(NEXSTAR) – As high school seniors across the country start their final year before graduation, Niche.com released its annual ranking of the best U.S. colleges and universities for 2026.
The Pittsburgh-based education research platform says the rankings are designed to “help students identify institutions that best match their academic goals, personal values, budgets, and campus preferences.”
MIT, located in Cambridge, Mass., was the highest ranked school in the study, with Niche giving it the highest possible scores for academics, diversity and value.
See the Top 25 schools below:
| Rank | College Name | State |
| 1 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | MA |
| 2 | Yale University | CT |
| 3 | Stanford University | CA |
| 4 | Harvard University | MA |
| 5 | Dartmouth College | NH |
| 6 | Columbia University | NY |
| 7 | Vanderbilt University | TN |
| 8 | Princeton University | NJ |
| 9 | California Institute of Technology | CA |
| 10 | Rice University | TX |
| 11 | Brown University | RI |
| 12 | University of Pennsylvania | PA |
| 13 | Washington University in St. Louis | MO |
| 14 | Duke University | NC |
| 15 | Carnegie Mellon University | PA |
| 16 | Harvey Mudd College | CA |
| 17 | Georgetown University | DC |
| 18 | University of Chicago | IL |
| 19 | University of Michigan Ann Arbor | MI |
| 20 | University of California Los Angeles | CA |
| 21 | Cornell University | NY |
| 22 | Northwestern University | IL |
| 23 | Claremont McKenna College | CA |
| 24 | Johns Hopkins University | MD |
| 25 | University of Notre Dame | IN |
See the full ranking on the Niche.com site.
The methodology behind the ranking includes data from the Department of Education and National Science Foundation; enrollment, graduation and alumni earning statistics; tuition and financial aid information; and more than 1 million reviews from students and alumni, according to Niche.
See the company’s website for more information.
