last updated 20 April 2025

The most successful and influential Americans come from a surprisingly narrow range of 'elite' educational backgrounds | Nature 2024

List of “Elite” 34 Schools in Alphabetical Order.

Amherst College

Bowdoin College

Brown University

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

Carleton College

Carnegie Mellon University

Columbia University

Cornell University

Dartmouth College

Duke University

Georgetown University

Harvard University

Harvey Mudd College

Haverford College

Johns Hopkins University

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

New York University

Northwestern University

Pomona College

Princeton University

Rice University

Stanford University

Swarthmore College

Tufts University

University of California-Berkeley (CAL)

University of Chicago

University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

University of Notre Dame

University of Pennsylvania

University of Virginia (UVA)

Vanderbilt University

Washington University in St. Louis

Williams College

Yale University


America's Elite Colleges and Universities 2026
Ranked by performance, not by reputation



1. Princeton University
2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
4. Stanford University
3. California Institute of Technology
4. Stanford University
5. Yale University
6. Harvard University
7. University of Chicago
8. Swarthmore College
9. Johns Hopkins University
10. Williams College
11. Duke University
12. Rice University
13. Brown University
14. Washington University in St. Louis
15. University of Pennsylvania
16. Pomona College
17. Dartmouth College
18. Wellesley College
19. Vanderbilt University
20. Harvey Mudd College
21. Northwestern University
22. Columbia University
23. Amherst College
24. University of Notre Dame
25. Carnegie Mellon University
26. University of Virginia
27. Cornell University
28. University of California-Berkeley
29. Vassar College
30. Bowdoin College
31. University of California-Los Angeles
32. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
33. Haverford College
34. Washington and Lee University
35. University of Florida




Links:
The most successful and influential Americans come from a surprisingly narrow range of 'elite' educational backgrounds | Nature 2024