The 25 Best Colleges in America

The college decision process is always a tough one, but review site Niche's annual rankings of the best colleges in America make it easier for prospective students (and their parents) to narrow down the choices to find the best fit. The 2020 list takes a variety of factors into account, including student life, admissions, finances, and student reviews. But the most important factor in their methodology, comprising 40 percent of a school's overall rating, is academics, which, according to the Niche website, looks at "acceptance rate, quality of professors, as well as student and alumni surveys regarding academics at the school."

Taking the number one spot on Niche's list for the second year in a row is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, followed by Stanford University in the number two spot (again, for the second year in a row). Six of America's eight Ivy League schools made it into the top 10.

Here are the 25 Best Colleges in America for 2020, according to Niche's rankings.

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology // Cambridge, MA

1. Stanford University // Stanford, CA

1. Yale University // New Haven, CT

1. Harvard University // Cambridge, MA

1. Princeton University // Princeton, NJ

1. Duke University // Durham, NC

1. Brown University // Providence, RI

1. Columbia University // New York, NY

1. University of Pennsylvania // Philadelphia, PA

1. Rice University // Houston, TX

1. Northwestern University // Evanston, IL

1. Vanderbilt University // Nashville, TN

1. Pomona College // Claremont, CA

1. Washington University in St. Louis // St. Louis, MO

1. Dartmouth College // Hanover, NH

1. California Institute of Technology // Pasadena, CA

1. University of Notre Dame // Notre Dame, IN

1. University of Chicago // Chicago, IL

1. University of Southern California // Los Angeles, CA

1. Cornell University // Ithaca, NY

1. Bowdoin College // Brunswick, ME

1. Amherst College // Amherst, MA

1. University of Michigan // Ann Arbor, MI

1. Georgetown University // Washington DC

1. Tufts University // Medford, MA