The Top 50 Private Universities At a Glance

We updated and ranked this list of the top 50 values in private universities for 2009 (how we scored the schools). Clicking on the college names below will show you all of the ranking data. Or, see our top 50 values in liberal arts colleges. Most of our data come from Petersons, a Nelnet company. Read full story

1 - Cal. Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Cal.
2 - Princeton, Princeton, N.J.
3 - Yale, New Haven, Conn.
4 - Rice, Houston, Tex.
5 - Harvard, Cambridge, Mass.
6 - Duke, Durham, N.C.
7 - Columbia, New York, N.Y.
8 - University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa.
9 - Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H.
10 - MIT, Cambridge, Mass.
11 - Stanford, Stanford, Cal.
12 - Brown, Providence, R.I.
13 - Emory, Atlanta, Ga.
14 - University of Richmond, Richmond, Va.
15 - Northwestern, Evanston, Ill.
16 - University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Ind.
17 - Vanderbilt, Nashville, Tenn.
18 - Cornell, Ithaca, N.Y.
19 - University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.
20 - Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, Md.
21 - Washington Univ. in St. Louis, St. Louis, Mo.
22 - Tufts, Medford, Mass.
23 - Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Mass.
24 - Brandeis, Waltham, Mass.
25 - Wake Forest, Winston-Salem, N.C.
26 - Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
27 - Lehigh, Bethlehem, Pa.
28 - Elon University, Elon, N.C.
29 - Villanova University, Villanova, Pa.
30 - Bentley, Waltham, Mass.
31 - Trinity, San Antonio, Tex.
32 - University of Miami, Coral Gables, Fla.
33 - Univ. of So. California, Los Angeles, Cal.
34 - University of Rochester, Rochester, N.Y.
35 - Providence College, Providence, R.I.
36 - Emerson College, Boston, Mass.
37 - Clark, Worcester, Mass.
38 - Creighton, Omaha, Neb.
39 - Whitworth, Spokane, Wash.
40 - Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, Pa.
41 - Butler, Indianapolis, Ind.
42 - Bradley, Peoria, Ill.
43 - Santa Clara Univ., Santa Clara, Cal.
44 - Pepperdine, Malibu, Cal.
45 - University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Okla.
46 - Marist College, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
47 - Boston Univ., Boston, Mass.
48 - Tulane, New Orleans, La.
49 - Case Western Reserve, Cleveland, Ohio
50 - Gonzaga, Spokane, Wash.