2,375 colleges
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ
Stanford University
Stanford, CA
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA
University of Chicago
Chicago, IL
Rice University
Houston, TX
Yale University
New Haven, CT
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
Brown University
Providence, RI
Williams College
Williamstown, MA
Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY
Duke University
Durham, NC
University of California-Berkeley
Berkeley, CA
University of California-Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY
Bowdoin College
Brunswick, ME
Pomona College
Claremont, CA
Methodology
How these rankings work
The Trajecta Score (0–100) blends six dimensions of public college data into one comparable number, then nudges it by how much data each school reports. Selectivity tiers are separate — they’re based purely on a school’s admission rate.
Read the full methodologySelectivity tiers
Score dimensions & weights
Median earnings 10 years out, earnings vs. a high-school grad, and loan repayment.
Admission selectivity and the incoming class’s SAT / ACT scores.
Average net price after aid and the typical debt of graduates.
Graduation rate and first-year retention.
Instructional spending and faculty salaries per student.
Share of Pell-grant students and reliance on federal loans.
Data from the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard and IPEDS. Figures are the most recent reported and may lag a year or two. This tool is read-only and not personalized — inside the Trajecta app, scores are tailored to your profile as a fit score.