Enriching Education - Most Popular Colleges

 New research reveals the most popular colleges in America:

• California Institute of Technology tops ranking as university with the highest number of applicants per available enrollment spot
• Ranking second is Harvard University
• Stanford University ranks as the third most popular university in the US, followed by Columbia University in the City of New York ranking fourth and MIT ranking fifth

California Institute of Technology is the most popular college in America, new research has found.

The study, by university ranking site Research.com, analyzed more than 6000+ higher education institutions across America and its territories, looking at the number of applications, admissions, and enrollment for each institution, and picked 1700+ leading institutions to include in their ranking.

The goal of the study was to discover the most popular, and usually highly-competitive, institutions that offer high quality education.

California Institute of Technology topped the ranking as the most popular college thanks to the total number of applications per spot at 37.1. Their acceptance rate is at 3%. High competition is rewarded with very high salary prospects for graduates though, with the median alumni salary within one year after graduation at $102,669.

The university is also ranking on the second spot in the ranking of the best US colleges, which focuses on the overall quality of education, and is the number two private college in America. CalTech is also the second best college in California rivaled only by Stanford University. Despite a high tuition, it still ranks high in terms of affordability, being 9th in the ranking of the most affordable colleges in California.

Harvard University is the second most popular college in America. With 30.9 applicants per spot, it has a steep acceptance rate of 3%. The average annual tuition and fees at Harvard is $59,076, and its graduates can expect a median salary of $92,518 within the first year after graduation. Harvard is also the 14th best American institution in terms of overall quality of education, and it also ranks second among the best colleges in Massachusetts ranking. In terms of affordability, Harvard ranks 4th in Massachusetts and 72nd in the entire US.

Stanford University, located in California, is the third most popular college thanks to a total number of applicants per spot at 27.2. The acceptance rate is at 4% and the average annual tuition is at $62,484. Graduates from Stanford can expect a median alumni salary of $89,527 within the first year after graduation. Stanford is also the best college in America, and the 9th most affordable college in the state of California.

In fourth place is Columbia University, based in New York City. There are 25.32 students applying for each spot at Columbia. The acceptance rate at Columbia University is at 4%, and the average tuition is $68,400 per year.

Ranking on spot five is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This college has a total number of applicants per spot at 25.26. The acceptance rate at Columbia is 4% and the average annual tuition is $60,156.

Research.com’s top ten most popular colleges are rounded out by Yale University with 21.9 applicants per spot, Brown University with 19.8 applicants per spot, University of Chicago with 18.4 applicants per spot, Princeton University with 17.5 applicants per spot, and Duke University with 15.8 applicants per spot.

Commenting on the ranking, Pawel Dabrowski PhD, a data scientist responsible for Research.com rankings said: “Every year, students compete for a spot at the most prestigious colleges in the country. However, our research shows that only 28 institutions (1.65%, the same amount as in previous year) have 10 or more candidates per place. Most of them are on the East Coast (18 out of 28, 64%), with most of them (6) located in Massachusetts.

Among the most popular schools (with at least 10 candidates per place) in 23 cases (82%) there are more women applying with only a slight imbalance towards women (except for strictly female Barnard College). On the other hand, there are two schools (CalTech and MIT) where there are approximately 2 male applicants for a single woman applicant.

The most popular institutions are also expensive, with the mean total cost equal to almost 82,000$. This is 27% more than the average total cost across all Institutions (64,204$). In fact, 17 of them (60%) belong to the top 10% most expensive colleges, and all of them to top 15%. Interestingly, the percentage of students receiving financial aid is much lower in most popular schools (62%) than the average across the United States (92%). Indeed, 26 of those colleges are located in the bottom 10% of this parameter. This phenomenon may be explained by expected high salary after graduation – the median alumni salary 1 year after graduation for 18 (64%) of most popular institutions placed them in the top 10%, and in 5 cases the salary is at least twice as large as the mean salary for all graduates."