What Is the Best College for You?

Posted on July 11, 2017June 8, 2018 By Yuri Punj

Let’s face it. College is expensive and parents are taking a detailed approach in terms of cost/benefit. Money Magazine has done a very interesting analysis done where they have drawn on the research and advice of dozens of the nation’s top experts on education quality, financing, and value to develop a new, uniquely practical analysis of more than 700 of the nation’s best-performing colleges. Some of the names will surprise you – here are the Top 50:

College Name	Median SAT/ACT score	Est. price 2017-18 without aid	Est. price 2017-18 with avg. grant	% who get need-based grants	% who get merit grants	Early career earnings
1 Princeton University Princeton, NJ	1500/33	$65, 300	$19, 300	59%	N/A	$67, 600
2 CUNY Bernard M Baruch College New York, NY	1240/NA	$31, 400	$9, 800	51%	8%	$51, 600
3 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI	1380/31	$29, 500	$17, 000	32%	24%	$61, 200
4 University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA	1370/32	$37, 200	$17, 900	48%	1%	$62, 100
5 University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA	1330/30	$35, 300	$14, 900	52%	1%	$53, 300
5 Stanford University Stanford, CA	1480/33	$68, 100	$20, 800	49%	1%	$70, 300
7 University of California-Irvine Irvine, CA	1160/26	$33, 900	$15, 800	62%	N/A	$52, 000
8 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA	1500/34	$67, 800	$23, 400	55%	1%	$77, 000
9 University of California-Davis Davis, CA	1210/28	$36, 300	$18, 200	60%	1%	$53, 000
10 Harvard University Cambridge, MA	1510/34	$68, 600	$17, 000	56%	N/A	$65, 000
11 University of Virginia-Main Campus Charlottesville, VA	1360/31	$31, 200	$15, 700	27%	2%	$58, 000
12 Rice University Houston, TX	1470/33	$62, 700	$24, 300	37%	1%	$63, 100
13 University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA	1230/28	$28, 500	$10, 500	35%	2%	$55, 200
14 Yale University New Haven, CT	1510/33	$70, 100	$19, 600	49%	N/A	$62, 600
15 Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN	1510/33	$67, 100	$24, 800	45%	20%	$57, 900
16 Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus Atlanta, GA	1400/32	$30, 700	$13, 800	38%	25%	$65, 600
16 Washington and Lee University Lexington, VA	1390/32	$65, 700	$23, 100	41%	10%	$53, 200
18 University of Florida Gainesville, FL	1270/29	$21, 800	$15, 800	33%	39%	$49, 800
19 California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA	1550/35	$67, 000	$25, 100	52%	1%	$79, 800
20 University of Maryland-College Park College Park, MD	1320/NA	$26, 500	$15, 900	34%	3%	$55, 700
21 Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY	1480/33	$73, 400	$19, 100	48%	1%	$62, 500
22 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL	1390/29	$31, 400	$18, 200	38%	5%	$57, 700
23 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA	1220/NA	$26, 200	$19, 900	31%	15%	$57, 400
24 The College of New Jersey Ewing, NJ	1220/27	$34, 600	$21, 800	20%	13%	$52, 100
25 Williams College Williamstown, MA	1460/33	$70, 700	$23, 300	48%	N/A	$54, 000
26 Massachusetts Maritime Academy Buzzards Bay, MA	1110/23	$24, 800	$14, 800	31%	1%	$59, 300
27 University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA	1460/33	$71, 100	$25, 800	47%	N/A	$61, 900
28 Amherst College Amherst, MA	1450/32	$71, 400	$18, 200	57%	N/A	$49, 000
29 University of California-Riverside Riverside, CA	1130/25	$35, 400	$14, 400	76%	1%	$47, 000
30 Michigan State University East Lansing, MI	1120/26	$27, 500	$15, 800	35%	13%	$50, 400
31 The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX	1290/29	$27, 800	$18, 800	33%	12%	$53, 900
32 Dartmouth College Hanover, NH	1460/32	$71, 400	$23, 100	49%	N/A	$62, 000
33 SUNY at Binghamton Vestal, NY	1290/29	$27, 000	$17, 400	40%	3%	$51, 700
34 Brown University Providence, RI	1440/32	$69, 800	$24, 800	44%	N/A	$60, 600
34 Texas A & M University-College Station College Station, TX	1200/27	$26, 200	$14, 800	39%	3%	$55, 000
36 University of California-Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA	1240/29	$37, 200	$17, 500	57%	1%	$50, 600
37 University of Connecticut Storrs, CT	1240/28	$30, 900	$20, 400	41%	20%	$55, 200
37 Purdue University-Main Campus West Lafayette, IN	1210/27	$24, 300	$12, 600	28%	16%	$57, 800
37 Swarthmore College Swarthmore, PA	1450/32	$68, 700	$23, 300	52%	N/A	$56, 700
40 University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN	1430/33	$69, 200	$28, 800	42%	24%	$60, 800
41 Virginia Military Institute Lexington, VA	1160/26	$30, 700	$16, 400	44%	24%	$55, 600
42 California State University-Long Beach Long Beach, CA	1060/23	$24, 200	$10, 400	61%	20%	$45, 500
43 CUNY Brooklyn College Brooklyn, NY	1090/NA	$29, 300	$9, 800	75%	22%	$43, 800
44 Hamilton College Clinton, NY	1390/32	$69, 400	$23, 700	48%	N/A	$54, 100
45 University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI	1290/29	$26, 000	$17, 300	36%	3%	$51, 200
46 Union College Schenectady, NY	NA/NA	$69, 600	$40, 300	49%	5%	$54, 300
46 James Madison University Harrisonburg, VA	1140/26	$26, 000	$18, 000	21%	4%	$49, 900
48 Martin Luther College New Ulm, MN	NA/25	$25, 400	$19, 100	73%	3%	$36, 000
49 Rutgers University-New Brunswick New Brunswick, NJ	1220/NA	$32, 100	$17, 100	39%	9%	$52, 200
50 North Carolina State University at Raleigh Raleigh, NC	1250/28	$23, 600	$14, 700	44%	6%	$52, 500