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
57%
Graduation
88%
Student body
38K
Median SAT/ACT
1390/29
University of Wisconsin–Madison’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
79%
Graduation
46%
Student body
22K
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$46K
Acceptance
82%
Graduation
84%
Student body
11K
Median SAT/ACT
1220/26
Marquette University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$52K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
79%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1315/28
Lawrence University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$55K
Acceptance
58%
Graduation
78%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1230/27
Beloit College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
84%
Graduation
65%
Student body
10K
University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
87%
Graduation
59%
Student body
7K
University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$45K
Acceptance
60%
Graduation
70%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1275/27
Milwaukee School of Engineering’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
75%
Graduation
71%
Student body
10K
University of Wisconsin–La Crosse’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
62%
Student body
11K
University of Wisconsin–Whitewater’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
90%
Graduation
57%
Student body
6K
University of Wisconsin–Green Bay’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$35K
Acceptance
72%
Graduation
70%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1135/23
Carroll University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
79%
Graduation
56%
Student body
10K
University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$32K
Acceptance
71%
Graduation
61%
Student body
4K
Concordia University Wisconsin’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$42K
Acceptance
84%
Graduation
73%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1155/24
St. Norbert College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$35K
Acceptance
77%
Graduation
53%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1055/20
Cardinal Stritch University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
77%
Graduation
62%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1110/24
Carthage College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
81%
Graduation
56%
Student body
7K
University of Wisconsin–Platteville’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
66%
Graduation
39%
Student body
4K
University of Wisconsin–Parkside’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$31K
Acceptance
78%
Graduation
43%
Student body
1K
Alverno College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
91%
Graduation
65%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1080/22
Edgewood College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$48K
Acceptance
74%
Graduation
67%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1105/22
Ripon College ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
90%
Graduation
60%
Student body
7K
University of Wisconsin–Stout’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
77%
Graduation
58%
Student body
5K
University of Wisconsin–River Falls’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
86%
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 utiulized 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.