The 2024 Best Colleges in America: Princeton, MIT and Yale Take Top Spots

Princeton University takes top honors in our new ranking of the best colleges in the U.S.

What makes a college like Princeton great?

There are the facilities and the faculties, the coursework and the camaraderie, the skills and experiences and knowledge that prepare students for their lives and their careers. No doubt these are important. But in addition, our ranking puts even greater emphasis on two practical and measurable questions about each school: How much will the college improve its students’ chances of graduating on time? And how much will it improve the salaries they earn after receiving their diplomas?

In our WSJ/College Pulse 2024 Best Colleges in the U.S. ranking, Princeton scored highly for both graduates’ salaries and graduation rates. Its students and recent graduates also praised its teaching facilities in a broad survey we conducted.

That’s not much of a surprise. Princeton has been in the upper echelon of best-college lists for a long time. But looking, as we do, at the value a school provides to its students highlights other institutions that don’t have Princeton’s reputation or its wealth but do great things for their students nonetheless.