This is the Brook Report ranking of the best universities in the United States – “the top 100 colleges.” Our goal is to provide the most authoritative university rankings – with real value for students, parents and alumni. Methodology updates applicable to the U.S. rankings tables are discussed in greater detail below.
For this year, we are ranking the top 150, with over 200 ranked including ties! Follow the links below for the tables.
Brook Report United States National University Rankings
We are releasing the 2025 rankings in five groups starting with the top 101-150 (scroll down). The remainder will be released over the next few weeks. Follow our social media (Instagram / Facebook) for announcements of the release dates, culminating with the top ranks.
U.S. top university tables index:
Methodology Updates
Like our previous analyses of universities, our authoritative analytical methodology is applied, with 2025 improvements specific to analyzing educational emphasis, and outcomes.
We have been known for our methodology partially directed to wringing out historical and systemic biases in assessing college reputations. Likewise by emphasizing factors affecting a campus an intellectual environment of dispassionate learning, free of intimidation, whether racism, anti-Semitism or just plain old rigidly uncaring professors or administrators a higher results-oriented correlation is achieved. After all, the purpose of a valid college ranking methodology is to give students, parents and alumni insights into the institutions furthering societal advancement, and preparing young minds for fulfilling lifetimes.
Some people may be surprised. A college many believe is just a generic big state school may do well, but an old university everyone historically believes is top-10 may fall down to the top 20 or further. This is reflective of our methodology, which looks at actual results, current reputation influenced by history, and numerous campus, educational and diverse criteria. Follow us here and enjoy!
Renown and Reputation
Reputation is related to renown, but somewhat different. Reputation pertains to perceptions of prestige, exclusivity and excellence both in the short-term, as well as a long-term of years. Often an elite university will have many years of prestige that does not easily dissipate. This is true even if in recent years the university may have declined.
Renown is how well-known a university may be. Although prestige and excellence can contribute to renown, renown can be garnered in other ways. For example, renown can grow from the accomplishments of alumni, building a strong alumni network, large network, and even in regional strength.
Renown and reputation both also factor into career value, as well as attractiveness for undergraduate applicants and alumni network value.
Public v. Private: Which is Better?
Many private universities provide excellent educational opportunities for students. Generally speaking, however, this comes at a higher monetary cost. As the monetary investment is higher, the value equation is impacted. On the other hand, some private universities carry a cache of historic exclusivity and old money; these may be considered “private ivies.” Is this important? To some degree these perceptions linger even to the present day dominated by increasing equity in the culture. Because of these long-term perceptions, historic reputation is a factor that can impact value taken into account in our methodologies.
On the other hand, public universities generally have a mandate under state law to provide education for their in-state residents. That can lead to a two-tier cost structure, with out-of-state students required to pay a higher tuition rate than in-state residents. Likewise, the admissions standards can be broader, in application of these mandates. This can lead to a more diverse student body – with a greater socio-economic diversity, ethnic/racial diversity and rural/urban backgrounds.
To make things even more complicated, some public universities carry some of the historic exclusivity value found in some private universities. Some of those old-line public universities we consider “public ivies,” and you will run into that term in our publications.
All of these factors are important to the real-world campus atmosphere and educational value provided. These of course are broad brush characterizations, and we factor in considerations of these factors on a university by university basis.
So, which is better? Generally speaking it is difficult for many of the lesser-known private universities to compete with more well-known universities on the value propositions. However, some break through, and you will find the stars – the top-tier private universities – in our authoritative rankings. Some are in the top 150, the top 100, the top 50 and yes, in the top 10 as well.
Campus / Academic Safety, Perception and Integrity
A real college ranking cannot ignore the real world around academe. In 2024-25, this factor has become increasingly relevant with roiling controversies around campus violence, racism, anti-Semitism and agitation affecting the real safety and academic integrity of campuses. These perceptions and the abilities of the campus administration and faculties to thrive in these real-world interactions have had increasing effect on reputation, educational outcomes and value. In some glaring cases we have seen employer perceptions about the academic standings changing rapidly.
In order to factor in these trends, we have added to our established methodologies techniques to take into account factors such as these. This started with our “preliminary” Summer 2024 rankings, and have matured into these final rankings published now.