Best Colleges In Pennsylvania: New U.S. News Rankings

PENNSYLVANIA — University of Pennsylvania is the state's highest-ranked national university on U.S. News & World Report’s 2020 best colleges list. A total of 18 Pennsylvania colleges were featured on the national list with the highest-ranking college — University of Pennsylvania — coming in at number six.

The 2020 rankings include the overall best national universities rankings, as well as rankings for the best liberal-arts colleges, the top public schools, the best value schools and more.

Along with being featured on the national list, Pennsylvania colleges also placed on other lists, including the best National Liberal Arts Colleges list and the best colleges by region.

For the 2020 rankings, U.S. News made some changes to help prospective students with their college search. A new set of rankings looks at the top performers in social mobility, evaluating which schools best serve underrepresented students. The 2020 methodology also factors in which schools support first-generation college students through graduation.

A total of 1,400 colleges are included in the 2020 rankings. The publication says that 90 percent of those reading the best-colleges list are looking for schools outside the top 10. (You can read the full methodology here)

“For more than three decades, we’ve collected and analyzed data on thousands of colleges and universities across the country and helped put schools on the map,” Kim Castro, editor and chief content officer of U.S. News, said in a news release. “We’ve found the best institutions to be ones committed to academically and financially supporting their students through graduation. They draw in high-quality professors and set students up for postgraduate success.”

Here are the Pennsylvania schools that made the national university rankings:

• University of Pennsylvania, #6
• Carnegie Mellon University, #25
• Villanova University, #46
• Lehigh University, #50
• Pennsylvania State University--University Park, #57
• University of Pittsburgh, #57
• Drexel University, #97
• Temple University, #104
• Duquesne University, #132
• Thomas Jefferson University, #153
• Chatham University, #185
• Misericordia University, #192
• Robert Morris University, #202
• Widener University, #202
• Immaculata University, #211
• Wilkes University, #211
• Gannon University, #218
• Indiana University of Pennsylvania, #293-#381

Here are the Pennsylvania schools that made the liberal arts colleges rankings:

Swarthmore College
Haverford College
Bryn Mawr College
Bucknell University
Franklin and Marshall College
Lafayette College
Dickinson College
Gettysburg College
Muhlenberg College
Allegheny College
Juniata College
Ursinus College
Washington and Jefferson College
Elizabethtown College
Grove City College
Westminster College
Lycoming College
Susquehanna University
Saint Vincent College
Moravian College
Albright College
Bryn Athyn College of the New Church
Cheyney University of Pennsylvania
Mansfield University of Pennsylvania

Overall, Princeton University once again stayed in the number one spot.

Williams College was the top liberal-arts college and the University of California-Los Angeles was the number one public school.

Below are the top 5 national universities:

1. Princeton University (NJ)
2. Harvard University (MA)
3. Columbia University (NY) (tie)
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (tie)
3. Yale University (CT) (tie)

Below are the top 3 liberal arts colleges:

1. Williams College (MA)
2. Amherst College (MA)
3. Swarthmore College (PA) (tie)
3. Wellesley College (MA) (tie)

Below are the top 3 public universities:

1. University of California—Los Angeles
2. University of California—Berkeley
3. University of Michigan—Ann Arbor