Here are the top twenty choices:
Costs 2008 Total enrollment Fall 2008 Acceptance rate
RANK 1: Harvard University Cambridge, MA
2009-2010 Tuition and Fees: $37,012 19,230 7.9 %RANK 1: Princeton University Princeton, NJ
2009-2010 Tuition and Fees: $35,340 7,497 9.9 %RANK 3: Yale University New Haven, CT
2009-2010 Tuition and Fees: $36,500 11,446 8.6 %RANK 4: California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA
2009-2010 Tuition and Fees: $34,584 2,126 17.4 %RANK 4: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA
2009-2010 Tuition and Fees: $37,782 10,299 11.9 %RANK 4: Stanford University Stanford, CA
2009-2010 Tuition and Fees: $37,881 17,833 9.5 %RANK 4: University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA
2009-2010 Tuition and Fees: $38,970 19,018 16.9 %RANK 8: Columbia University New York, NY
2009-2010 Tuition and Fees: $41,316 23,196 10.0 %RANK 8: University of Chicago Chicago, IL
2009-2010 Tuition and Fees: $39,381 12,386 27.9 %RANK 10: Duke University Durham, NC
2009-2010 Tuition and Fees: $38,975 14,060 22.4 %RANK 11: Dartmouth College Hanover, NH
2009-2010 Tuition and Fees: $38,679 5,848 13.5 %RANK 12: Northwestern University Evanston, IL
2009-2010 Tuition and Fees: $38,461 18,431 26.2 %RANK 12: Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis, MO
2009-2010 Tuition and Fees: $38,864 13,338 21.7 %RANK 14: Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD
2009-2010 Tuition and Fees: $39,150 19,858 25.4 %RANK 15: Cornell University Ithaca, NY
2009-2010 Tuition and Fees: $37,954 20,273 20.7 %RANK 16: Brown University Providence, RI
2009-2010 Tuition and Fees: $38,848 8,318 13.7 %RANK 17: Emory University Atlanta, GA
2009-2010 Tuition and Fees: $38,036 12,755 26.6 %RANK 17: Rice University Houston, TX
2009-2010 Tuition and Fees: $31,248 5,456 23.0 %RANK 17: Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN
2009-2010 Tuition and Fees: $38,579 12,093 25.3 %RANK 20: University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN
2009-2010 Tuition and Fees: $38,477 11,731 26.7 %
Brown’s placement behind Washington University and just before Emory is a bit surprising. My alma mater, University of Chicago, ties for eighth. George Washington University comes in at 53rd. Last year, Princeton was number two. Here is the 2009 rankings:
1 Harvard University
2 Princeton University
3 Yale University
4 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
4 Stanford University
6 California Institute of Technology
6 University of Pennsylvania
8 Columbia University
8 Duke University
8 University of Chicago
For Liberal Arts Colleges, the top ten were:
RANK 1: Williams College Williamstown, MA
2009-2010 Tuition and Fees: $39,490 2,045 17.0 %RANK 2: Amherst College Amherst, MA
2009-2010 Tuition and Fees: $38,928 1,697 14.8 %RANK 3: Swarthmore College Swarthmore, PA
2009-2010 Tuition and Fees: $37,860 1,490 15.7 %RANK 4: Middlebury College Middlebury, VT
2009-2010 Comprehensive Fee: $50,780 2,455 16.8 %RANK 4: Wellesley College Wellesley, MA
2009-2010 Tuition and Fees: $38,062 2,344 36.0 %RANK 6: Bowdoin College Brunswick, ME
2009-2010 Tuition and Fees: $40,020 1,723 18.6 %RANK 6: Pomona College Claremont, CA
2009-2010 Tuition and Fees: $37,017 1,532 15.6 %RANK 8: Carleton College Northfield, MN
2009-2010 Tuition and Fees: $39,777 2,000 27.5 %RANK 8: Davidson College Davidson, NC
2009-2010 Tuition and Fees: $35,124 1,668 25.7 %RANK 10: Haverford College Haverford, PA
2009-2010 Tuition and Fees: $39,085 1,169 27.0 %
Here is the 2009 rankings, showing little change:
1 Amherst College
1 Williams College
3 Swarthmore College
4 Wellesley College
5 Middlebury College
6 Bowdoin College
6 Pomona College
8 Carleton College
9 Davidson College
10 Haverford College