Pennsylvania's Best Colleges, According To 4 Recent Rankings

College students across the country have returned to classes for the fall semester. And as we all know from our school days, there’s some serious thought that goes into where to spend all that money.

In August, Patch brought you a number of rankings released by national publications that use different methodologies to determine the best colleges in the country and in Pennsylvania.

The usual names, like Harvard, Yale and Princeton fell among the top five spots on lists from Niche and Forbes. But one list from Money magazine that ranked best value colleges saw a large number of schools from the University of California system featured among the top. Yet another list from Princeton Review named, but did not rank, the 384 best colleges in the country.

The Niche list was released the most recently on Aug. 27. Niche’s rankings of America’s best colleges places Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the top, followed by Stanford, Harvard, Princeton and Yale. The same colleges took the top five spots on the Forbes list, although in a slightly different order.

Money magazine named Princeton the best college for value in the U.S., followed by the University of California-San Diego, University of California-Irvine, University of California-Los Angeles and Stanford University.

Below are the top 10 colleges in Pennsylvania, according to each of the four lists:

Niche

2019 Best Colleges in America (Released Aug. 27)

Top 10 in Pennsylvania:

• University of Pennsylvania
• Swarthmore College
• Carnegie Mellon University
• Haverford College
• Lehigh University
• Bucknell University
• Lafayette College
• Bryn Mawr College
• Penn State
• Villanova

Forbes

Forbes Ranks Pennsylvania Colleges: See The Top 10 (Released Aug. 21)

Top 10 in Pennsylvania:

• University of Pennsylvania
• Swarthmore College
• Haverford College
• Carnegie Mellon University
• Lafayette College
• Lehigh University
• Villanova
• Bucknell University
• Bryn Mawr College
• Franklin and Marshall College

Money Magazine

The 10 Best Colleges In Pennsylvania For Your Money: New Rankings (Released Aug. 13)

Top 10 in Pennsylvania:

• University of Pennsylvania (14)
• Swarthmore College (42)
• Haverford College (74)
• Lafayette College (82)
• Lehigh University (117)
• Franklin and Marshall College (124)
• Bucknell University (125)
• Gettysburg College (146)
• Villanova University (153)
• Carnegie Mellon University (155)

Princeton Review

29 PA Colleges Make Princeton Review's 'Best' Rankings For 2019 (Released Aug. 6)

(All Pennsylvania colleges included on the Princeton Review list are listed here since they were not ranked in any particular order)

• Muhlenberg College
• Lehigh University
• Moravian College
• Bryn Mawr College
• Dickinson College
• Ursinus College
• Lafayette College
• Gettysburg College
• Grove City College
• Haverford College
• Juniata College
• Indiana University of Pennsylvania
• Franklin & Marshall College
• Bucknell University
• Allegheny College
• Drexel University
• Saint Joseph's University
• Temple University
• University of Pennsylvania
• Carnegie Mellon University
• Duquesne University
• University of Pittsburgh
• University of Scranton
• Susquehanna University
• Swarthmore College
• Penn State University Park
• Villanova University
• Washington & Jefferson College
• Lycoming College

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