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WalletHub names top NY colleges and universities for 2025. See the list
Fifty-five New York universities and colleges are some of the best in the U.S. for 2025, according to a new study released by WalletHub.
To compile the ranking, WalletHub compared over 800 higher-education institutions in the U.S. across several key metrics, including student-faculty ratio, graduation rate and post-attendance median salary. Schools that only provide undergraduate or baccalaureate degree programs are considered colleges in the ranking and universities are schools that offer graduate, including masters and/or doctorate degree, programs.
Here’s what to know.
Top 10 universities in the U.S. in 2025
- Princeton University in New Jersey
- Yale University in Connecticut
- Harvard University in Massachusetts
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Massachusetts
- Dartmouth College in New Hampshire
Top 10 colleges in the U.S. in 2025
- Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania
- Hamilton College in New York
- Amherst College in Massachusetts
- Wellesley College in Massachusetts
- Harvey Mudd College in California
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Which NY colleges and universities made the list
Only the top 500 out of the 822 colleges and universities evaluated by WalletHub were included in the list provided by WalletHub and some institutions were excluded due to data limitations. Here’s which New York colleges and universities made the list:
How WalletHub assessed the schools
WalletHub compared 822 colleges and universities across seven key metrics: student selectivity, cost and financing, faculty resources, campus safety, campus experience, educational outcomes and career outcomes.
The student selectivity category analyzed these components:
- Admission rate
- 25th percentile of ACT/SAT score
- 75th percentile of ACT/SAT score
- Share of freshmen in top 10% of high school graduating class
The cost and financing category included these elements:
- Net cost
- Availability of employment services for students
- Student-loan debt
The faculty resources category took into account these factors:
- Student-faculty ratio
- Average class size
- Share of full-time professors among total full-time instructional staff
- Share of full-time faculty
- Faculty staff salary
The campus safety category examined these components:
- On-campus arrests
- On-campus crime
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The campus experience category considered these features:
- Share of international students
- Percentage of students living on-campus
- NCAA membership
- Availability of study-abroad program
- Gender and racial diversity
- Average earnings from on-campus employment
- Presence of placement services for graduates
The educational outcomes category inspected these items:
- Retention rate
- Graduation rate
- Credentials awarded per undergraduate enrollment
The career outcomes category took a look at these aspects:
- Return on educational investment
- Share of graduates offered full-time employment within six months
- Post-attendance median salary
- Share of former students outearning high school graduates
- Share of students reducing their debt
- Student-loan default rate
Data used to create the ranking was collected as of Sept. 16, 2024 and the information was sourced from the National Center for Education Statistics, the Council for Community and Economic Research, the U.S. Department of Education, COLLEGEdata and PayScale.
Emily Barnes reports on consumer-related issues for the USA TODAY Network’s New York Connect Team, focusing on scam and recall-related topics. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @byemilybarnes. Get in touch at ebarnes@gannett.com.