Welcome to Pennsylvania! As the state where the Declaration of Independence was debated and approved, you can rightfully expect Pennsylvania to have a long and interesting history.
And even when it comes to education, that remains true. (One fun fact: the state achieved near-universal literacy in 1840, way before most other states in the Union.) Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, is the biggest city in the state and also home to the first university ever established in the United States (the University of Pennsylvania, founded by none other than good old Ben Franklin), as well as the country's first-ever medical school. Philadelphia also boasts the first pharmacy school in the country, as well as the oldest American art school.
But we'd be wrong to make it seem like all the action is in Philadelphia alone. In the south of the state, Lincoln University, founded in 1854 (it later changed its name to honor Honest Abe), is the oldest Historically Black College/University (HBCU) in America. And as a whole, the state boasts four members of the Association of American Universities, an organization that might sound generic, but is actually an invite-only group of leading research universities.
Related: Top Online Universities in Pennsylvania.
With this heritage, put together with the 14-school Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, as well as the 4 state-funded institutions in the Commonwealth System of Higher Education, and a number of other high-quality private institutions, the state of Pennsylvania can definitely compete as one of the best destinations for prospective college students, period.
Sponsored Schools
So, if you're interested in coming to Pennsylvania for college—or you're already here and want to stay—where do you begin? Well, that's where this list comes in. For each state, we look at a range of data and then compile a ranking of the top schools in the state, and that's exactly what we've done here. The methodology for our ranking is based on two overall factors: academic quality and return on investment. The academic quality factor is comprised of several different pieces of data, for example, student-to-faculty ratio, test scores, and national reputation. The return on investment factor is a weight of how much you'll likely pay in tuition versus how much money you'll make early in your career. That way, you can get an idea of whether coughing up a bunch of cash is worth it.
Good luck in your search!
Rankings
See our rankings methodology page.
