Here are the best colleges and universities in Wisconsin. Our list will help you find the right kind of school for you.
Between community colleges, technical schools, and universities, Wisconsin has 30 public schools. All the public schools in Wisconsin have affordable tuitions, ranging from $4,000 to $11,000. The University of Wisconsin - Madison has over 35,000 students in attendance, making it the largest in the state. The tuition runs about $11,000, and the school boasts an 85% graduation rate. Public affairs, veterinary medicine, and human ecology are just some of the fields students can study here.
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Of Wisconsin’s 29 private schools, 18 are religious. With just under 10,000 students, Marquette University is the largest, and tuition for this school is about $42,000. Located in Milwaukee, this Catholic, Jesuit university offers degrees in fields like business, engineering, physical therapy, and law. Also located in Milwaukee, the state’s smallest institution, the Wisconsin School of Professional Psychology, is a private graduate school with just over 30 students, and is geared toward those earning their doctoral degree in clinical psychology. Wisconsin, like many states, also provides a loan forgiveness program to those who are working in the health care field.
When people think Wisconsin, they might immediately crave cheese. After all, the state is home to a museum dedicated to all things cheese, including the annual making of a 90-pound wheel of Swiss. But The Beaver State is also known for its more than 15,000 lakes, including Lake Superior and Lake Michigan. Prospective students looking to earn their associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree will enjoy the food, landscape, and educational variety Wisconsin has to offer.
Learn more about Wisconsin’s higher education opportunities by checking out the state’s variety of colleges and universities.
Related: Differences between research universities and teaching colleges
We’ve identified 32 colleges and universities in Wisconsin that meet our criteria. This list of the top 25 colleges in Wisconsin below focuses on schools that offer bachelor’s degrees. The ranking features fully accredited public and private colleges and universities in Wisconsin.
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
60%
Graduation
89%
Student body
38K
Median SAT/ACT
1360/29
University of Wisconsin–Madison’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
89%
Graduation
47%
Student body
21K
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$46K
Acceptance
86%
Graduation
81%
Student body
10K
Median SAT/ACT
1250/27
Marquette University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$52K
Acceptance
75%
Graduation
80%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1300/29
Lawrence University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$55K
Acceptance
67%
Graduation
73%
Student body
1K
Beloit College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
77%
Graduation
68%
Student body
10K
University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
90%
Graduation
55%
Student body
7K
University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$45K
Acceptance
67%
Graduation
66%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1275/27
Milwaukee School of Engineering’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
74%
Graduation
73%
Student body
10K
University of Wisconsin–La Crosse’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
83%
Graduation
63%
Student body
11K
University of Wisconsin–Whitewater’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
91%
Graduation
55%
Student body
6K
University of Wisconsin–Green Bay’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$35K
Acceptance
70%
Graduation
67%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1141/23
Carroll University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
90%
Graduation
55%
Student body
10K
University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$32K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
59%
Student body
4K
Concordia University Wisconsin’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$42K
Acceptance
85%
Graduation
78%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1120/25
St. Norbert College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$35K
Acceptance
89%
Graduation
54%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1037/20
Cardinal Stritch University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
76%
Graduation
68%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1115/23
Carthage College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
88%
Graduation
59%
Student body
7K
University of Wisconsin–Platteville’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
75%
Graduation
42%
Student body
4K
University of Wisconsin–Parkside’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$31K
Acceptance
91%
Graduation
48%
Student body
2K
Alverno College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
95%
Graduation
62%
Student body
2K
Edgewood College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$48K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
62%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1070/21
Ripon College ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
91%
Graduation
56%
Student body
7K
University of Wisconsin–Stout’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
86%
Graduation
57%
Student body
5K
University of Wisconsin–River Falls’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
76%
Graduation
43%
Student body
2K
University of Wisconsin–Superior’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Many of our 2022 undergraduate focused rankings look considerably different than 2021. That’s because we took a fundamentally different apporach. For 2021 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.