The 105 smartest public colleges in America
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Does your school make the cut?
If you want to be surrounded by some of the smartest students in the US and get the most bang for your buck, you may want to consider one of the following universities.
From our recent list of the smartest colleges in America, we pulled out the top public schools.
These colleges offer brainpower and affordability, since the average annual cost of attending an in-state four-year public school is $9,100, according to CollegeBoard. Compare that to the average private school cost of $31,200 — a difference of $22,100 a year.
In order to determine a school's overall smarts, Jonathan Wai, a Duke University Talent Identification Program research scientist, analyzed the average standardized test scores that schools report to US News. (Those that did not report scores are not included.)
These tests are often criticized, but research shows that both the SAT and ACT are good measures of general cognitive ability, since just about any mental test measures one's ability to reason.
ACT scores were converted to SAT scores (math + verbal) using this concordance table so all schools could be compared on one metric. Then, an average of the 25th and 75th percentile was computed (see more detail on methods and limitations here).
On the following ranking, a (2) next to the school's name indicates that some or all students aren't required to supply scores; a (3) indicates that the school did not supply all students it has scores for, or did not tell U.S. News if it had; a (4) indicates that the data is from a previous year, rather than from the most recent year; and a (9) indicates that the school may not require scores from all applicants and that it may not have submitted data for all students.
Here are the smartest public colleges in America:
Smarts Rank | School | Average SAT |
1 | Georgia Institute of Technology | 1400 |
2 | University of California—Berkeley | 1390 |
3 | University of Michigan—Ann Arbor | 1380 |
4 | College of William and Mary | 1370 |
5 | University of Virginia | 1355 |
6 | Colorado School of Mines | 1340 |
6 | United States Air Force Academy | 1340 |
8 | University of California—Los Angeles | 1325 |
9 | University of Maryland—College Park | 1315 |
10 | University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill | 1305 |
10 | University of Illinois—Urbana-Champaign | 1305 |
12 | University of California—San Diego | 1300 |
12 | Ohio State University—Columbus | 1300 |
14 | Binghamton University—SUNY | 1290 |
15 | University of Wisconsin—Madison | 1285 |
15 | Missouri University of Science & Technology | 1285 |
15 | United States Naval Academy | 1285 |
18 | University of Texas—Austin | 1280 |
18 | New College of Florida | 1280 |
20 | United States Military Academy | 1275 |
21 | University of Pittsburgh | 1270 |
22 | University of Florida | 1265 |
22 | University of Minnesota—Twin Cities | 1265 |
22 | United States Merchant Marine Academy | 1265 |
25 | Clemson University | 1255 |
25 | University of Texas—Dallas | 1255 |
25 | United States Coast Guard Academy | 1255 |
28 | University of California—Santa Barbara | 1250 |
28 | University of Connecticut | 1250 |
28 | Stony Brook University—SUNY | 1250 |
31 | Miami University—Oxford | 1245 |
31 | North Carolina State University—Raleigh | 1245 |
31 | Florida State University | 1245 |
31 | Michigan Technological University | 1245 |
35 | University of Georgia | 1235 |
36 | University of Washington | 1230 |
37 | University of Colorado—Boulder | 1225 |
37 | Auburn University | 1225 |
37 | University of Alabama—Huntsville | 1225 |
37 | CUNY—Baruch College (3) | 1225 |
37 | Truman State University | 1225 |
37 | California Polytechnic State University—San Luis Obispo (3) | 1225 |
43 | SUNY—Geneseo | 1220 |
44 | University of California—Davis | 1215 |
44 | Virginia Tech | 1215 |
44 | Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey—New Brunswick (3) | 1215 |
44 | University of Massachusetts—Amherst | 1215 |
44 | College of New Jersey | 1215 |
49 | University of Maryland—Baltimore County | 1210 |
50 | Purdue University—West Lafayette | 1205 |
50 | University of Alabama | 1205 |
50 | University of Tennessee | 1205 |
50 | University of South Carolina | 1205 |
54 | University of Delaware | 1200 |
55 | University of North Carolina—Asheville | 1195 |
56 | Pennsylvania State University—University Park | 1190 |
56 | New Jersey Institute of Technology | 1190 |
56 | University of North Carolina—Wilmington | 1190 |
59 | Texas A&M University—College Station | 1185 |
59 | SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry | 1185 |
59 | University of Vermont | 1185 |
59 | University of Oklahoma | 1185 |
59 | University of Central Florida | 1185 |
59 | New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology | 1185 |
65 | University of California—Irvine | 1175 |
65 | Indiana University—Bloomington | 1175 |
67 | Michigan State University | 1165 |
67 | University of Iowa | 1165 |
67 | University of Missouri | 1165 |
67 | Louisiana State University—Baton Rouge | 1165 |
67 | University of Arkansas | 1165 |
67 | University of Cincinnati | 1165 |
67 | CUNY—Hunter College | 1165 |
74 | University of South Florida | 1160 |
74 | Virginia Military Institute (3) | 1160 |
76 | Christopher Newport University (2) | 1155 |
77 | University at Buffalo—SUNY | 1150 |
77 | George Mason University (2) | 1150 |
77 | Salisbury University (9) | 1150 |
77 | Appalachian State University | 1150 |
81 | University of California—Santa Cruz | 1145 |
81 | University of Nebraska—Lincoln | 1145 |
81 | Iowa State University | 1145 |
81 | University of Kansas | 1145 |
81 | Arizona State University—Tempe (2) | 1145 |
81 | University of Kentucky | 1145 |
81 | Kansas State University (2) | 1145 |
81 | Oklahoma State University | 1145 |
81 | University of Massachusetts—Lowell | 1145 |
81 | University of Louisville (3) | 1145 |
81 | University of Houston | 1145 |
81 | University of Minnesota—Morris | 1145 |
81 | University of Wisconsin—La Crosse | 1145 |
94 | James Madison University | 1140 |
94 | University of South Florida—St. Petersburg | 1140 |
96 | University of California—Riverside | 1130 |
96 | College of Charleston | 1130 |
96 | Georgia College & State University | 1130 |
99 | University of Utah | 1125 |
99 | Colorado State University | 1125 |
99 | University of Illinois—Chicago (3) | 1125 |
99 | Mississippi State University | 1125 |
99 | University of Wyoming | 1125 |
99 | Montana State University | 1125 |
99 | Montana Tech of the University of Montana | 1125 |
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