When grad students are looking for a more intimate campus experience, more personal attention from excellent professors, and more immediate access to support services, a private graduate college or university could be the perfect choice.
Private colleges are independent, non-profit schools that receive their funding through a combination of endowment income and student tuition fees, rather than from public tax dollars. If you’re weighing the pros and cons of private vs public college, consider that private colleges are often smaller, offering more individualized experiences, including opportunities for dynamic classroom discussions, independent research, and one-on-one relationships with your instructors.
A private university will on average be much smaller than a public university, the best of which are large state schools serving 30,000 to 40,000 students, or more. Small here doesn’t mean tiny, but it does mean more intimate, with readier access to mentors and research faculty. The best private grad schools also have an abundance of resources (often through large endowments), which they can make consistently available to students.
Even the best and largest public grad schools may face budget crunches when state legislatures decide to cut costs. We’ve seen it happen at large public universities where, on account of budget cuts, teachers have to provide their own chalk and students their own exam booklets. Finally, especially for doctoral programs, both private and public grad schools will, depending on the field, offer tuition remission and a stipend, so the out of pocket cost for graduate students tends to be no different, and thus no higher, at private graduate schools.
A good answer to this question looks to your personal and professional goals. Certain professions will require you to earn an advanced degree. In other cases, an advanced degree can make you eligible for leadership roles and higher pay. For instance, the best graduate schools for education can improve your earnings as a teacher, make you eligible for tenure, or help you meet the basic threshold for continued employment. On the other hand, the best graduate schools for business can simply make you a more competitive candidate for job openings and management roles.
The best graduate school for you should have a stellar reputation and employ highly influential professors across the board and especially in your area of study. Indeed, much exciting academic work these days is cross-disciplinary, and for such work to flourish it helps to be at a school that is strong across discipines. The following list is composed of only private graduate schools.
We’ve identified 715 private colleges and universities that meet our criteria. In order to be included in this list of best graduate schools, a university must be a fully accredited private non-profit institution, and must offer doctoral degrees and a broad range of advanced degrees.
Tuition + fees
$56K
Acceptance
4%
Graduation
97%
Student body
24K
Median SAT/ACT
1520/34
Harvard University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$56K
Acceptance
4%
Graduation
96%
Student body
13K
Median SAT/ACT
1495/33
Stanford University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$56K
Acceptance
4%
Graduation
96%
Student body
13K
Median SAT/ACT
1545/35
Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$60K
Acceptance
5%
Graduation
97%
Student body
14K
Median SAT/ACT
1520/34
Yale University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$64K
Acceptance
4%
Graduation
97%
Student body
26K
Median SAT/ACT
1515/34
Columbia University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$56K
Acceptance
4%
Graduation
98%
Student body
7K
Median SAT/ACT
1510/33
Princeton University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$62K
Acceptance
6%
Graduation
96%
Student body
13K
Median SAT/ACT
1535/34
University of Chicago’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$57K
Acceptance
13%
Graduation
87%
Student body
49K
Median SAT/ACT
1455/32
New York University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$62K
Acceptance
6%
Graduation
96%
Student body
28K
Median SAT/ACT
1515/34
University of Pennsylvania’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$61K
Acceptance
9%
Graduation
94%
Student body
25K
Median SAT/ACT
1470/33
Cornell University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$60K
Acceptance
6%
Graduation
96%
Student body
14K
Median SAT/ACT
1520/34
Duke University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$59K
Acceptance
14%
Graduation
93%
Student body
16K
Median SAT/ACT
1510/34
Carnegie Mellon University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$62K
Acceptance
13%
Graduation
92%
Student body
38K
Median SAT/ACT
1435/32
University of Southern California’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$59K
Acceptance
4%
Graduation
93%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1555/35
California Institute of Technology’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$61K
Acceptance
7%
Graduation
95%
Student body
20K
Median SAT/ACT
1490/34
Northwestern University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$60K
Acceptance
12%
Graduation
95%
Student body
14K
Median SAT/ACT
1465/33
Georgetown University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$59K
Acceptance
8%
Graduation
95%
Student body
27K
Median SAT/ACT
1515/35
Johns Hopkins University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$62K
Acceptance
6%
Graduation
96%
Student body
9K
Median SAT/ACT
1500/34
Brown University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$60K
Acceptance
19%
Graduation
89%
Student body
32K
Median SAT/ACT
1405/32
Boston University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$59K
Acceptance
15%
Graduation
96%
Student body
13K
Median SAT/ACT
1475/33
University of Notre Dame’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$59K
Acceptance
41%
Graduation
86%
Student body
12K
Median SAT/ACT
1420/32
University of Rochester’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$59K
Acceptance
13%
Graduation
93%
Student body
13K
Median SAT/ACT
1520/34
Washington University in St. Louis’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$61K
Acceptance
6%
Graduation
94%
Student body
6K
Median SAT/ACT
1500/33
Dartmouth College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$53K
Acceptance
9%
Graduation
92%
Student body
8K
Median SAT/ACT
1515/35
Rice University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$58K
Acceptance
59%
Graduation
82%
Student body
22K
Syracuse University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$63K
Acceptance
11%
Graduation
94%
Student body
11K
Median SAT/ACT
1455/33
Tufts University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$60K
Acceptance
50%
Graduation
84%
Student body
20K
Median SAT/ACT
1360/31
George Washington University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$57K
Acceptance
7%
Graduation
93%
Student body
11K
Median SAT/ACT
1520/34
Vanderbilt University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$60K
Acceptance
39%
Graduation
88%
Student body
7K
Median SAT/ACT
1415/32
Brandeis University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$55K
Acceptance
28%
Graduation
84%
Student body
15K
Median SAT/ACT
1335/30
University of Miami’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$55K
Acceptance
13%
Graduation
90%
Student body
13K
Median SAT/ACT
1455/32
Emory University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$55K
Acceptance
30%
Graduation
84%
Student body
9K
Median SAT/ACT
1430/32
Case Western Reserve University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$62K
Acceptance
19%
Graduation
91%
Student body
13K
Median SAT/ACT
1415/32
Boston College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$6K
Acceptance
59%
Graduation
77%
Student body
35K
Median SAT/ACT
1305/29
Brigham Young University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$53K
Acceptance
64%
Graduation
79%
Student body
11K
Median SAT/ACT
1305/29
American University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$61K
Acceptance
10%
Graduation
86%
Student body
12K
Median SAT/ACT
1420/31
Tulane University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$48K
Acceptance
63%
Graduation
80%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1275/27
Yeshiva University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$56K
Acceptance
58%
Graduation
83%
Student body
15K
Median SAT/ACT
1320/29
Fordham University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$62K
Acceptance
19%
Graduation
91%
Student body
3K
Wesleyan University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$58K
Acceptance
18%
Graduation
91%
Student body
24K
Median SAT/ACT
1475/34
Northeastern University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$29K
Acceptance
35%
Graduation
64%
Student body
9K
Median SAT/ACT
1195/24
Howard University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$52K
Acceptance
66%
Graduation
70%
Student body
9K
Median SAT/ACT
1250/28
The New School’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$59K
Acceptance
53%
Graduation
84%
Student body
8K
Median SAT/ACT
1400/31
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$60K
Acceptance
53%
Graduation
82%
Student body
11K
Median SAT/ACT
1350/31
Southern Methodist University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Student body
<1K
Rockefeller University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$50K
Acceptance
57%
Graduation
82%
Student body
18K
Baylor University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$50K
Acceptance
66%
Graduation
71%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1295/29
Illinois Institute of Technology’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$57K
Acceptance
46%
Graduation
87%
Student body
7K
Median SAT/ACT
1346/31
Lehigh University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$57K
Acceptance
83%
Graduation
78%
Student body
22K
Median SAT/ACT
1280/28
Drexel University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$55K
Acceptance
64%
Graduation
76%
Student body
11K
Median SAT/ACT
1265/28
University of Denver’s faculty and alumni have been influential in: