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Top Colleges 2021

For the rst time since Forbes began ranking America’s best colleges in 2008, a public school—the University of California, Berkeley—takes the top spot. The reason? We broadened our de nition of what makes a great university to encompass how well it serves everyone. In addition to our longstanding evaluation of graduate outcomes (high salaries, low debt), we started measuring the ways schools cater to low- and middle-income students, too. This more inclusive methodology gave a big bump to state schools: Six of our top 25 universities are public institutions.

But don’t cry for the Ivy League just yet. Yale comes in second, followed by Princeton. See the full list and methodology at

1. University of California, Berkeley 2. Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 3. Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 4. Stanford University, Stanford, California 5. Columbia University, New York, New York