Public
Auburn University
Auburn, Alabama
- Acceptance
- 52%
- In-state tuition
- $12,500
- Undergrads
- 26,000
A land-grant campus with aerospace and supply chain programmes linked to the aviation industry in the Southeast.
Research universities
58 universities in the directory carry this tag, across 33 states. Each profile lists admission requirements, published costs, test policy and deadlines.
Private
Boston University
Boston, Massachusetts
- Acceptance
- 11%
- In-state tuition
- $66,000
- Undergrads
- 18,000
A large private university along Commonwealth Avenue with combined bachelor's-to-master's tracks in several colleges.
Private
Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, Ohio
- Acceptance
- 30%
- In-state tuition
- $63,000
- Undergrads
- 6,200
A private research university in University Circle with a co-operative education programme in engineering and computing.
Public
Clemson University
Clemson, South Carolina
- Acceptance
- 43%
- In-state tuition
- $16,000
- Undergrads
- 22,000
A land-grant university whose automotive engineering centre partners directly with manufacturers in the Carolinas.
Private
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York
- Acceptance
- 7.3%
- In-state tuition
- $45,000
- Undergrads
- 16,000
An Ivy that mixes private and state-supported colleges, so New York residents pay reduced tuition in four contract colleges.
Private
Duke University
Durham, North Carolina
- Acceptance
- 6%
- In-state tuition
- $66,000
- Undergrads
- 6,700
A research university in the Research Triangle with a large share of its class admitted through binding Early Decision.
Private
Emory University
Atlanta, Georgia
- Acceptance
- 11%
- In-state tuition
- $60,000
- Undergrads
- 7,100
Applicants choose between the Atlanta campus and Oxford College, a two-year liberal arts start that feeds into the same degree.
Public
Florida State University
Tallahassee, Florida
- Acceptance
- 25%
- In-state tuition
- $6,500
- Undergrads
- 33,000
Known for criminology, film and a guaranteed-pathway programme that starts qualified applicants in the summer term.
Private
Georgetown University
Washington, District of Columbia
- Acceptance
- 12%
- In-state tuition
- $65,000
- Undergrads
- 7,600
Uses its own application system rather than the Common App and requires an alumni interview whenever one can be arranged.
Public
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, Georgia
- Acceptance
- 16%
- In-state tuition
- $11,800
- Undergrads
- 19,000
A public institute of technology where out-of-state admission rates run far below the published overall figure.
Private
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Acceptance
- 3.6%
- In-state tuition
- $59,320
- Undergrads
- 7,200
The oldest degree-granting institution in the United States, with need-based financial aid that replaces loans with grants for most admitted families.
Private
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, Maryland
- Acceptance
- 7%
- In-state tuition
- $63,000
- Undergrads
- 6,100
The first research university in the United States, with the country's largest medical research expenditure and no legacy preference in admissions.
Public
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
- Acceptance
- 76%
- In-state tuition
- $12,000
- Undergrads
- 31,000
Louisiana's flagship land-grant and sea-grant university, with coastal and petroleum engineering tied to the Gulf economy.
Private
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Acceptance
- 4.5%
- In-state tuition
- $60,156
- Undergrads
- 4,600
A science and engineering powerhouse that uses its own application portal and expects demonstrated depth in mathematics and physics.
Public
Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan
- Acceptance
- 83%
- In-state tuition
- $16,000
- Undergrads
- 40,000
One of the original land-grant universities, with a widely ranked supply chain management programme and broad access admissions.
Private
New York University
New York, New York
- Acceptance
- 9%
- In-state tuition
- $62,796
- Undergrads
- 29,000
A campus-free university spread across Greenwich Village, with degree-granting sites in Abu Dhabi and Shanghai.
Private
Northeastern University
Boston, Massachusetts
- Acceptance
- 6%
- In-state tuition
- $65,000
- Undergrads
- 21,000
Built around a co-op model in which most undergraduates complete six-month paid work placements before graduating.
Private
Northwestern University
Evanston, Illinois
- Acceptance
- 7%
- In-state tuition
- $66,000
- Undergrads
- 8,800
A quarter-system university on Lake Michigan with the Medill journalism school and a strong co-op and internship culture.
Public
Pennsylvania State University
University Park, Pennsylvania
- Acceptance
- 55%
- In-state tuition
- $20,000
- Undergrads
- 41,000
A 24-campus system where students can start at a branch campus and finish the degree at University Park.
Private
Princeton University
Princeton, New Jersey
- Acceptance
- 4.5%
- In-state tuition
- $59,710
- Undergrads
- 5,600
An undergraduate-focused Ivy where every student writes a senior thesis and aid packages contain no loans.
Public
Purdue University
West Lafayette, Indiana
- Acceptance
- 50%
- In-state tuition
- $9,992
- Undergrads
- 38,000
Tuition has been frozen for more than a decade, and admission is granted to a specific college rather than to the university at large.
Private
Rice University
Houston, Texas
- Acceptance
- 8%
- In-state tuition
- $60,000
- Undergrads
- 4,600
A small private research university with a residential college system and one of the lowest student-to-faculty ratios in Texas.
Public
Rutgers University-New Brunswick
New Brunswick, New Jersey
- Acceptance
- 65%
- In-state tuition
- $17,000
- Undergrads
- 36,000
New Jersey's flagship public research university, with rolling-style review that rewards applying close to the 1 December priority date.
Private
Stanford University
Stanford, California
- Acceptance
- 3.9%
- In-state tuition
- $62,484
- Undergrads
- 7,800
A research university at the centre of Silicon Valley, known for entrepreneurship, interdisciplinary majors and generous no-loan financial aid.
Public
The Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio
- Acceptance
- 53%
- In-state tuition
- $13,000
- Undergrads
- 46,000
One of the largest single-campus universities in the country, with an Early Action deadline that also governs scholarship review.
Public
University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
- Acceptance
- 87%
- In-state tuition
- $13,300
- Undergrads
- 40,000
A land-grant university with NASA-funded space science programmes and assured admission based on Arizona competency requirements.
Public
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California
- Acceptance
- 11%
- In-state tuition
- $15,000
- Undergrads
- 33,000
The flagship of the University of California system, which reviews applications without SAT or ACT scores and closes its application on 30 November.
Public
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
- Acceptance
- 9%
- In-state tuition
- $14,000
- Undergrads
- 33,000
One of the most-applied-to universities in the world, with holistic review built around the UC Personal Insight Questions.
Public
University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, California
- Acceptance
- 25%
- In-state tuition
- $15,000
- Undergrads
- 33,000
A residential-college system on the Pacific coast with unusual strength in biological sciences, oceanography and engineering.
Private
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
- Acceptance
- 5.4%
- In-state tuition
- $66,900
- Undergrads
- 7,500
Famous for its Core Curriculum and for supplemental essay prompts written by current students.
Public
University of Colorado Boulder
Boulder, Colorado
- Acceptance
- 80%
- In-state tuition
- $13,000
- Undergrads
- 31,000
Aerospace and atmospheric science programmes run alongside federal laboratories based in Boulder.
Public
University of Connecticut
Storrs, Connecticut
- Acceptance
- 55%
- In-state tuition
- $20,000
- Undergrads
- 19,000
Connecticut's flagship, with regional campuses and direct-entry pathways into nursing and pharmacy.
Public
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida
- Acceptance
- 24%
- In-state tuition
- $6,400
- Undergrads
- 35,000
Florida's flagship combines one of the lowest in-state tuition rates in the country with a single 1 November application deadline.
Public
University of Georgia
Athens, Georgia
- Acceptance
- 39%
- In-state tuition
- $12,000
- Undergrads
- 31,000
The state's oldest public university, where in-state students frequently combine admission with the HOPE and Zell Miller scholarships.
Public
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Honolulu, Hawaii
- Acceptance
- 73%
- In-state tuition
- $12,000
- Undergrads
- 13,000
Oceanography and astronomy programmes draw on observatories and marine research stations across the Hawaiian islands.
Public
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, Illinois
- Acceptance
- 44%
- In-state tuition
- $18,000
- Undergrads
- 35,000
Selectivity varies sharply by major: computer science and engineering admit far fewer applicants than the university average.
Public
University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa
- Acceptance
- 85%
- In-state tuition
- $10,900
- Undergrads
- 22,000
A UNESCO City of Literature whose Writers' Workshop has trained a long list of published novelists and poets.
Public
University of Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
- Acceptance
- 88%
- In-state tuition
- $11,800
- Undergrads
- 20,000
Assured admission is published as a GPA threshold, so qualified applicants receive decisions within weeks of applying.
Public
University of Maryland, College Park
College Park, Maryland
- Acceptance
- 45%
- In-state tuition
- $11,500
- Undergrads
- 31,000
Minutes from Washington D.C., with cybersecurity and aerospace programmes tied to federal agencies and contractors.
Private
University of Miami
Coral Gables, Florida
- Acceptance
- 19%
- In-state tuition
- $59,000
- Undergrads
- 12,500
A private research university with marine science on Virginia Key and a bilingual, international student body.
Public
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Acceptance
- 18%
- In-state tuition
- $17,500
- Undergrads
- 33,000
A flagship public with deferral-heavy Early Action; most non-resident admits come through the February regular round.
Public
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Acceptance
- 73%
- In-state tuition
- $16,000
- Undergrads
- 37,000
A two-campus flagship that reviews applications in priority waves, so earlier files receive earlier scholarship decisions.
Public
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
- Acceptance
- 17%
- In-state tuition
- $9,000
- Undergrads
- 20,000
State law reserves roughly 82% of each first-year class for North Carolina residents, making out-of-state admission far more competitive.
Private
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, Indiana
- Acceptance
- 12%
- In-state tuition
- $62,000
- Undergrads
- 8,900
A Catholic research university with a residence-hall system that students keep for all four years and one of the highest graduation rates nationally.
Public
University of Oregon
Eugene, Oregon
- Acceptance
- 86%
- In-state tuition
- $14,000
- Undergrads
- 19,000
Reviews applications without test scores and weights the high school transcript and essay most heavily.
Private
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Acceptance
- 5.8%
- In-state tuition
- $66,000
- Undergrads
- 10,500
Home of the Wharton School and of coordinated dual-degree programmes that combine business with engineering or the arts.
Public
University of South Carolina
Columbia, South Carolina
- Acceptance
- 64%
- In-state tuition
- $12,700
- Undergrads
- 28,000
The Darla Moore School of Business built its reputation on a required international business and language track.
Private
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California
- Acceptance
- 10%
- In-state tuition
- $69,904
- Undergrads
- 21,000
A private research university with early December deadlines for arts and music programmes that require portfolios or auditions.
Public
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Knoxville, Tennessee
- Acceptance
- 68%
- In-state tuition
- $13,500
- Undergrads
- 28,000
Tennessee's land-grant flagship, partnered with Oak Ridge National Laboratory for undergraduate research placements.
Public
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas
- Acceptance
- 29%
- In-state tuition
- $12,000
- Undergrads
- 42,000
Texas residents in the top 6% of their high school class receive automatic admission to the university, though not to every major.
Public
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
- Acceptance
- 89%
- In-state tuition
- $10,000
- Undergrads
- 27,000
A research flagship with a games and computer graphics programme that grew out of the university's early computing laboratory.
Public
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia
- Acceptance
- 17%
- In-state tuition
- $22,000
- Undergrads
- 17,500
A UNESCO World Heritage campus founded by Thomas Jefferson, with student-run honour and judiciary systems.
Public
University of Washington
Seattle, Washington
- Acceptance
- 43%
- In-state tuition
- $12,600
- Undergrads
- 36,000
Competitive majors such as computer science and engineering use a separate direct-to-major admission process with far tighter limits.
Public
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, Wisconsin
- Acceptance
- 43%
- In-state tuition
- $11,600
- Undergrads
- 36,000
A land-grant flagship on an isthmus between two lakes, with research spending among the top ten universities in the country.
Private
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, Tennessee
- Acceptance
- 6%
- In-state tuition
- $63,000
- Undergrads
- 7,100
Meets full demonstrated need without loans and houses all first-year students on a dedicated commons campus.
Public
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, Virginia
- Acceptance
- 57%
- In-state tuition
- $15,000
- Undergrads
- 30,000
A land-grant polytechnic whose engineering college admits first-year students into a general engineering track before they choose a discipline.
Private
Washington University in St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
- Acceptance
- 12%
- In-state tuition
- $64,000
- Undergrads
- 8,000
Students apply to one of five undergraduate schools but can take courses and add majors across all of them.
Public
West Virginia University
Morgantown, West Virginia
- Acceptance
- 89%
- In-state tuition
- $9,900
- Undergrads
- 20,000
A land-grant flagship with a forensic and investigative science programme developed with federal law enforcement agencies.
About this grouping
Tags describe a shared characteristic — funding model, academic emphasis, campus scale or cost level — and are assigned editorially from public institutional information. They are a navigation aid, not an assessment. A university appearing here is not ranked above or below any other, and institutions may carry several tags at once.
States represented: Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin.