Study Abroad: Top five universities in the US

Stanford University

The United States is an aspirational destination for foreign students looking to pursue higher education abroad. Home to the Ivy Leagues, and several other legacy higher education brands, American higher education is a dream for tens of thousands of Indians.

While university education cost remains quite high in the US for foreign students, the quality of education at top institutions there works as a ladder for socio-economic success, and professional growth. Moneycontrol looks at top five universities in the US as per the QS World University Rankings.

1.Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT): MIT is not just the top university in the US, but also worldwide. The hallowed campus incorporated in 1861, is renowned for science, engineering and technology education and research. It has equally an enviable record in humanities, and management (MIT Sloan) streams.

“The MIT community is driven by a shared purpose: to make a better world through education, research, and innovation. We are fun and quirky, elite but not elitist, inventive and artistic, obsessed with numbers, and welcoming to talented people regardless of where they come from,” the top university describes itself in its official website.

For the 11th year in a row, MIT remains the world’s No. 1 university in the QS World University Rankings. MIT scored 100 across academic and employer reputation, international faculty, employment outcomes, citations per faculty parameters.

Situated in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the US, MIT students and faculties have received and have affiliation with 98 Nobel laureates (as of 12 July 2022).

2. Stanford University:

Stanford University, currently, has nearly 17,000 students and 2288 faculties across various graduate schools including business, engineering; humanities, sciences, law, and medicine among others.

Engineering is Stanford’s most popular graduate school, accounting for around 40 percent of students. Since beginning postgraduate study has been a distinct feature of this legacy varsity.

With almost 9300 students from 77 countries pursuing post graduation courses including masters and doctorate degrees, Stanford remains a top-class research led diverse and co-ed university in the US for its domestic and as well as foreign students.

With a $1.69 billion sponsored research budget (as of July 2022), Stanford has underlined that “from Nobel Prize winners to undergraduates, all members of the Stanford community are engaged in the creation of knowledge”.

3. Harvard University:

Established in 1636, Harvard is the oldest higher education institution in the US, and is widely regarded in terms of its influence, reputation, and academic pedigree, as a leading university in not just the US but also across the world.

In the QS world University Rankings, Harvard University is ranked No. 5 overall, but it scores a perfect 100 out of 100 in indexes such as employment opportunity, international research network, employer reputation and academic reputation.

Harvard houses 10 degree-granting schools in addition to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, two theatres, and five museums. It is also home to the largest academic library system in the world, with 18 million volumes, 180,000 serial titles, an estimated 400 million manuscript items and 10 million photographs, as per information collected by the QS.

Harvard is reputed for almost all its courses in broad areas ranging from liberal arts, natural sciences, engineering and technology, life sciences and medicine, business and management and social science among others. From law to linguistics, from education to bioethics, from neuroscience to African studies, from philosophy to physics, and from management to mathematics, the offerings in Harvard are diverse, contemporary and rigorous.

One of the most globalised universities, Harvard's alumni include eight US presidents, several foreign heads of state, 62 living billionaires among others. Harvard students and alumni have also won 108 Olympic medals as of July 2022.

4. California Institute of Technology (Caltech): Unlike some of its peers, Caltech is small in size and student population. But it prizes excellence as its forte. With 1,000 undergraduates and 1,400 graduate students, Caltech is an independent, privately supported institution with a 124-acre campus located in Pasadena, California.

Known for science and engineering education and research, it is home to Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA, the Caltech Seismological Lab, and the International Observatory Network etc. It also houses the Einstein Papers Project, an initiative that aims to preserve, translate and publish selected papers from the estate of Albert Einstein.

Founded as Throop University in 1891, and renamed as the California Institute of Technology in 1920, the varsity is quite a favourite for streams like biology and biological engineering, engineering and applied science, geological and planetary science, physics, mathematics and astronomy, and humanities among others.

As of July 2022, 45 Caltech alumni and faculty have won a total of 46 Nobel Prizes in areas ranging from physics, chemistry, medicine, economics and peace, as per the university data.

5. University of Chicago:

With approximately 16,000 students, a quarter of which are from foreign countries, University of Chicago, is a top institution for education and research in arts and sciences. Outside the Ivy League varsities, U-Chicago is also renowned for some of its other schools including Pritzker School of Medicine, the Booth School of Business, and the Harris School of Public Policy Studies. Renowned economist and former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan is a professor at the Booth School.

Distinguished faculty members, both past and present include 29 Nobel laureates, and former US president Barack Obama.