World University Rankings 2025

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What the hell happened to UVA?

These rankings are rigged.

US only School/Country
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2 Harvard University
3 Princeton University
4 Stanford University
5 California Institute of Technology
6 University of California, Berkeley
7 Yale University
8 The University of Chicago
8 University of Pennsylvania
10 Johns Hopkins University
11 Columbia University
11 University of California, Los Angeles
13 Cornell University
14 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
15 Carnegie Mellon University
16 University of Washington
17 Duke University
18 Northwestern University
19 New York University
20 University of California, San Diego
21 Georgia Institute of Technology
22 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
23 University of Texas at Austin
24 University of Wisconsin-Madison
25 Brown University
26 University of California, Davis
27 University of California, Santa Barbara
28 Washington University in St Louis
29 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
30 University of Southern California
31 Boston University
32 Purdue University West Lafayette
33 University of Massachusetts
34 University of Minnesota
35 University of California, Irvine
35 Vanderbilt University
37 Emory University
38 Penn State (Main campus)
39 Rice University
39 University of Maryland, College Park
41 Ohio State University (Main campus)
42 Michigan State University
43 University of Rochester
44 University of Florida
45 University of Arizona
46 University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh campus
47 Texas A&M University
47 University of Colorado Boulder
49 Case Western Reserve University
50 University of Virginia (Main campus)

This feels like it includes grad schools heavily.

World rankings are entirely about grad schools because the US system is long and slow compared to the rest of the world (a good thing IMHO), so US students do not specialize until the third year of college and don't go deep until they start a masters in grad school. Most other countries specialize by the end of high school and go deep in a shorter stay at college.

[Anonymous]

This looks lot better than USNWR.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of these are giant schools and the focus is on the graduate program. Pick one for your PHD, but for undergrad go with the smaller undergrad teaching schools.

Thank you for YOUR OPINION. For the zillionth time, not everyone wants to go to tiny undergrad teaching schools. I went to a tiny SLAC and thrived. My kid is at Michigan and thriving - he's brilliant and an extrovert and wanted big. He's learning in lectures from world renowned profs and from discussion sections from PhD students and from peers, and having a blast at a big school. I'm not knocking small schools (other kid is at one too) but it is actually possible to get an amazing education and it is not actually a mistake that Michigan and the UC schools consistently show up on these rankings (every single one of them).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of these are giant schools and the focus is on the graduate program. Pick one for your PHD, but for undergrad go with the smaller undergrad teaching schools.

Thank you for YOUR OPINION. For the zillionth time, not everyone wants to go to tiny undergrad teaching schools. I went to a tiny SLAC and thrived. My kid is at Michigan and thriving - he's brilliant and an extrovert and wanted big. He's learning in lectures from world renowned profs and from discussion sections from PhD students and from peers, and having a blast at a big school. I'm not knocking small schools (other kid is at one too) but it is actually possible to get an amazing education and it is not actually a mistake that Michigan and the UC schools consistently show up on these rankings (every single one of them).

They want their precious kids to attend top 25 (including Berkeley, UCLA & Michigan) but no way those kids will so they resort to attacking the publics as too large, can't get classes etc. etc. They then get their kids into an unknown slac with high acceptance rate and starts bragging about the usual (class is small, slacs produce the most ph.ds, the kid is "thriving") etc. These parents would rather send their kids to a no-name slac than a well-known school that is outside of top 50 since they will not be able to BS about a known decent public/private school outside of top 50.

Think more about your kid's future and not about whether you would be ashamed at gatherings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind these are not necessarily undergraduate rankings. They weigh graduate programs and research very highly. Hence schools like Berkeley and U Washington compete very well compared to their comparative undergraduate prestige in the US.

Berkeley is top 10 in Forbes, WSJ, QS and Top 20 in USNews. It consistently has programs in top 5 in almost every subject. It is a large state school and still manages to do remarkably well in almost all rankings.

PP, I agree, I’m not trying to slander Cal. As an institution it’s T10 in the country, I just think the undergrad program is a tick below its graduate programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind these are not necessarily undergraduate rankings. They weigh graduate programs and research very highly. Hence schools like Berkeley and U Washington compete very well compared to their comparative undergraduate prestige in the US.

Berkeley is top 10 in Forbes, WSJ, QS and Top 20 in USNews. It consistently has programs in top 5 in almost every subject. It is a large state school and still manages to do remarkably well in almost all rankings.

PP, I agree, I’m not trying to slander Cal. As an institution it’s T10 in the country, I just think the undergrad program is a tick below its graduate programs.

I am sick of these people saying these are more focused on the graduate programs. Maybe so but these schools are being evaluated as a whole institution including the undergraduate, graduate, professional schools, research programs etc.

If you want to focus on small classes and small campus size, go to the local community college - they offer small classes, small campus and they cost way less than some obscure SLACs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind these are not necessarily undergraduate rankings. They weigh graduate programs and research very highly. Hence schools like Berkeley and U Washington compete very well compared to their comparative undergraduate prestige in the US.

Berkeley is top 10 in Forbes, WSJ, QS and Top 20 in USNews. It consistently has programs in top 5 in almost every subject. It is a large state school and still manages to do remarkably well in almost all rankings.

PP, I agree, I’m not trying to slander Cal. As an institution it’s T10 in the country, I just think the undergrad program is a tick below its graduate programs.

I am sick of these people saying these are more focused on the graduate programs. Maybe so but these schools are being evaluated as a whole institution including the undergraduate, graduate, professional schools, research programs etc.

If you want to focus on small classes and small campus size, go to the local community college - they offer small classes, small campus and they cost way less than some obscure SLACs.

Funny how the same people worship UVA pretending it is not a public school founded by a slave owner.

[Anonymous]

Many of those unknown slacs will close within the next 20 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind these are not necessarily undergraduate rankings. They weigh graduate programs and research very highly. Hence schools like Berkeley and U Washington compete very well compared to their comparative undergraduate prestige in the US.

Berkeley is top 10 in Forbes, WSJ, QS and Top 20 in USNews. It consistently has programs in top 5 in almost every subject. It is a large state school and still manages to do remarkably well in almost all rankings.

PP, I agree, I’m not trying to slander Cal. As an institution it’s T10 in the country, I just think the undergrad program is a tick below its graduate programs.

I am sick of these people saying these are more focused on the graduate programs. Maybe so but these schools are being evaluated as a whole institution including the undergraduate, graduate, professional schools, research programs etc.

If you want to focus on small classes and small campus size, go to the local community college - they offer small classes, small campus and they cost way less than some obscure SLACs.

Funny how the same people worship UVA pretending it is not a public school founded by a slave owner.

As if this whole goddamn country wasn't founded by slave owners.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What the hell happened to UVA?

These rankings are rigged.

US only School/Country
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2 Harvard University
3 Princeton University
4 Stanford University
5 California Institute of Technology
6 University of California, Berkeley
7 Yale University
8 The University of Chicago
8 University of Pennsylvania
10 Johns Hopkins University
11 Columbia University
11 University of California, Los Angeles
13 Cornell University
14 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
15 Carnegie Mellon University
16 University of Washington
17 Duke University
18 Northwestern University
19 New York University
20 University of California, San Diego
21 Georgia Institute of Technology
22 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
23 University of Texas at Austin
24 University of Wisconsin-Madison
25 Brown University
26 University of California, Davis
27 University of California, Santa Barbara
28 Washington University in St Louis
29 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
30 University of Southern California
31 Boston University
32 Purdue University West Lafayette
33 University of Massachusetts
34 University of Minnesota
35 University of California, Irvine
35 Vanderbilt University
37 Emory University
38 Penn State (Main campus)
39 Rice University
39 University of Maryland, College Park
41 Ohio State University (Main campus)
42 Michigan State University
43 University of Rochester
44 University of Florida
45 University of Arizona
46 University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh campus
47 Texas A&M University
47 University of Colorado Boulder
49 Case Western Reserve University
50 University of Virginia (Main campus)

This feels like it includes grad schools heavily.

Research

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind these are not necessarily undergraduate rankings. They weigh graduate programs and research very highly. Hence schools like Berkeley and U Washington compete very well compared to their comparative undergraduate prestige in the US.

Berkeley is top 10 in Forbes, WSJ, QS and Top 20 in USNews. It consistently has programs in top 5 in almost every subject. It is a large state school and still manages to do remarkably well in almost all rankings.

PP, I agree, I’m not trying to slander Cal. As an institution it’s T10 in the country, I just think the undergrad program is a tick below its graduate programs.

Multiple ticks below. The system is set up to prioritize research and graduate programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind these are not necessarily undergraduate rankings. They weigh graduate programs and research very highly. Hence schools like Berkeley and U Washington compete very well compared to their comparative undergraduate prestige in the US.

Berkeley is top 10 in Forbes, WSJ, QS and Top 20 in USNews. It consistently has programs in top 5 in almost every subject. It is a large state school and still manages to do remarkably well in almost all rankings.

PP, I agree, I’m not trying to slander Cal. As an institution it’s T10 in the country, I just think the undergrad program is a tick below its graduate programs.

Multiple ticks below. The system is set up to prioritize research and graduate programs.

Said by someone who apparently doesn’t understand that UC undergraduate students tend to LOVE their experience, whether it’s UCLA, Berkeley, right on down to UCSC and even UC Merced.

Maybe you would be better served by focusing on self-reported student experience, instead of that post you saw one time by a purported TA who described lectures with 8,000 - 9,000 students and impacted programs that required students to burn 18-20 years to register for the classes necessary to graduate from the #1 public system in the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of these are giant schools and the focus is on the graduate program. Pick one for your PHD, but for undergrad go with the smaller undergrad teaching schools.

Thank you for YOUR OPINION. For the zillionth time, not everyone wants to go to tiny undergrad teaching schools. I went to a tiny SLAC and thrived. My kid is at Michigan and thriving - he's brilliant and an extrovert and wanted big. He's learning in lectures from world renowned profs and from discussion sections from PhD students and from peers, and having a blast at a big school. I'm not knocking small schools (other kid is at one too) but it is actually possible to get an amazing education and it is not actually a mistake that Michigan and the UC schools consistently show up on these rankings (every single one of them).

They want their precious kids to attend top 25 (including Berkeley, UCLA & Michigan) but no way those kids will so they resort to attacking the publics as too large, can't get classes etc. etc. They then get their kids into an unknown slac with high acceptance rate and starts bragging about the usual (class is small, slacs produce the most ph.ds, the kid is "thriving") etc. These parents would rather send their kids to a no-name slac than a well-known school that is outside of top 50 since they will not be able to BS about a known decent public/private school outside of top 50.

Think more about your kid's future and not about whether you would be ashamed at gatherings.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind these are not necessarily undergraduate rankings. They weigh graduate programs and research very highly. Hence schools like Berkeley and U Washington compete very well compared to their comparative undergraduate prestige in the US.

Berkeley is top 10 in Forbes, WSJ, QS and Top 20 in USNews. It consistently has programs in top 5 in almost every subject. It is a large state school and still manages to do remarkably well in almost all rankings.

PP, I agree, I’m not trying to slander Cal. As an institution it’s T10 in the country, I just think the undergrad program is a tick below its graduate programs.

I am sick of these people saying these are more focused on the graduate programs. Maybe so but these schools are being evaluated as a whole institution including the undergraduate, graduate, professional schools, research programs etc.

If you want to focus on small classes and small campus size, go to the local community college - they offer small classes, small campus and they cost way less than some obscure SLACs.

If a kid is looking at schools for undergrad, it is reasonable to question how important the reputation of the grad programs is. Schools like Swarthmore and Harvey Mudd have no grad programs. But the average student at Cal is not really better than the average student at Harvey Mudd or Swarthmore IMO. Does Cal have better post-college outcomes? Probably not on average. Does Cal have more resources per undergrad student? No, it is way behind Swarthmore…which is one of the richest schools in the country.

I have nothing against Cal. It’s a great school and I would be very happy to send a kid there. I’m just saying that these rankings ignore some schools that are really great for undergrad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What the hell happened to UVA?

These rankings are rigged.

US only School/Country
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2 Harvard University
3 Princeton University
4 Stanford University
5 California Institute of Technology
6 University of California, Berkeley
7 Yale University
8 The University of Chicago
8 University of Pennsylvania
10 Johns Hopkins University
11 Columbia University
11 University of California, Los Angeles
13 Cornell University
14 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
15 Carnegie Mellon University
16 University of Washington
17 Duke University
18 Northwestern University
19 New York University
20 University of California, San Diego
21 Georgia Institute of Technology
22 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
23 University of Texas at Austin
24 University of Wisconsin-Madison
25 Brown University
26 University of California, Davis
27 University of California, Santa Barbara
28 Washington University in St Louis
29 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
30 University of Southern California
31 Boston University
32 Purdue University West Lafayette
33 University of Massachusetts
34 University of Minnesota
35 University of California, Irvine
35 Vanderbilt University
37 Emory University
38 Penn State (Main campus)
39 Rice University
39 University of Maryland, College Park
41 Ohio State University (Main campus)
42 Michigan State University
43 University of Rochester
44 University of Florida
45 University of Arizona
46 University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh campus
47 Texas A&M University
47 University of Colorado Boulder
49 Case Western Reserve University
50 University of Virginia (Main campus)

Oof Brown low and Dartmouth not even on here, just like other lists. It is similar US-School wise to the QS world ranking pecking order(my international spouse prefers QS when targeting US schools):

MIT
harvard
Stanford
Caltech
UPenn
UCB
Cornell
Chicago
Princeton
Yale
Columbia
UCLA
NYU
UMich
Northwestern
CMU
Duke
UTAustin
UIUC

How often does your spouse target schools? Sounds like it is a regular event Is this to plan vacations or something?

We have 5 children, 2 in college at top 10s QS, one senior and two youngers. The backup is McGill if they do not get into one of the QS top 20 US ones or Oxford/Cambridge

Why is McGill the back up and not, for example, University of Toronto?