Arizona State University

In brief

Arizona State University was founded in Tempe in 1885 as the Territorial Normal School and took its present name in 1958. It has 17 colleges and schools on four metropolitan Phoenix campuses, in Tempe, downtown Phoenix, Glendale, and Mesa. By our measure of academic influence, it ranks #71 in the United States and #199 in the world. It admitted 89.9% of applicants for fall 2024.

Counting online students, it enrolled about 160,000 students in fall 2025.

Where ASU’s influence is strongest

ASU’s influence is led by the earth sciences, business, and engineering. Its strongest broad fields, by US rank in our data, are:

• Earth sciences: #31 in the US (#113 in the world)
• Business: #47
• Engineering: #49
• Education: #51
• Anthropology: #55

Its highest-ranked specialties in our data are:

• #4 in the US: supply chain management
• #5: petrology
• #8: volcanology
• #9: agribusiness

By comparison, ASU sits further back in law (#109), philosophy (#140), and religious studies (#147).

How we measure influence: these ranks come from the citations and recognition earned by a school’s faculty and alumni in each discipline, not from surveys or admissions statistics. See our methodology.

Notable people

ASU-connected Nobel laureates include the physicist Frank Wilczek, the biochemist Sidney Altman, the molecular biologist Leland Hartwell, and the economist Edward C. Prescott. ASU-connected figures also include the computer scientist Michael I. Jordan, the animal behavior expert Temple Grandin, the actor Nick Nolte, the television host Jimmy Kimmel, and Peterson Zah, the first president of the Navajo Nation. Our full lists of ASU’s most influential alumni and faculty appear below.

Frequently asked questions

Is ASU hard to get into? No. It admitted 89.9% of applicants for fall 2024.

What does ASU cost after financial aid? Tuition is $12,975 for Arizona residents and $35,167 for out-of-state students in 2025–26. The average net price for aided students with family incomes of $48,000–$75,000 was $15,698 in 2024–25; it ranged from about $9,413 for incomes below $30,000 to $24,047 for incomes above $110,000.

How do ASU graduates do? 67.2% of students who started in 2019 graduated within six years, and 87% of first-year students return for a second year. Ten years after starting college, former students had median earnings of $69,111.

What is ASU best known for academically? By our influence data: the earth sciences, business, and engineering, plus specialties such as supply chain management and petrology, where it ranks in the US top five.