31 New York City Colleges Land on List of Top Schools in State

NEW YORK, NY — College students hoping to study in New York City have a plethora of choices available to them. But how to choose which school to attend? The latest site to release its rankings of the top colleges in the country — and state — was Niche.com this week.

Three New York City schools made the list of top colleges in the country: Columbia, Barnard and NYU. Columbia finished No. 12 overall — a lower-than-average ranking for the Ivy League school which finished fourth in this year's U.S. News & World Report rankings. Barnard College was ranked at No. 30 and NYU came in at No. 54.

Most college rankings group Barnard and Columbia together.

These aren't the most scientific results. Niche incorporates solid data into its rankings, but many of its metrics include some amount of online survey responses on the Niche.com website. So, an ambitious push by faculty, students and supporters can move the needle on a school's overall performance, including many of the metrics used by Niche, like school safety, student life, community ratings, diversity and more.

The site also broke down the top colleges in each state, with dozens of schools from New York City on the list. If you're a college graduate from upstate, you should know Syracuse University finished No. 14 in the state.

Top state colleges in New York City (overall state ranking in parentheses):

1. Columbia University (1)
2. Barnard College (4)
3. New York University (6)
4. Cooper Union (10)
5. Yeshiva University (16)
6. Manhattan College (20)
7. The New School (21)
8. Fordham University (27)
9. Fashion Institute of Technology (29)
10. CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice (32)
11. CUNY Baruch College (33)
12. St. John's University (38)
13. Monroe College (44)
14. CUNY Brooklyn College (45)
15. CUNY City College of New York (50)
16. St. Joseph's College (51)
17. Pratt Institute (56)
18. American Musical & Dramatic Academy (57)
19. Pace University (58)
20. CUNY Queens College (59)
21. CUNY Hunter College (69)
22. CUNY Lehman College (71)
23. Plaza College (75)
24. Wagner College (76)
25. St. Francis College (82)
26. Vaughn College of Aeronautics & Technology (83)
27. Metropolitan College of New York (84)
28. College of Mount Saint Vincent (93)
29. School of Visual Arts (94)
30. Touro College (99)
31. Marymount Manhattan College (100)

The top colleges in the country, for those curious:

1. Stanford University
2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
3. Yale University
4. Harvard University
5. Princeton University
6. Rice University
7. Bowdoin College
8. University of Pennsylvania
9. Washington University in St. Louis
10. Brown University

Photo Credit: Butler Library at Columbia University by Andrew Chen via Wikimedia Commons