Is a research university right for me?–

Research universities are colleges and universities whose faculty are active in research and publishing. Research universities offer a wide array of doctoral programs, especially in the sciences. They tend to be big, with tens of thousands of students. Do you prefer a larger university setting, such as largest public university in your state? Research universities are typically big, offering degrees in many different disciplines. Is a big high-powered research environment the thing for you? If not, you should think about a liberal arts college. In deciding on an undergraduate institution, ask yourself what sort of environment will best help you to be happy and excel. Consider whether you are self motivated enough to be a face in the crowd for some classes and largely unknown on campus at a large university. Of course you can find clubs and friends at a large university, but often liberal arts colleges have a more personal quality to them. If you want the community feel, a research university may not fit you well. Are you interested in STEM fields? Research universities have that name for a reason – real research is happening there. This can create an exciting atmosphere for students interested in STEM. Attending a research university can give you a better chance of getting into better programs for graduate degrees, although a lot of that depends on your performance.

Is an online college right for me?–

Online colleges are typically the same colleges and universities you could attend in-person, but for certain degree programs the college or unviersity has made the degree programs available to be completed online. For over 5 million students, online degree programs allow students to earn their degrees in the most flexible format available. Online degrees are as respected as the on-campus degrees you could earn from the same schools. There’s usually no distinction between the two degrees, and your degree and transcript will not say that the degree was earned online. Online degree programs are offered by a vast majority of colleges and universities, and the number of offering continues to grow. Whether you are searching for an associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctorate, there’s a good chance you can earn your degree online from a respectable online college. Are you a self-driven student? Perhaps the hardest aspect of obtaining an online degree is whether you will be disciplined enough to manage your time and course demands. Many online students report that online college made them more disciplined in all areas of their lives, but the flexible, self-paced learning that makes online colleges attractive can often be the same qualities that make it difficult. If you tend to be a procrastinator, you need to be honest with yourself. You can change your habits and propensities, or you can throw money down the drain. Do you need the flexibility of an online degree program? Most online students study online because of time demands of balancing work and life, or because the online college affords them the chance to attend a better school without moving. If you are serious about earning your degree for career advancement, online colleges make it possible. The most flexible options among online degrees are those that are asynchronous, meaning you don’t have scheduled times to meet with your class online. However, many students seek synchronous online degree programs so that they have some structure – set meeting times, scheduled exams, etc. The good news is that attending an online college doesn’t mean you will miss out on getting to know your professors and classmates. In fact, many online students who have experienced both online and on-campus courses report having easier access to their professors. Since most communication with your professor is expected to be in text – via email or your class learning management system – it makes asking your questions easier. The same students also report that they got to better know the thoughts of their classmates. While in-person course conversations can be dominated by a few extroverts, online courses that require online discussions make it so that you see all of your classmates’ thoughts and questions. If you’re interested in an online bachelor’s degree, check out what the best online colleges offer, or search our online degrees for the exact program that interests you. In either case, you will find well respected colleges and universities that offer online degrees.

Best Liberal Arts Colleges in Pennsylvania 2024

Q: Is a liberal arts college right for me?–

Often referred to as “teaching colleges” liberal arts colleges put a premium on undergraduate studies and offers a broad range of subjects for students to study. A college of liberal arts typically provides smaller class sizes, more direct engagement with professors, and, most importantly, the opportunity to sample a wide range of subject areas on the way to a bachelor’s degree. Do you want your professors to know you? Liberal arts colleges strive to cultivate campus cultures that encourage tight bonds between professors and students. Professors at these schools will typically conduct original research. Yet the best of these schools offer their faculty reduced teaching loads so that they can both be productive researchers and still have plenty of time for students (both in and outside the classroom). Do you want to feel like you know everybody? One of the most enticing features of a liberal arts college is that in very little time, you can feel like you know who’s who, which can create strong friendships and make walks across campus more fun. While your sports teams may never be on ESPN, it’s more likely that you’ll know the athletes as your peers. Beyond student and faculty relationships, it’s not unusual for the school president and other administrators to learn who you are. When faced with problems with your student account or the need to switch classes, this can be comforting during a stressful moment.

Badge for BEST IN PENNSYLVANIA LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGES

By Dr. James Barham

Updated: Oct 26, 2023

Liberal arts colleges are a great option for students seeking a well-rounded education in an intimate campus setting. The best liberal arts colleges in Pennsylvania offer a diverse selection of degree programs with opportunities for a highly individualized educational experience.

10 Best Liberal Arts Colleges in Pennsylvania

Swarthmore College
Haverford College
Bryn Mawr College
Dickinson College
Bucknell University
Lafayette College
Washington & Jefferson College
Franklin & Marshall College
Gettysburg College
La Salle University

Swarthmore College
Bryn Mawr College
Haverford College
Lincoln University
Lafayette College
Bucknell University
Dickinson College
Allegheny College
Washington & Jefferson College
Gettysburg College

Chestnut Hill College 98%
La Salle University 94%
University of Pittsburgh at Bradford 94%
Carlow University 93%
Saint Joseph's University 89%
West Chester University 88%
Washington & Jefferson College 88%
Albright College 85%
Neumann University 85%
University of Scranton 84%

West Chester University 20 to 1
Slippery Rock University 19 to 1
Eastern University 15 to 1
Elizabethtown College 13 to 1
Grove City College 13 to 1
Neumann University 13 to 1
Lincoln University 13 to 1
University of Pittsburgh at Bradford 13 to 1
University of Scranton 12 to 1
La Salle University 12 to 1

Franklin & Marshall College $65,844
Haverford College $63,628
Gettysburg College $61,760
Bucknell University $61,746
Dickinson College $61,351
Lafayette College $59,368
Bryn Mawr College $59,330
Swarthmore College $59,328
Muhlenberg College $58,205
Ursinus College $58,016

Bryn Mawr College $50,730
Elizabethtown College $35,020
Arcadia University $27,457
Bucknell University $26,960
La Salle University $26,400
DeSales University $21,120
Carlow University $21,054
Muhlenberg College $19,200
Saint Joseph's University $18,504
Chestnut Hill College $17,040

Neumann University
Carlow University
Albright College
Lycoming College
Juniata College
University of Pittsburgh at Bradford
DeSales University
Arcadia University
PennWest California
Slippery Rock University

Slippery Rock University, Pennsylvania
PennWest California
Slippery Rock University
Neumann University
Lycoming College
Albright College
University of Pittsburgh at Bradford
Arcadia University
Carlow University
Juniata College

Swarthmore College 7%
Haverford College 14%
Bryn Mawr College 31%
Bucknell University 33%
Lafayette College 34%
Dickinson College 35%
Franklin & Marshall College 36%
Gettysburg College 56%
Eastern University 63%
Muhlenberg College 66%

Allegheny College 8 to 1
Muhlenberg College 8 to 1
Swarthmore College 8 to 1
Haverford College 8 to 1
Bryn Mawr College 8 to 1
Dickinson College 9 to 1
Bucknell University 9 to 1
Franklin & Marshall College 9 to 1
Albright College 9 to 1
Juniata College 10 to 1

Slippery Rock University $7,716
West Chester University $7,716
Lincoln University $8,476
University of Pittsburgh at Bradford $13,660
Grove City College $19,990
Albright College $28,230
Carlow University $33,500
La Salle University $33,890
Elizabethtown College $35,670
Neumann University $35,700

Albright College $1,480
Gettysburg College $2,250
Dickinson College $3,750
Grove City College $8,550
Slippery Rock University $9,288
West Chester University $9,288
Lincoln University $10,106
Neumann University $10,260
University of Scranton $11,580
Juniata College $13,950

Table of Contents

Colleges and Universities in Pennsylvania

Prospective students hoping to earn an associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree have over 100 higher learning institutions to choose from. The largest public university is Pennsylvania State University, or Penn State, with a tuition of $18,000, and a student population of over 95,000 across its campuses. As a private institution, the University of Pennsylvania, or simply Penn, is known for its medical, nursing, social work, and business fields. Tuition is $56,000, and the school boasts a 95% graduation rate.

Find college admissions consultants in your state.

Students can also attend one of the more than 60 religiously affiliated schools, such as Villanova University or Lafayette College, each with a tuition of about $53,000. Some of the most affordable colleges in the state include the Curtis Institute of Music and the Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia, with tuitions set at $3,000 and $9,000, respectively. Though the average tuition for college in Pennsylvania comes in above the national average, those who practice medicine in underserved areas may qualify for up to $100,000 in loan forgiveness through the Pennsylvania Primary Care Loan Repayment Program.

As the nation’s second state, Pennsylvania’s history runs deep. It’s here where Betsy Ross made the first American flag and where the Declaration of Independence was signed. The Keystone State is also home to some culinary delights, including whoopie pies, soft pretzels, and the famous Philly cheesesteak. Students looking to earn their degree in Pennsylvania will undoubtedly enjoy what the state has to offer.

Check out the state’s top programs and learn more about earning your degree in Pennsylvania.

What are Pennsylvania’s Colleges & Universities?

Pennsylvania’s Best Overall

How do we determine Pennsylvania's best liberal arts colleges and universities?

Methodology

The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great! If you are serious about finding the best colleges and universities for a bachelor’s degree, you should be asking where the most influential professors are teaching and whether their graduates are themselves advancing the school’s reputation for academic excellence in their fields of study.

Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and arbitrary performance metrics. Concentrated Influence provides a ranking that is freer from bias, insulated from manipulation, and reflective of real-world educational outcomes.

To rank the influence of schools, we first determine the influence of scholars and professionals based on the number of citations and publications they have had over the past 10 years. In addition to publications and citations, we consider the web links to and from these sources, and the page views of those sources. We then match the influential people to their alma maters and institutions of employment, so that their influence is attributed to those schools. Our machine-learning Influence Ranking algorithm produces a numerical score of academic achievements, merits, and citations across Wikipedia, wikidata, Crossref, Semantic Scholar and an ever-growing body of data. If you are interested in exploring how and why we rank by influence, explore our methodology in more depth.

A liberal arts college is a school that puts a premium on undergraduate studies and offers a broad range of subjects for students to study. A college of liberal arts typically provides smaller class sizes, more direct engagement with professors, and, most importantly, the opportunity to sample a wide range of subject areas on the way to a bachelor’s degree. We’ve identified 80 liberal arts universities in Pennsylvania. To be ranked among the 30 best liberal arts colleges in Pennsylvania, schools must fully accredited institutions.

Best Liberal Arts Colleges in Pennsylvania 2023

Find the Best Liberal Arts Colleges in Pennsylvania for Your Area of Interest

Frequently Asked Questions About Research Universities, Liberal Arts Colleges, Online Colleges

In pursuing a bachelor’s degree, you will need to choose between three kinds of schools: research universities, liberal arts colleges, and online colleges.

Research universities are colleges and universities whose faculty are active in research and publishing. Research universities offer a wide array of doctoral programs, especially in the sciences. They tend to be big, with tens of thousands of students.

Do you prefer a larger university setting, such as largest public university in your state? Research universities are typically big, offering degrees in many different disciplines.

Is a big high-powered research environment the thing for you? If not, you should think about a liberal arts college. In deciding on an undergraduate institution, ask yourself what sort of environment will best help you to be happy and excel.

Consider whether you are self motivated enough to be a face in the crowd for some classes and largely unknown on campus at a large university. Of course you can find clubs and friends at a large university, but often liberal arts colleges have a more personal quality to them. If you want the community feel, a research university may not fit you well.
Are you interested in STEM fields? Research universities have that name for a reason – real research is happening there. This can create an exciting atmosphere for students interested in STEM. Attending a research university can give you a better chance of getting into better programs for graduate degrees, although a lot of that depends on your performance.

Learn more about research universities by reading about the best research universities in the US.

Often referred to as “teaching colleges” liberal arts colleges put a premium on undergraduate studies and offers a broad range of subjects for students to study. A college of liberal arts typically provides smaller class sizes, more direct engagement with professors, and, most importantly, the opportunity to sample a wide range of subject areas on the way to a bachelor’s degree.

Do you want your professors to know you? Liberal arts colleges strive to cultivate campus cultures that encourage tight bonds between professors and students.

Professors at these schools will typically conduct original research. Yet the best of these schools offer their faculty reduced teaching loads so that they can both be productive researchers and still have plenty of time for students (both in and outside the classroom).

Do you want to feel like you know everybody? One of the most enticing features of a liberal arts college is that in very little time, you can feel like you know who’s who, which can create strong friendships and make walks across campus more fun. While your sports teams may never be on ESPN, it’s more likely that you’ll know the athletes as your peers.

Beyond student and faculty relationships, it’s not unusual for the school president and other administrators to learn who you are. When faced with problems with your student account or the need to switch classes, this can be comforting during a stressful moment.

Learn more about liberal arts colleges by reading about the best liberal arts colleges in the US.

Online colleges are typically the same colleges and universities you could attend in-person, but for certain degree programs the college or unviersity has made the degree programs available to be completed online. For over 5 million students, online degree programs allow students to earn their degrees in the most flexible format available.

Online degrees are as respected as the on-campus degrees you could earn from the same schools. There’s usually no distinction between the two degrees, and your degree and transcript will not say that the degree was earned online.

Online degree programs are offered by a vast majority of colleges and universities, and the number of offering continues to grow. Whether you are searching for an associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctorate, there’s a good chance you can earn your degree online from a respectable online college.

Are you a self-driven student? Perhaps the hardest aspect of obtaining an online degree is whether you will be disciplined enough to manage your time and course demands.

Many online students report that online college made them more disciplined in all areas of their lives, but the flexible, self-paced learning that makes online colleges attractive can often be the same qualities that make it difficult. If you tend to be a procrastinator, you need to be honest with yourself. You can change your habits and propensities, or you can throw money down the drain.

Do you need the flexibility of an online degree program? Most online students study online because of time demands of balancing work and life, or because the online college affords them the chance to attend a better school without moving.

If you are serious about earning your degree for career advancement, online colleges make it possible. The most flexible options among online degrees are those that are asynchronous, meaning you don’t have scheduled times to meet with your class online. However, many students seek synchronous online degree programs so that they have some structure – set meeting times, scheduled exams, etc.

The good news is that attending an online college doesn’t mean you will miss out on getting to know your professors and classmates. In fact, many online students who have experienced both online and on-campus courses report having easier access to their professors.

Since most communication with your professor is expected to be in text – via email or your class learning management system – it makes asking your questions easier. The same students also report that they got to better know the thoughts of their classmates. While in-person course conversations can be dominated by a few extroverts, online courses that require online discussions make it so that you see all of your classmates’ thoughts and questions.

If you’re interested in an online bachelor’s degree, check out what the best online colleges offer, or search our online degrees for the exact program that interests you. In either case, you will find well respected colleges and universities that offer online degrees.

2021 Ranking Archive

Many of our 2024 undergraduate focused rankings look considerably different than 2023. That’s because we took a fundamentally different approach. For 2024 we utilized our Concentrated Influence algorithm, designed to take away the size advantage larger schools have when we rank their faculty and alumni’s academic influence. Concentrated influence highlights smaller schools that are proportionally as successful as larger universities at cultivating influential alumni and faculty.

Check out our directory of liberal arts colleges throughout the U.S. for a look at the top liberal arts schools in every state.

Do you have a question about this topic? Ask it here

Best Liberal Arts Colleges in Pennsylvania 2024

10 Best Liberal Arts Colleges in Pennsylvania

Colleges and Universities in Pennsylvania

What are Pennsylvania’s Colleges & Universities?

Best Liberal Arts Colleges in Pennsylvania 2023

Career Outlook for degree at Swarthmore College

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Haverford College

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Bryn Mawr College

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Dickinson College

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Bucknell University

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Lafayette College

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Washington & Jefferson College

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Franklin & Marshall College

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Gettysburg College

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at La Salle University

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Saint Joseph's University

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Lincoln University, Pennsylvania

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at University of Scranton

Most Influential Alumni

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Elizabethtown College

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at West Chester University

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Ursinus College

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Eastern University

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Chestnut Hill College

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Muhlenberg College

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Allegheny College

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Slippery Rock University, Pennsylvania

Most Influential Alumni

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Arcadia University

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at DeSales University

Career Outlook for degree at University of Pittsburgh at Bradford

University of Pittsburgh at Bradford’s Online Degrees

Degree Concentrations

Career Outlook for degree at Juniata College

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Lycoming College

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Albright College

Most Influential Alumni

Albright College’s Online Degrees

Career Outlook for degree at Carlow University

Career Outlook for degree at Neumann University

Find the Best Liberal Arts Colleges in Pennsylvania for Your Area of Interest