Interested in attending a STEM school? Our ranking of top research universities for bachelor’s degrees displays schools that will best prepare you for STEM careers.
A research university is a great option for students interested in obtaining STEM degrees. Such students benefit from engaging in experimental inquiry, exploring cutting-edge technologies, and pursuing innovation in a rich and dynamic campus atmosphere. The top research universities give students a chance to work closely with influential professors and choose from a wide range of well-funded degree programs and research opportunities.
What is a research university?
A research university is any university that invests heavily in research, and which consequently provides meaningful and extensive opportunities for its students and faculty to participate in research. The best research universities are classified into different tiers based on their quantifiable commitment to research activities. This tiered ranking is called the Carnegie Classification. This is where terms like R1 university
and tier one university
come from.
Related: Differences between research universities and teaching colleges
The following list of research universities is composed of both private and public schools. We’ve identified 394 research universities in the US. Of those, there are 209 public research universities and 185 private research universities in the US. In order to be included in this list of best research universities, a school needs to satisfy the following three conditions:
The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great. This is why, at the undergraduate level, we rank the best colleges and universities based on what we call “Concentrated Influence”. Concentrated Influence takes the combined influence score of a college or university’s top academic influencers (including faculty and alums) and divides it by the school’s total number of undergraduates.
Using concentrated influence gives small and mid-sized schools an opportunity to shine by taking away the size advantage of larger universities. A small school with proportionately more influential faculty than a large school, whose influence in absolute terms may be bigger, will nonetheless score higher in a concentrated influence ranking. Our approach highlights undergraduate schools that truly rank for excellence, regardless of size.
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.
Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and arbitrary performance metrics. Concentrated Influence provides a ranking that is free from bias, insulated from manipulation, and reflective of real-world educational outcomes.
Find out more about our ranking methodology here.
Less 
Tuition + fees
$57K
Acceptance
7%
Graduation
92%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1545/35
View profile
California Institute of Technology’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$54K
Acceptance
5%
Graduation
98%
Student body
25K
Median SAT/ACT
1515/34
View profile
Harvard University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$53K
Acceptance
7%
Graduation
96%
Student body
14K
Median SAT/ACT
1540/35
View profile
Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$56K
Acceptance
5%
Graduation
95%
Student body
15K
Median SAT/ACT
1505/33
View profile
Stanford University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$59K
Acceptance
7%
Graduation
96%
Student body
13K
Median SAT/ACT
1535/34
View profile
University of Chicago’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$49K
Acceptance
6%
Graduation
98%
Student body
7K
Median SAT/ACT
1515/34
View profile
Princeton University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$61K
Acceptance
7%
Graduation
96%
Student body
28K
Median SAT/ACT
1505/34
View profile
Columbia University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$58K
Acceptance
7%
Graduation
96%
Student body
16K
Median SAT/ACT
1515/34
View profile
Yale University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$54K
Acceptance
11%
Graduation
94%
Student body
26K
Median SAT/ACT
1510/34
View profile
Johns Hopkins University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$58K
Acceptance
8%
Graduation
96%
Student body
15K
Median SAT/ACT
1525/34
View profile
Duke University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$59K
Acceptance
9%
Graduation
95%
Student body
19K
Median SAT/ACT
1495/34
View profile
Northwestern University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$51K
Acceptance
11%
Graduation
94%
Student body
8K
Median SAT/ACT
1520/34
View profile
Rice University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$58K
Acceptance
17%
Graduation
93%
Student body
17K
Median SAT/ACT
1510/34
View profile
Carnegie Mellon University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$59K
Acceptance
11%
Graduation
95%
Student body
26K
Median SAT/ACT
1480/33
View profile
Cornell University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$60K
Acceptance
9%
Graduation
96%
Student body
28K
Median SAT/ACT
1505/34
View profile
University of Pennsylvania’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$61K
Acceptance
8%
Graduation
95%
Student body
10K
Median SAT/ACT
1505/34
View profile
Brown University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$57K
Acceptance
33%
Graduation
89%
Student body
7K
Median SAT/ACT
1435/31
View profile
Brandeis University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$14K
Acceptance
17%
Graduation
92%
Student body
43K
Median SAT/ACT
1430/33
View profile
University of California, Berkeley’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$59K
Acceptance
9%
Graduation
95%
Student body
7K
Median SAT/ACT
1500/33
View profile
Dartmouth College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$58K
Acceptance
17%
Graduation
94%
Student body
14K
Median SAT/ACT
1465/33
View profile
Georgetown University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$61K
Acceptance
16%
Graduation
94%
Student body
10K
Median SAT/ACT
1465/33
View profile
Tufts University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$46K
Acceptance
67%
Graduation
77%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1270/27
View profile
Yeshiva University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$55K
Acceptance
21%
Graduation
88%
Student body
49K
Median SAT/ACT
1440/32
View profile
New York University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$57K
Acceptance
16%
Graduation
94%
Student body
13K
Median SAT/ACT
1520/34
View profile
Washington University in St. Louis’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$54K
Acceptance
12%
Graduation
93%
Student body
11K
Median SAT/ACT
1510/34
View profile
Vanderbilt University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$56K
Acceptance
43%
Graduation
85%
Student body
21K
Median SAT/ACT
1375/31
View profile
George Washington University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$17K
Acceptance
26%
Graduation
93%
Student body
45K
Median SAT/ACT
1435/32
View profile
University of Michigan’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$50K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
69%
Student body
10K
Median SAT/ACT
1265/27
View profile
The New School’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$54K
Acceptance
19%
Graduation
90%
Student body
13K
Median SAT/ACT
1445/32
View profile
Emory University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$49K
Acceptance
82%
Graduation
74%
Student body
5K
View profile
The Catholic University of America’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$58K
Acceptance
35%
Graduation
86%
Student body
12K
Median SAT/ACT
1405/32
View profile
University of Rochester’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$53K
Acceptance
30%
Graduation
85%
Student body
9K
Median SAT/ACT
1425/32
View profile
Case Western Reserve University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$60K
Acceptance
16%
Graduation
92%
Student body
40K
Median SAT/ACT
1445/32
View profile
University of Southern California’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$50K
Acceptance
61%
Graduation
72%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1295/29
View profile
Illinois Institute of Technology’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$19K
Acceptance
23%
Graduation
94%
Student body
25K
Median SAT/ACT
1430/32
View profile
University of Virginia’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$13K
Acceptance
14%
Graduation
91%
Student body
45K
Median SAT/ACT
1415/32
View profile
University of California, Los Angeles’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$58K
Acceptance
20%
Graduation
89%
Student body
32K
Median SAT/ACT
1425/32
View profile
Boston University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$28K
Acceptance
39%
Graduation
64%
Student body
8K
Median SAT/ACT
1205/24
View profile
Howard University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$58K
Acceptance
19%
Graduation
97%
Student body
13K
Median SAT/ACT
1475/33
View profile
University of Notre Dame’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$49K
Acceptance
47%
Graduation
75%
Student body
4K
View profile
Clark University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$51K
Acceptance
39%
Graduation
79%
Student body
12K
Median SAT/ACT
1300/29
View profile
American University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$15K
Acceptance
37%
Graduation
87%
Student body
39K
Median SAT/ACT
1370/30
View profile
University of California, San Diego’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$58K
Acceptance
42%
Graduation
89%
Student body
9K
Median SAT/ACT
1340/29
View profile
Pepperdine University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$57K
Acceptance
57%
Graduation
87%
Student body
9K
Median SAT/ACT
1390/31
View profile
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
57%
Graduation
88%
Student body
38K
Median SAT/ACT
1390/29
View profile
University of Wisconsin–Madison’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
25%
Graduation
91%
Student body
25K
Median SAT/ACT
1405/30
View profile
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$23K
Acceptance
42%
Graduation
91%
Student body
8K
Median SAT/ACT
1415/32
View profile
William & Mary’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$12K
Acceptance
56%
Graduation
82%
Student body
44K
Median SAT/ACT
1345/30
View profile
University of Washington’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$55K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
83%
Student body
23K
Median SAT/ACT
1280/28
View profile
Syracuse University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
51%
Graduation
60%
Student body
12K
View profile
City College of New York’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
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