming they mean Chapel Hill, not NCSU?
+1
Level 57
Sep 22, 2017
It has only been five years since I was applying to colleges, and yet these rankings have changed considerably.
+1
Level 88
Nov 8, 2017
Boy, these folks love the University of California system...
+6
Level 83
Aug 11, 2018
Given that UCLA and UCSB were acceptable answers, when I typed UCI, and it didn't work, I reasonably concluded that UC-Irvine didn't make this. UCI certainly should be an acceptable abbreviated form, as I know that is how my California friends always referred to it.
+3
Level 70
Apr 21, 2021
Interesting, I'm from the East Coast and have heard UCB (rarely but sometimes), UCLA, UCSD and UCSB but never UCI - always "UC Irvine."
+1
Level 63
Oct 4, 2022
My daughter goes there, and everyone calls it UCI.
+1
Level 85
Sep 29, 2018
My alma mater is in the five least guessed.
+3
Level 88
Oct 4, 2018
Seems quite random. I was almost expecting University of Phoenix Online.
+2
Level 65
Oct 12, 2018
First year my alma mater, Georgia, cracked this list. Go mfcking dawgs, that free tuition was a good investment
+1
Level 83
Sep 25, 2019
I always check UGA on lists like these. So glad our Alma Mater is up here!
+3
Level 65
Nov 21, 2018
Can you please accept "UIUC" for Illinois?
+1
Level 46
Nov 22, 2018
My school, Rutgers, ranks 56. Close enough lol
+2
Level 82
May 17, 2019
I went to George Mason (currently #136) and UVA (currently #25). But I graduated from GMU in '07. Not sure what it was ranked back then. I know it had one of the top law schools in the country but I wasn't studying law.
+5
Level 66
Feb 13, 2019
Tried CMU several times before considering you might be making us spell it out.
+2
Level 69
Sep 16, 2019
Someone asked for “Carnegie” and “Mellon” to be accepted for Carnegie Mellon which I thought is a big “nah”, but “CMU” definitely should be!
+1
Level 73
May 19, 2019
"Arbitrary and wrong" sums it up.
+2
Level 82
Jun 28, 2019
Hard to believe U of Washington isn't on there. Go Huskies!!!
+2
Level 74
Sep 14, 2019
Depending on your career, the majority of these should not be on the list in regards to cost to value. Unless you are going into the sciences or law, I would bet at least 75% of these would never pay for themselves.
+1
Level 69
Sep 16, 2019
Law and medical schools have different lists.
+2
Level 69
Sep 16, 2019
It definitely makes sense that Georgia and Georgia Tech are not both filled in when you type “Georgia”; similarly, it’s appropriate that the UC schools need to all be guessed separately. So then why oh why do you have Boston College and Boston University both filling in for the guess “Boston”? Having gone to BU, I tell you that being confused with BC – especially during the Doug Flutie years – has been much to the eternal chagrin of both schools. BC is the one with football. BU is the one with hockey.

…Okay, okay, so BC has a hockey team, too, but ours is much better! Other differences include: BC is a small, Jesuit, liberal arts college with a nice green campus in the ‘burbs. BU is an enormous (one of the biggest private schools in the US) research university in a very urban environment. Would you consider dividing them into two separate guesses?

+5
Level 73
Sep 23, 2019
Or as my tour guide said when I toured BU, "BC isn't in Boston, it's in Chestnut Hill. It's also not a college, it's a university. So why would you want to go to a school that doesn't know what it is or where it is?"
+1
Level 69
Oct 1, 2019
Ha! I’ve never actually heard that one, but it perfectly reflects our institutional inferiority complex.
+1
Level 68
Oct 4, 2022
The funniest part about that is it isn't even true. Chestnut Hill is just the name of the neighborhood, not the town itself. The campus is half in Boston proper and half in Newton.
+1
Level 67
Oct 4, 2022
Because BC is a better school and it actually has student culture. Plus, despite BU's insistence that it's a "hockey school," BC's program was much better for a long time.
+2
Level 69
Sep 29, 2019
Im suprised USNA isn't on here
+1
Level 70
Feb 23, 2020
This list is bad :(
+1
Level 44
Jul 5, 2020
time for an update!

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges

+4
Level ∞
Jul 11, 2020
Not going to update this until people start going to classes in real life again. Or the US News and World Reports puts Khan Academy on the list....
+1
Level 84
Sep 4, 2020
"Even though it's completely arbitrary and wrong...

LOL!!!

+4
Level 80
Oct 24, 2020
No matter how many times I attempt the annual update, I will never learn to spell Renesme Polytechnic correctly.
+1
Level 44
Oct 29, 2020
Will you update this for 2021?
+3
Level 70
Apr 21, 2021
Please accept CMU for Carnegie Mellon, thanks!
+1
Level 88
Dec 1, 2021
You should make one for the Liberal Arts colleges as well, as this one is only National Colleges
+1
Level 61
Jan 2, 2022
No Military Academies?
+1
Level 88
Sep 14, 2022
U.S. military academies are liberal arts colleges. Small colleges are usually ranked separately from big schools even if they may be considered more prestigious.
+1
Level 37
Jan 27, 2022
Where's Purdue?
+7
Level 92
Apr 2, 2022
Indiana
+2
Level 35
Sep 14, 2022
and Illinois.
+7
Level 90
Sep 13, 2022
Love Columbia's tumble from #2 to #18. As if they're the only ones self-reporting screwy data to what amounts to a very influential academic marketing outfit. I'd advocate for getting rid of this foolish ranking altogether if I didn't look forward to doing an update quiz every twelve or so months.
+1
Level 67
Oct 4, 2022
Is that what happened? I was shocked when I saw how low they ranked.
+1
Level 85
Sep 13, 2022
This quiz got beat to the punch by two essentially identical user-submitted quizzes yesterday. Sorry that I haven't forgotten the answers there!
+4
Level 88
Sep 13, 2022
Boston getting 7 out of 50.
+4
Level 65
Sep 14, 2022
Boston's wicked smaht
+1
Level 74
Sep 15, 2022
Considering Boston University gave AOC a degree in economics and she doesn't understand the first thing about economics, I wouldn't put much stock in this list. In fact, if I had kids I would consider the majority of these a waste of money. They could get as good or better of an education for a fraction of the cost for what the majority of college graduates are going to end up doing with their lives.
+6
Level 88
Sep 15, 2022
Phoenix University Online advertises to you.
+1
Level 43
Oct 4, 2022
Big difference between a bachelor of sciences in Economics, which requires you to actually learn actual economics, and a bachelor of arts in economics, which is what she has.
+2
Level 92
Oct 4, 2022
Nah, she just studied the same economics all politicians have studied - if I can take from a small number of productive people and give to a larger number of people who will vote for me, I will maximize my economic utility.
+5
Level 67
Oct 4, 2022
You disagreeing with her is not the same as her not knowing anything about economics. Plenty of economic experts have philosophies that disagree radically from each other. I'm not saying she's an expert, but she certainly understands a lot more than you want to give her credit for.
+1
Level 74
Sep 27, 2022
Funny seeing this one pop up with the recent scandal exposing how corrupt and fake the rankings are.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/22/opinions/columbia-ranking-inaccurate-data-thaddeus

+1
Level 79
Sep 27, 2022
As others have stated, CMU should be an accepted write in for Carnegie Mellon. Especially since things like MIT, USC, and UNC are allowed.
+1
Level 82
Oct 4, 2022
I was asking for about 5 years before he finally took UVA for Virginia. Really should just add all such abbreviations to be consistent.
+1
Level 43
Oct 4, 2022
Them including any non-Vanderbilt SEC schools just shows how arbitrary and wrong these lists are, they didn't go to "play school" they went to drink and party.
+1
Level 70
Oct 4, 2022
It's wild how low Georgia and Georgia Tech are in this ranking
+4
Level 92
Oct 4, 2022
It's wild how Georgia is included at all.
+1
Level 65
Oct 4, 2022
So many ways to waste hundreds of thousands of dollars just to be told what to think and believe. Not to mention the tens of thousands of young adults who will choose a major that leads to no career options. Don't get me wrong, I think college can be a great option for some, but many of the schools on this list, especially the top ivy league schools aren't really contributing much to our society other than a whole generation of adults with more debt than they can handle.
+5
Level 67
Oct 4, 2022
Sounds like you haven't actually spent much time in a university classroom.
+2
Level 41
Oct 4, 2022
Haven’t heard of most of these…
+2
Level 64
Oct 4, 2022
Villanova and Lehigh > Florida, Georgia, etc...
+1
Level 43
Oct 4, 2022
uhh where's UW? University of Washington State in Seattle, Washington.
+1
Level 59
Oct 4, 2022
You've misspelled "Caltech." Please look it up and fix it.
+3
Level 59
Oct 4, 2022
"UCI" should be sufficient to get UC Irvine.
+1
Level 57
Oct 7, 2022
Okay, UPENN needs to be accepted
+1
Level 82
Oct 8, 2022
"Penn" is
+1
Level 57
Jul 23, 2023
Reed doesn't play that game.
+2
Level 60
Dec 3, 2023
Is the second sentence necessary?
+2
Level 40
Mar 1, 2024
Fun fact: Andy Bernard went to Cornell