US News & World Report (abbreviated as US News) recently announced the rankings of the best universities in the US for the 2024-2025 school year, which noted some minor fluctuations compared to the previous ranking.
Princeton University (USA) graduates in June
PHOTO: PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
Which school is number 1 in the US?
On September 24, US News announced the ranking of the best universities in the United States, divided into two types: comprehensive universities (436 schools) and national liberal arts colleges (211 schools). Among them, the ranking of comprehensive universities is of primary interest because this is where many world- famous names such as Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) gather.
Specifically, Princeton University topped hundreds of US comprehensive universities in the 2024-2025 school year, maintaining its No. 1 position for the past 14 years. Following that, MIT ranked No. 2 and Harvard ranked No. 3. Stanford, which held No. 3 in the previous ranking, now dropped to No. 4. Similarly, UPenn fell 4 places to No. 10. Meanwhile, Caltech, Duke, Johns Hopkins, and Northwestern all rose from 1 to 3 places and ranked No. 6, while Yale remained No. 5.
The rankings of the 10 best comprehensive universities in the US are as follows:
| Name of University | Ranking 2025 | Ranking 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Princeton | 1 | 1 |
| MIT | 2 | 2 |
| Harvard | 3 | 3 |
| Stanford | 4 | 3 |
| Yale | 5 | 5 |
| Caltech | 6 | 7 |
| Duke | 6 | 7 |
| Johns Hopkins | 6 | 9 |
| Northwestern | 6 | 9 |
| UPenn | 10 | 6 |
In addition to the top 10, this year’s comprehensive university rankings by US News also recorded many schools with significant improvements, such as D’Youville University (up 61 places), Texas University in San Antonio, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University (both up 49 places), and Andrews University (up 47 places). In addition, 14 other schools also increased from 34 to 41 places in the ranking of the best comprehensive universities in the US for the 2024-2025 school year.
Along with the two main rankings, this year US News also launched a number of specialized rankings such as the rankings of the best value schools, the most innovative schools or the best schools for students with difficult circumstances… On the other hand, the top three positions in the liberal arts university rankings belong to Williams, Amherst and Swarthmore respectively. All are private schools, similar to the top 10 comprehensive universities in the US according to US News.
What is the ranking method?
In an official statement, Dr. LaMont Jones, managing editor of education at US News, said that this year’s rankings focus on social mobility and post-graduation success. That’s why a school’s ranking will depend half on measures related to its ability to help students from all backgrounds succeed after graduation, as well as the salaries they can achieve after leaving school.
In the comprehensive ranking of the best universities in the US, US News will evaluate schools based on 17 different criteria. The number of criteria is 13 for liberal arts universities. The ranking is based on data the schools self-publish or from independent sources. Whether the school participates in the US News survey or not is not important, as long as there is enough information, it will still be ranked, this unit added.
Previously, in the 2024-2025 Global University Rankings announced by US News at the end of June, Vietnam had 9 schools listed among 2,250 ranked institutions. Leading Vietnam are Ton Duc Thang University (ranked 253) and Duy Tan University (296). Following are the following universities: Nguyen Tat Thanh, Hanoi National University , Ho Chi Minh City National University, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, Hue University, Can Tho University.
US News is one of the prestigious and experienced university ranking organizations, along with the rankings of QS, THE (UK) and Shanghai Ranking Consultancy (China). This organization began ranking universities and high schools in the US since 1983. In 2014, US News published for the first time the ranking of the best universities in the world with 500 schools from 49 countries and territories.
