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Low Memorial Library and Quad, Columbia University, New York City, New York, USA. (Photo by: Photographer name/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

NEW YORK – New York is known as a home of some of the nation’s most prestigious universities, and a new report has organized the best of the best into a list of the state’s 2026 top-rated colleges.

The ranking’s factors

Behind The Numbers:

According to a study from Niche, Columbia and Cornell have been ranked as the two best colleges in the state, with several other top schools also making the list. 

The rankings were based on a wide variety of factors, including tuition, student-to-faculty ratio, graduation rate and acceptance rate. Another major factor considered in a school’s overall appeal is location. 

The National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) has revealed that college acceptance rates have seen a slight increase in recent years. In fall 2022, the average acceptance rate for four-year, not-for-profit colleges was 73%, up from 68% in fall 2019. The report notes that public colleges have a higher acceptance rate (78%) compared to private colleges (70%).

Students on Libe Slope at the Cornell University campus in Ithaca, US, on Tuesday, April 11, 2023. Photographer: Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Here are the top 10 colleges in New York:

  1. Columbia University (New York, NY), ranked #6 in the nation
  2. Cornell University (Ithaca, NY), ranked #21 in the nation
  3. New York University (New York, NY), ranked #34 in the nation
  4. Barnard College (New York, NY), ranked #42 in the nation
  5. Hamilton College (Clinton, NY), ranked #54 in the nation
  6. Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, NY), ranked #66 in the nation
  7. The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (New York, NY), ranked #78 in the nation
  8. Colgate University (Hamilton, NY), ranked #84 in the nation
  9. Binghamton University, SUNY (Vestal, NY), ranked #114 in the nation
  10. University of Rochester (Rochester, NY), ranked #121 in the nation

The Source: Information in this article was gathered from Niche’s 2026 Best Colleges in America study.

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