Which college is considered best in your state?
I live in NJ. While the best private is obviously Princeton, our flagship university is Rutgers.
I live in Texas. While the best is obviously Rice, our flagship university is UT Austin (enrollment# 52,000).
In mass it’s harvard best public is UMass Amherst. RI it’s Brown then maybe RISD
Here’s my list. Some states have more “top” schools than others.
state, SAT midpoint, name of school
AL 1200 University of Alabama in Huntsville
AR 1230 Hendrix College
CA 1555 California Institute of Technology
CA 1500 Harvey Mudd College
CA 1480 Stanford University
CA 1440 Pomona College
CA 1405 Claremont McKenna College
CA 1405 University of California-Berkeley
CA 1390 University of Southern California
CA 1365 Scripps College
CA 1315 University of California-Los Angeles
CA 1310 Occidental College
CA 1310 University of California-San Diego
CA 1300 Santa Clara University
CA 1255 California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo
CA 1255 University of California-Santa Barbara
CA 1250 Thomas Aquinas College
CA 1225 Loyola Marymount University
CA 1220 Pepperdine University
CA 1205 Chapman University
CA 1205 University of San Diego
CO 1335 Colorado School of Mines
CO 1315 United States Air Force Academy
CO 1210 University of Denver
CT 1510 Yale University
CT 1230 University of Connecticut
DC 1420 Georgetown University
DC 1287.5 George Washington University
DC 1245 American University
FL 1300 University of Miami
FL 1275 University of Florida
FL 1245 New College of Florida
GA 1410 Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus
GA 1395 Emory University
GA 1240 University of Georgia
IA 1425 Grinnell College
IL 1525 University of Chicago
IL 1480 Northwestern University
IL 1382.5 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
IL 1285 Wheaton College
IL 1265 Illinois Wesleyan University
IL 1245 Illinois Institute of Technology
IN 1445 University of Notre Dame
KY 1210 Centre College
LA 1325 Tulane University of Louisiana
MA 1525 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MA 1515 Harvard University
MA 1457.5 Amherst College
MA 1445 Tufts University
MA 1435 Williams College
MA 1420 Northeastern University
MA 1405 Wellesley College
MA 1375 Brandeis University
MA 1360 Boston College
MA 1320 Boston University
MA 1230 University of Massachusetts-Amherst
MA 1225 Emerson College
MD 1485 Johns Hopkins University
MD 1315 University of Maryland-College Park
MD 1310 St. John’s College
MD 1285 United States Naval Academy
MD 1220 University of Maryland-Baltimore County
ME 1370 Colby College
MI 1405 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
MI 1315 Hillsdale College
MI 1230 Kettering University
MI 1201.5 Michigan Technological University
MN 1430 Carleton College
MN 1375 Macalester College
MN 1315 University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
MN 1260 St Olaf College
MO 1485 Washington University in St Louis
MO 1281 Missouri University of Science and Technology
MO 1220 Saint Louis University
MO 1200 Truman State University
NC 1475 Duke University
NC 1345 Davidson College
NC 1315 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
NC 1260 North Carolina State University at Raleigh
NH 1455 Dartmouth College
NJ 1495 Princeton University
NJ 1350 Stevens Institute of Technology
NJ 1230 Rutgers University-New Brunswick
NJ 1210 New Jersey Institute of Technology
NJ 1200 The College of New Jersey
NM 1230 New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
NY 1500 Columbia University in the City of New York
NY 1430 Cornell University
NY 1415 Vassar College
NY 1390 Hamilton College
NY 1380 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
NY 1375 Colgate University
NY 1370 Barnard College
NY 1365 New York University
NY 1315 SUNY at Binghamton
NY 1285 Sarah Lawrence College
NY 1285 United States Military Academy
NY 1270 Fordham University
NY 1270 United States Merchant Marine Academy
NY 1260 Stony Brook University
NY 1255 Hobart William Smith Colleges
NY 1240 CUNY Bernard M Baruch College
NY 1235 Rochester Institute of Technology
NY 1225 Skidmore College
NY 1225 Yeshiva University
OH 1385 Case Western Reserve University
OH 1350 Oberlin College
OH 1335 Kenyon College
OH 1285 Denison University
OH 1285 Ohio State University-Main Campus
OH 1240 Miami University-Oxford
OH 1210 The College of Wooster
OK 1245 University of Tulsa
OK 1202.5 University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus
OR 1380 Reed College
OR 1280 Lewis & Clark College
PA 1475 University of Pennsylvania
PA 1465 Carnegie Mellon University
PA 1420 Haverford College
PA 1417.5 Swarthmore College
PA 1335 Bryn Mawr College
PA 1325 Lehigh University
PA 1320 Villanova University
PA 1295 Lafayette College
PA 1290 Bucknell University
PA 1285 University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus
PA 1225 Muhlenberg College
RI 1470 Brown University
SC 1245 Clemson University
SC 1210 University of South Carolina-Columbia
TN 1505 Vanderbilt University
TN 1265 Rhodes College
TX 1490 Rice University
TX 1315 Southern Methodist University
TX 1275 The University of Texas at Austin
TX 1265 Trinity University
TX 1260 The University of Texas at Dallas
TX 1215 Baylor University
TX 1205 Austin College
UT 1270 Brigham Young University-Provo
VA 1390 Washington and Lee University
VA 1360 College of William and Mary
VA 1350 University of Virginia-Main Campus
VA 1320 University of Richmond
VA 1210 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
VT 1387.5 Middlebury College
VT 1200 University of Vermont
WA 1310 Whitman College
WA 1245 University of Washington-Seattle Campus
WA 1205 Gonzaga University
WI 1310 University of Wisconsin-Madison
WI 1269.5 Lawrence University
WI 1250 Milwaukee School of Engineering
WI 1217.5 Beloit College
In Indiana it’s definitely Notre Dame
If you google this questions, there are a number of lists online.
I’m in NY and I’d say Columbia followed by Cornell. We are fortunate to have many other outstanding universities and LACs in the state.
Not sure when the list was complied but it changed. Class of 2022 BC average admitted student SAT was 1448 which includes the effects of recruited athletes. So the general population is a bit higher.
@colleghelp You’ve missed a few there. In NY, for instance, University of Rochester, while “test flexible”, has an average ACT of 1410. In Illinois, Knox College has an average SAT of 1300.
In Illinois, I’d say that University of Chicago and Northwestern, along with UIUC for engineering, are probably close, depending on what “best” means to you.
@collegehelp for CA, UC Davis with 1290 SAT average should be added above some of the colleges you listed : )
Ack…that’s SAT not ACT in #8,
Also, in Indiana, Purdue has an average SAT of 1300, Indiana University’s average is 1240, Butler’s is 1220, and Rose Hulman’s is 1350. It’s not quite the great educational desert that @collegehelp 's post would make it seem.
UVA should be added, avg SAT is 1410
In California the obvious suspects are Stanford, CalTech, and Berkeley. The kid didn’t have a high enough GPA for the first 2 and didn’t like the Berkeley vibe. So he ended up in the best school in Missouri.
For Florida, it is definitely University of Florida. But University of Miami is pretty close too.
Too bad the list provided by @collegehelp doesn’t include every state.
UVA is on the list with an SAT midpoint of 1350. I should have stated that the SATs in the list are based on CR + Math and exclude Writing. They are also for enrolled students only. I don’t think admitted student statistics mean very much so the SATs at BC are for enrolled students. UC Davis almost made the list with an SAT midpoint of 1190. These data are from the US Dept of Education website IPEDS database. The most recent available is 2016. It takes a while for the US Dept of Ed to approve the stats submitted by colleges. Purdue was 1195, Indiana U Bloomington was 1175, Butler was 1164. Rose-Hulman didn’t make the list because it is considered a “special focus” school but it had an SAT midpoint of 1315… The SATs of “test flexible” schools like the University of Rochester are not valid indicators of the overall quality of the school. They don’t require SATs from all students and it is illegal for them to report partial SATs to the US Dept of Education (Student Right To Know Act).
correction…I think the Student Right To Know Act applies to graduation rates but not SATs. Still, the US Department of Education won’t accept SAT data for just part of the freshman class. Why would a college not require SAT scores from all students? What are they trying to hide? I think it is an act of desperation on the part of the Admissions Office.
Which school is “best” depends on the program. Ranking schools by SAT midpoint is no more useful than racking and stacking students. There are different strengths and weaknesses that should be considered to find the right fit.
That list of scores is outdated. BC is a 1390 now and Villanova’s 25% was a 1360 last year off the top of my head. Also I wouldn’t use only median SATs to determine best. Example, Harvard would be what most people say is the best in MA, but MIT has higher scores. Caltech has the highest score on the entire list, but many more people would name Harvard or another Ivy as the best school in the country, not caltech
@collegehelp Top school not top ten or top 20 from each state.