Top 10 Private Universities in the United States

In the US, there are thousands of different colleges. All of them, however, can be grouped in two different broad groups: public and private universities. In this post we will talk about private colleges in the United States, as well as the differences between private and public schools, and we’ll end up talking about the top-10 private schools in the United States.

A private university in the United States is one the is not regulated or paid by the government,, but it is paid by the students’ tuition and donations made by private donors, among other sources of revenue. That’s why one of the biggest differences between public and private schools is the price. Private colleges are usually more expensive than public colleges. A private university can cost you more than $150,000 for the 4 years. Also because of the price, private universities tend to have more international and out-of-state students, since there is no in-state tuition. Since everyone pays the same, there is a bigger geographic diversity in these schools. On the other hand, because private schools are more expensive, less people can afford to pay for an education at a private institution, so these schools are less demographically diverse.

 

 

Another difference between public and private schools is the dimension. In the US, there are many massive universities, that can have more than 50,000 students like, for example, UW-Madison, where I am studying right now, which has almost 44,000 enrolled students. However, private colleges tend to be much smaller, and have a total enrollment of a couple thousand students. There are exceptions and very big private schools as well. Since there are less people in private schools, another difference is the dimension of the classrooms. Public schools, having such a large number of students, tend to have lectures with hundreds of students. However, in public schools, classrooms are smaller, which provides you an easier access to your professors, something that can help you along the way. On the other hand, a disadvantage of private institutions is that, since they are smaller, they usually offer a smaller number of majors in comparison to public schools.

 

Ranking Top 10 American Private Universities 

There are hundreds of private institutions in the United States. However, there are some schools that stand out in front of the rest, and here we are going to talk about the top-10 private universities in the US.

 

1. Princeton University

 

 

On top of the list we find Princeton University, located in New Jersey. Princeton is one of the schools of the Ivy League, one of the most prestigious conferences in the country, and that includes some of the schools that we’ll talk about further in this post. It has 5000 students, the 12% of which is international. Being admitted in any of the universities in this post is very hard, that’s why all of the admission rates are going to be very low. In this case, Princeton’s admission rate is a 7%.

 

2. Harvard University

 

 

The second best private school in the United States is the well-known Harvard University, located in Massachusetts. Harvard also competes in the Ivy League, and it is considered the hardest school to get into, with an admissions rate of only 5%. Harvard has around 7,000 students, 18% of which are international. Harvard has a massive international reputation, that’s why students around the world want to go study there.

 

3. University of Chicago

 

 

The third best private school in the country is the University of Chicago, located in Illinois. This school competes in Division III, in the South Atlantic Conference. It has a low admissions rate of an 8%, which means that out of the 31,000 applicants last year, only 2,500 got accepted. The University of Chicago has 6,000 students, and around 6,500 of them are international.

 

4. Yale University

 

 

Yale University is the next one in our list, and it is the third Ivy League school so far. Located in the state of Connecticut, Yale is considered the school with the best professors in the country. It has an admissions rate of a 6%. It is a small school with around 5,500 students, but with many internationals. Almost 25% of Yale’s students are from other countries then the US.

 

5. Columbia University

 

 

Columbia University, just like Princeton, Harvard and Yale, is an Ivy League school, and it is the fifth best private institution in the US. It is located downtown New York City, so it is a pretty place to go study. It has an admissions rate of a 7%, pretty similar to the schools mentioned before and the ones we will mention later. It has around 1,200 international students out of the 7,500 total enrolled students.

 

6. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

 

 

Next up on the list we find the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, known around the world as the MIT, located, just like Harvard, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is one of the most important scientific and technological research center in the world. It competes in Division III, in the New England Football Conference and, as its name states, they only compete in football. It is considered the best school to study engineering in the United States. At this moment, it has an admissions rate of an 8%. It’s a small school with around 4,500 students, 12% of which are international.

 

7. Stanford University

 

 

Stanford University is the seventh best private school in the US. Located in the west coast of the country, more specifically in California, Stanford competes in the Pacific-12 Conference. It’s one of the hardest schools to get into, with a 5% admissions rate, just like Harvard. It has around 7,500 students, 13% of which are international.

 

8. University of Pennsylvania

 

 

The eighth best private school in the US is also an Ivy League school, and it is the University of Pennsylvania, known as UPenn, and located in Philadelphia. It is known as the best school to study business and accounting. It has an admissions rate of a 9%, the highest we have seen so far in this post. It is also the largest school, with around 11,500 students, and with an 11% of students from other countries.

 

9. Duke University

 

 

Duke University, located in North Carolina, is the second-to-last private university we will talk about in this post. They compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference, known as the ACC. They have an admissions rate of an 11%, still very low but even higher than UPenn. Only 10% of Duke Students are international, and they have around 6,500 enrolled students.

 

10. California Institute of Technology

 

 

The tenth and last private university in the US we will talk about is the California Institute of Technology, known as Cal Tech. Their teams compete in Division III, in the Southern California Intercoll Athletic Conference. It is the best school in the United States to study physics or chemistry. They have an 8% admissions rate. Cal Tech is a very small school, with 950 students, and with only an 8% of students being international.

There are hundreds of private universities in the United States, and everyone is completely different from the other. There are bigger and smaller schools, more or less expensive, with more or less international students… I hope that, if you are considering studying in the United States, this post has been useful for you. See you on the next one!

 

 

If you are interested in studying in an American university, you should register in Mooxye and create a profile. Once you are registered, you will find all the information you need. Good luck guys!!