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Top U.S. Universities Quiz

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.
2018-19 school year
Last updated: September 24, 2018
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#
School
1
Princeton
2
Harvard
3
Chicago
3
Columbia
3
MIT
3
Yale
7
Stanford
8
Duke
8
Penn
10
Johns Hopkins
10
Northwestern
12
Cal Tech
12
Dartmouth
#
School
14
Brown
14
Vanderbilt
16
Cornell
16
Rice
18
Notre Dame
19
UCLA
19
Washington (St. Louis)
21
Emory
22
Georgetown
22
Berkeley
22
USC
25
Carnegie Mellon
25
Virginia
#
School
27
Michigan
27
Tufts
27
Wake Forest
30
NYU
30
UC Santa Barbara
30
North Carolina
33
UC Irvine
33
Rochester
35
Brandeis
35
Georgia Tech
35
Florida
38
Boston College
38
William and Mary
#
School
38
UC Davis
41
UCSD
42
Boston University
42
Case Western
44
Northeastern
44
Tulane
46
Pepperdine
46
Georgia
46
Illinois
49
Rensselaer Polytechnic
49
Texas
49
Wisconsin
49
Villanova
buck1017
+2
level 73
Sep 11, 2013
Miami? Huh...who knew.
mf3
+1
level 78
Sep 13, 2017
I know, huh? They haven't won a championship since 2001!
mikeb
+3
level 69
Feb 6, 2018
That could be Miami of Ohio -- excellent school (and, no I am not an alumnus). (Nor alumna if somebody wants to get cute.)
kalbahamut
+2
level 75
Sep 14, 2013
MIT tumbled down the rankings? I guess 7th best in the USA is still good enough for top 2 or 3 internationally.
BlendedCow
+1
level 50
Sep 14, 2013
Interesting how they can rank the schools for a year when academic results aren't even possible, or don't they care?
kalbahamut
+2
level 75
Sep 15, 2013
They're not ranking how well students are going to perform this year. That really has nothing at all to do with it. Maybe when they rank middle schools or something they would take student performance on standardized tests into consideration but that is not what universities are about or how they are ranked.
kalbahamut
+1
level 75
Sep 15, 2013
Here you go. Different organizations use different criteria but this is the criteria used for this particular test.
kalbahamut
+1
level 75
Sep 15, 2013
One criteria that seems to be omitted from US News' formula that is often paramount in other similar rankings seems to be the amount of quality research being produced by that university. Maybe this only factors in when evaluating graduate schools, though.
shortyoh
+1
level 70
Sep 10, 2014
The criteria also changes year to year. And some of the criteria, IMO, hurts/helps school rankings in ways they shouldn't. For example, they often use freshman retention as a major component (or alternatively, 4/5 year graduation rates of incoming freshmen). Changing majors isn't unheard of. And if you decide to pursue a different major and your school doesn't offer it, you're likely to transfer for obvious reasons. That hits retention and (depending on how it is calculated) graduation rates. For a large state school, this may not mean anything. But if you have a school like Caltech, and you decide after a year you aren't cut out for science or engineering and want to pursue a business degree? Well, tough.... you have to transfer. Doesn't mean the school isn't good - just that they're highly specialized.
icazares
+2
level 50
Sep 14, 2013
Agreed. The list is completely wrong. How did Carnegie Mellon end up below Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Rice and Georgetown. Where is UT @ Austin. By the way, it would be nice to add tuition fees to the quiz. Then we parents know what we are against! Thanks for the quiz.
JeromesNiece
+3
level 59
Sep 10, 2014
As a Michigan student, I'm not liking this new list.
ackbar
+1
level 32
Sep 10, 2014
That was the first thing I noticed, fell clean off the list.
irish41
+1
level 64
Sep 10, 2014
#29 is falling clean off the list? JeromesNiece - GO BLUE.
Quizmaster
+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

IronDerBear
+1
level 51
Aug 7, 2016
Ya know what, at least the Victors are still above the Buckeyes. By a lot. Go 'Cats! #12 on the list!
DiscoBayGolfer
+1
level 71
Sep 10, 2014
Got 34, including all the California schools.
celebeth
+3
level 65
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.
JesusFreakForLife
+2
level 22
Sep 12, 2015
I was kinda insulted when I realized that. People, pay attention! Michigan State is, like, amazing!!
IronDerBear
+1
level 51
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!
Quizmaster
+4
level ∞
Sep 14, 2016
You're only calling Michigan State a cow college because it was founded by a cow. Not fair at all.
shortyoh
+2
level 70
Sep 10, 2014
What's wrong is your spelling of Caltech. :) No space, only the C is capitalized.
beetboy12
+1
level 44
Sep 10, 2014
I expected a lot more small, private liberal arts schools.
samiamco
+1
level 70
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.
ILikeQuizes
+2
level 64
Dec 26, 2017
US news has liberal arts schools as a separate list.
OneWhale
+1
level 66
Sep 11, 2014
Yeah Rice represent!
lush
+1
level 41
Sep 24, 2014
penn st? don't most people call berkeley, cal?
jhult22
+1
level 26
Sep 26, 2014
no way is miami in there!!!??? no way
sillie
+1
level 80
Nov 11, 2014
Damn. Didn't know there was Penn and Penn State separetely.
samiamco
+1
level 70
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).
divantilya
+1
level 38
May 17, 2019
Is Penn State the one located in a town called "State College"?
ander217
+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.
dakgrl
+1
level 54
Sep 11, 2015
didn't take south Carolina or RIT
seokeunshichae
+1
level 71
Sep 11, 2015
south carolina didn't make the list
Will10
+1
level 63
Sep 12, 2015
USC is Southern Cal, not South Carolina
sf49ers
+1
level 79
Sep 11, 2015
it would seem that Penn St would be accepted for Penn State.
Quizmaster
+1
level ∞
Sep 14, 2016
Penn St will work now
someone2018
+1
level 68
Oct 4, 2018
How about Pennsylvania Ave?
CorkSpork
+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
slimpasty
+1
level 58
Sep 15, 2015
Please accept "University of" before several of the state schools and some others such as University of Rochester. Thanks!
texasforever
+1
level 50
Jan 4, 2016
I find it quite strange that the University of Florida made it and UT Austin didn't.
IronDerBear
+1
level 51
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.
Algernon
+1
level 67
Oct 1, 2016
Can you not accept "Mellon" or "Carnegie" for Carnegie Mellon? I tried both separately but no go.
Algernon
+1
level 67
Aug 11, 2018
Second time around, and apparently you can't accept them as type ins. Oh well.
Yankee
+1
level 54
Jun 5, 2017
O-H!
AmyD85
+1
level 54
Jun 28, 2017
I-O!
sillie
+1
level 80
Sep 14, 2017
I know why, but still find it really funny that you have 51 universities in the top-50 ranking.
TinklePork
+1
level 66
Sep 14, 2017
By "North Carolina", I'm assuming they mean Chapel Hill, not NCSU?
ninjastar9
+1
level 49
Sep 22, 2017
It has only been five years since I was applying to colleges, and yet these rankings have changed considerably.
loganite
+1
level 78
Nov 8, 2017
Boy, these folks love the University of California system...
rleitne
+3
level 70
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.
interopia
+1
level 76
Sep 29, 2018
My alma mater is in the five least guessed.
someone2018
+1
level 68
Oct 4, 2018
Seems quite random. I was almost expecting University of Phoenix Online.
stankyC
+1
level 60
Oct 12, 2018
First year my alma mater, Georgia, cracked this list. Go mfcking dawgs, that free tuition was a good investment
Elan
+1
level 60
Nov 21, 2018
Can you please accept "UIUC" for Illinois?
Sibawayh
+1
level 46
Nov 22, 2018
My school, Rutgers, ranks 56. Close enough lol
kalbahamut
+1
level 75
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.
mightythor
+2
level 63
Feb 13, 2019
Tried CMU several times before considering you might be making us spell it out.
TravelingMama
+1
level 56
May 19, 2019
"Arbitrary and wrong" sums it up.
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