Brook Report Ranking of the Best Colleges 2022

This is the 2022 Ranking of the best colleges in the United States.

For our CURRENT rankings & membership subscriptions, see announcements in our social media.

We use the revolutionary RealRank^TM methodology, the “platinum” standard for college ranking analytics. Are you wondering what that means? It means that we compiled zillions of data points (well, a lot) to create algorithms providing this top colleges ranking with real-world value for students, parents and alumni.

“This proprietary methodology is based on a unique set that has managed to shed light on the factors most important to grading colleges for real-world education, and real-world value.”

We expect the top colleges to imbue their students with the ability to live a fulfilled life and thrive in an increasingly diverse workplace and society. The traditional college rankings seem to vary randomly year-to-year and we have sought to provide something more meaningful. It is this philosophy that has guided the creation of this ranking, and has placed the Brook Report rankings on the path to becoming the most authoritative college ranking analytic service.

Ranking of the Best Colleges in 2022

We have analyzed over 300 colleges and created this RealRank ranking of the top 150. We will publish the remainder of the list in our next issue.

Rank	College	City	State	Score
1	Stanford University	Palo Alto	CA	98.6
2	University of Chicago	Chicago	IL	97.2
3	Princeton University	Princeton	NJ	95.9
4	University of Texas	Austin	TX	95.6
5	Columbia University	New York	NY	91.6
6	Harvard University	Cambridge	MA	91.4
7	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Cambridge	MA	91.0
8	University of Florida	Gainesville	FL	90.5
9	Cornell University	Ithaca	NY	90.4
10	University of Pennsylvania	Philadelphia	PA	88.4
11	Texas A&M University	College Station	TX	88.0
12	Georgia Institute of Technology	Atlanta	GA	87.9
13	The Ohio State University	Columbus	OH	87.8
14	Penn State	University Park	PA	87.7
15	Yale University	New Haven	CT	86.9
16	University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign	Champaign	IL	86.6
17	University Of Wisconsin - Madison	Madison	WI	86.2
18	University of Washington	Seattle	WA	85.5
19	Northwestern University	Evanston	IL	85.4
20	Duke University	Durham	NC	84.6
21	University of Michigan	Ann Arbor	MI	84.5
22	Purdue University	West Lafayette	IN	82.3
23	University of California - Los Angeles	Los Angeles	CA	82.1
24	Annapolis - Naval Academy	Annapolis	MD	80.2
25	West Point - Army Academy	West Point	NY	79.9
26	University of California - Berkeley	Berkeley	CA	79.1
27	California Institute of Technology	Pasadena	CA	78.2
28	University of Arizona	Tuscon	AZ	78.1
29	University of Minnesota	Twin Cities	MN	77.4
30	Air Force Academy	Colorado Springs	CO	76.4
31	University of Maryland	College Park	MD	76.2
32	Michigan State University	East Lansing	MI	75.8
33	Carnegie Mellon University	Pittsburgh	PA	75.7
34	New York University	New York	NY	74.7
35	Arizona State University	Tempe	AZ	72.1
36	University of California - Davis	Davis	CA	72.0
37	Vanderbilt University	Nashville	TN	71.6
38	North Carolina State University	Raleigh	NC	71.5
39	University of Southern California	Los Angeles	CA	70.9
40	University of Virginia	Charlottesville	VA	70.2
41	Johns Hopkins University	Baltimore	MD	68.9
42	Rice University	Houston	TX	68.9
43	University of Tennessee	Knoxville	TN	67.4
44	University of Georgia	Athens	GA	67.0
45	University of Notre Dame	South Bend	IN	63.5
46	Wake Forest University	Winston-Salem	NC	62.6
47	University of Alabama	Tuscaloosa	AL	62.4
48	Florida State University	Tallahassee	FL	62.4
49	University of California - San Diego	San Diego	CA	62.4
50	Iowa State University	Ames	IA	60.9
51	University of Colorado - Boulder	Boulder	CO	60.1
52	Virginia Polytechnic University (Virginia Tech)	Blacksburg	VA	57.9
53	Brown University	Providence	RI	57.8
54	Indiana University	Bloomington	IN	57.8
55	Rutgers University	Piscataway	NJ	57.7
56	Boston University	Boston	MA	57.1
57	Dartmouth College	Hanover	NH	56.9
58	Emory University	Atlanta	GA	56.9
59	University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill	Chapel Hill	NC	56.8
60	University of Utah	Salt Lake City	UT	56.7
61	Clemson University	Clemson	SC	55.0
62	University of Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh	PA	52.0
63	University of Nebraska	Lincoln	NB	50.5
64	Louisiana State University (LSU)	Baton Rouge	LA	49.6
65	University of Kansas	Lawrence	KS	49.0
66	Washington State University	Pullman	WA	48.9
67	Washington University in St. Louis	St. Louis	MO	48.9
68	University of Rochester	Rochester	NY	48.8
69	University of California - Santa Barbara	Santa Barbara	CA	48.8
70	Mississippi State University	Starkville	MS	48.5
71	University of California - Irvine	Irvine	CA	47.5
72	Colorado State University	Ft. Collins	CO	47.2
73	University of Massachusetts - Amherst	Amherst	MA	46.8
74	University of South Carolina	Columbia	SC	46.5
75	University of Iowa	Iowa City	IA	45.7
76	University of Central Florida	Orlando	FL	45.1
77	Auburn University	Auburn	AL	45.0
78	University of Kentucky	Lexington	KY	44.8
79	Georgetown University	Washington	DC	44.6
80	University of Oklahoma	Norman	OK	44.1
81	Colorado School of Mines	Golden	CO	42.0
82	Southern Methodist University	Dallas	TX	41.8
83	University of Nevada - Las Vegas (UNLV)	Las Vegas	NV	41.7
84	Oregon State University	Corvallis	OR	41.4
85	Oklahoma State University	Stillwater	OK	41.1
86	Texas Tech University	Lubbock	TX	40.9
87	University of Cincinnati	Cincinnati	OH	40.9
88	University of Delaware	Newark	DE	40.0
89	University of Arkansas	Fayetteville	AR	40.0
90	Kansas State University	Manhattan	KS	38.1
91	University of Oregon	Eugene	OR	37.5
92	The Julliard School	New York	NY	36.9
93	University of Miami	Coral Gables	FL	36.6
94	University of Connecticut	Storrs	CT	36.4
95	Brigham Young University	Salt Lake City	UT	35.6
96	University of New Mexico	Albuquerque	NM	35.6
97	University of South Florida	Tampa	FL	35.4
98	Tufts University	Medford	MA	35.2
99	Liberty University	Lynchburg	VA	35.1
100	University of Houston	Houston	TX	34.8
101	Boston College	Chestnut Hill	MA	34.5
102	University of Texas at Dallas	Dallas	TX	34.2
103	University of Hawaii - Manoa	Honolulu	HI	33.1
104	University at Buffalo - SUNY	Buffalo	NY	33.0
105	University of Mississippi	Oxford	MS	33.0
106	College of William and Mary	Williamsburg	VA	32.9
107	University of Illinois - Chicago	Chicago	IL	32.0
108	Northeastern University	Boston	MA	31.5
109	University of Nevada - Reno	Reno	NV	30.6
110	West Virginia University	Morgantown	WV	30.6
111	Stony Brook University - SUNY	Stony Brook	NY	30.4
112	University of Wyoming	Laramie	WY	30.0
113	George Washington University	Washington	DC	29.9
114	Lehigh University	Bethlehem	PA	29.3
115	University of Missouri - Columbia	Columbia	MO	28.5
116	University of Montana	Missoula	MT	28.4
117	Georgia State University	Atlanta	GA	27.9
118	Utah State University	Logan	UT	27.6
119	Florida International University	Miami	FL	27.5
120	Tulane University	New Orleans	LA	27.3
121	Rensselear Polytechnic Institute	Troy	NY	26.7
122	Northern Arizona University	Flagstaff	AZ	26.4
123	Syracuse University	Syracuse	NY	26.1
124	University of Idaho	Moscow	ID	25.9
125	Case Western Reserve University	Cleveland	OH	25.6
126	University of Louisville	Louisville	KY	25.1
127	Brandeis University	Waltham	MA	24.9
128	State University of New York at Albany	Albany	NY	24.8
129	University of North Texas	Denton	TX	24.6
130	Carleton College	Northfield	MN	24.5
131	Kent State University	Kent	OH	24.0
132	Baylor University	Waco	TX	24.0
133	University of Alaska at Fairbanks	Fairbanks	AK	23.1
134	Virginia Commonwealth University	Richmond	VA	22.8
135	North Dakota State University	Fargo	ND	22.5
136	Hillsdale College	Hillsdale	MI	22.4
137	University of California - Riverside	Riverside	CA	21.6
138	Wayne State University	Detroit	MI	21.3
139	University of California - Santa Cruz	Santa Cruz	CA	21.2
140	New Mexico State University	Las Cruces	NM	21.1
141	Northern Illinois University	DeKalb	IL	20.7
142	Southern Illinois University	Carbondale	IL	20.7
143	Texas Christian University	Fort Worth	TX	20.5
144	University of Texas at Arlington	Arlington	TX	19.8
145	University of California - Merced	Merced	CA	19.7
146	University of Tennessee-Chattanooga	Chattanooga	TN	19.4
147	University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee	Milwaukee	WI	19.0
148	George Mason University	Fairfax	VA	18.8
149	Ohio University	Athens	OH	18.9
150	Bowdoin College	Brunswick	ME	18.8

What is the RealRank Methodology?

So you’ve heard we use the RealRank methodology to compile these rankings of the best colleges. Now let’s take a look under the hood.

While other college rankings emphasize surveys of professors, or artificially inflated admission selectivity percentages, Brook Report analyzes real-world statistically valid factors to determine the real educational and resume value proposition in arriving at the top rankings. We apply this methodology across all the rankings you will find here on our public website. We have analyzed over 300 universities in developing the ranking of the top universities. The factors we consider in our methodology include:

Educational Value – this means an emphasis on quality education in a student’s field, with a faculty that may or may not publish research papers, but most importantly also views student success as paramount.
Real-World Renown – this is a resume value factor. We expect the top colleges to convey a public image that enhances their alumni community’s place in society. Universities are expensive and we expect the top ones to put their alumni on a path to real success, not just while at the school, but after graduation.
Real World Diversity – we expect the top colleges to expose to young people to all the different backgrounds that make up a modern diverse society – racial diversity, gender and gender preference/orientation diversity, socioeconomic diversity and subject matter interest diversity. It is this diverse quilt that makes up the modern workplace, and we expect the top colleges to provide both the environment and the value system to enable young people to live effectively, and happily in the modern world. This also means that colleges with a less diverse profile may fare lower in our rankings than in some traditional rankings.
Traditional Reputational Perceptions – Although we doubt the accuracy of college ranking analytics based on traditional survey-based methodologies, or methodologies that overvalue inaccurate data, such as inflated admission selectivity criteria, the fact of the matter is that those rankings are widely read, and believed. We cannot ignore the fact that there are traditional reputations attached to various universities, even if our data suggests inaccuracies. Although these societal reputational values will change over time, they have an impact on the real-world resume value and should therefore also be considered in a real-world ranking service such as ours.

Each of these broad categories of factors may include numerous subcategories considered in analyzing and developing these rankings.

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(Photo Credit: Wally Gobetz, “Columbia University – Alma Mater and Low Memorial Library.”)

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