Top 15 Leading Universities in the World for 2019

• Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
• Founded: 1865.
• Tuition fees: $46,704, with additional costs of $13,730 for room and board and $2,816 for materials.
• Notable alumni: Buzz Aldrin, the second person to walk on the Moon; Kofi Annan, the 7th Secretary-General of the United Nations; David Miliband, former UK Foreign Secretary; and more.

MIT consists of five schools: the School of Science, School of Engineering, School of Architecture and Planning, School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, and the Sloan School of Management, along with a specialized institution, the Whitaker College of Health Sciences and Technology. The university is focusing on advancing research in Science, Engineering, and Technology.

The campus spans 68 hectares in Cambridge, extending over a mile (1.6 km) along the northern bank of the Charles River. Dormitories and student life facilities are located on the west side, while academic buildings are on the east. MIT operates five specialized libraries: Barker Library (Engineering), Dewey Library (Economics), Hayden Library (Humanities and Science), Lewis Music Library, and Rotch Library (Art and Architecture). It also manages the MIT Museum, which showcases collections in AI, robotics, maritime history, and more.

The acceptance rate in 2015 was 8%, and in 2016 it dropped to 6%.

• Location: Berkeley, California, USA.
• Founded: 1868.
• Tuition fees: $13,510, with an additional $15,000 for room and board if students live on campus.
• Notable alumni: Physicist Chu Lê Văn, Nobel Laureate in Physics in 1997; Michigan's first female governor Jennifer Granholm; and Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Inc.

The university offers a variety of schools including the School of Business, College of Chemistry, College of Engineering, College of Environmental Design, College of Letters & Science, and College of Natural Resources. Popular majors include Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Political Science, Molecular and Cell Biology, Environmental Science, and Economics. In addition to undergraduate programs, it offers graduate degrees like Master's and PhD.

The campus covers 499 hectares, including the main campus, research institutes, libraries, museums, and dormitories. The University of California boasts a network of 32 interconnected libraries, making it the fourth-largest library system in the United States. The campus is also home to several museums such as the UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology, Berkeley Art Museum, and the Pacific Film Archive.

The acceptance rate in 2013 was 20.9%, and by 2016 it had dropped to 17.5%. In 2016, out of 82,571 applications, only 14,429 were accepted.

• Location: Princeton, New Jersey, USA.
• Founded: 1746.
• Tuition fees: $41,820, with additional costs for room and board, totaling approximately $58,965 per year.
• Notable alumni: Former U.S. President James Madison, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, Actor James Stewart, Astronaut Pete Conrad, the third person to walk on the Moon, and more.

Originally founded as the College of New Jersey in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the institution moved to Princeton in 1756 and was renamed Princeton University in 1896. It is the fourth-oldest university in the United States.

Princeton offers both undergraduate and graduate programs in a range of fields, including the Humanities, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, and Engineering. The university is highly ranked in subjects such as Mathematics, Physics, Astronomy, Plasma Physics, and Economics, though it does not offer medical, law, or business schools like many other top universities.

The campus spans over 200 hectares and is considered one of the most beautiful university campuses in the U.S., featuring a collection of 20th-century sculptures known as the Putnam Sculpture Collection.

Princeton manages the Princeton University Art Museum, which houses collections from across the globe, including China, the U.S., Latin America, Western Europe, and the Mediterranean region. The university's library system contains approximately 11 million volumes, with Firestone Library holding 4 million books. Additionally, Princeton has specialized libraries covering fields like Architecture, Archaeology, Engineering, Geography, and Public Policy, containing both books and thousands of digital resources.

The acceptance rate at Princeton was 7.4% in 2013, 7.1% in 2015, and dropped to 6.5% in 2016. In 2016, the university received 29,303 applications but accepted only 1,306 students.

• Location: Oxford, United Kingdom.
• Founded: Exact date unknown, but teaching dates back to the 11th century (around 1096).
• Tuition fees: $11,800 for UK and EU students, $15,300 to $22,500 for international students.
• Notable alumni: Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, Director of the World Wide Web Consortium Tim Berners-Lee, Nobel Prize-winning chemist Dorothy Hodgkin, and more.

The University of Oxford consists of 38 colleges and a variety of academic departments grouped into four divisions: Humanities, Medical Sciences, Mathematical, Physical & Life Sciences, and Social Sciences. Some of the courses offered include Science, Biochemistry, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, and more.

Oxford’s library system is made up of 102 libraries, including 30 libraries that are part of the Bodleian Libraries, one of the oldest library systems in Europe. With 11 million books, it is the second-largest library in the UK, after the British Library. In addition to its libraries, Oxford also manages several museums, such as the Ashmolean Museum, the oldest public museum in the world, the Museum of Natural History, the Pitt Rivers Museum, and the History of Science Museum, along with the Oxford Botanic Garden.

Oxford has been featured in many literary and artistic works, including the novel *Zuleika Dobson*, the films *True Blue* and *The History Boys*.

• Location: Manhattan, New York City, USA.
• Founded: 1754
• Tuition fees: $44,000 to $46,000 for undergraduate students and $38,000 to $40,000 for graduate students (international students).
• Notable alumni: Former President Barack Obama, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and more.

Columbia offers a diverse range of programs in Mechanical and Technology Engineering, Education and Training, Applied and Basic Sciences, Social Sciences and Media, Architecture, Law, Urban Planning, Humanities, Health and Medicine, Business, and Management.

The university’s main campus, Morningside Heights, spans about 121 hectares and is located in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Other facilities include the Medical Campus in Washington Heights and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. The university also has research facilities, stadiums, and various sports centers.

• Location: Pasadena, California, USA.
• Founded: 1891.
• Tuition fees: $45,846 for undergraduate students.
• Notable alumni: Nobel laureate Robert C. Merton (Economics 1997), American-Vietnamese scientist Trinh Xuan Thuận, astronaut Harrison Schmitt, and more.

Caltech is divided into six academic divisions, primarily focusing on science and engineering. The institute offers programs in various fields including Geological and Planetary Sciences, Mathematics, Biology, Astronomy, Engineering and Applied Sciences, Social Sciences, and Chemical Engineering. It is a long-standing rival to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The campus spans 50 hectares, housing academic buildings, research centers, and student dormitories. In the fall of 2015, Caltech received 6,506 applications for the 2019 class but only accepted 8.8% of applicants.

• Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA.
• Founded: 1890.
• Tuition fees: $50,997.
• Notable alumni: Former Prime Minister of Canada William Lyon Mackenzie King, former U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, astronomer Carl Edward Sagan, and more.

The University of Chicago consists of undergraduate programs, graduate schools, and interdisciplinary committees. These are organized into four divisions, six professional schools, and one continuing education school. The university offers programs in the sciences and arts, including biology, physics, social sciences, humanities, and many other fields. Master's programs in theology, business administration, and public policy are also available. All programs are offered through various schools/colleges: the business school, public policy research, law, medicine, and social service management.

The campus spans about 87.8 hectares and houses academic buildings, laboratories, student dormitories, and libraries. The university boasts a library system of 6 libraries, which collectively hold over 11 million books. The main library, Regenstein Library, contains one of the largest collections of American books. The university also manages special libraries such as the D'Angelo Law Library, the Social Service Management Library, and the Eckhart Mathematics and Computer Science Library.

• Location: New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
• Founded: 1701.
• Tuition Fees: $73,900.
• Notable Alumni: U.S. Presidents William Howard Taft, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush; Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti; U.S. Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Samuel Alito, and Clarence Thomas; U.S. Secretaries of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Cyrus Vance, and others.

Yale is one of the oldest universities in the United States, surpassed only by Harvard University (1636) and the College of William & Mary (1693).

The heart of Yale's campus is located in downtown New Haven, covering an area of 260 acres (1.1 km²). In addition, the university also owns a golf course and a nature preserve, totaling 500 acres (2.0 km²) in rural Connecticut and Horse Island. Yale is renowned for its Gothic collegiate architecture, with iconic buildings such as the Louis Kahn-designed Art Gallery and British Art Center, the Ingalls Ice Rink, Ezra Stiles College, and Morse College by Eero Saarinen, as well as the Paul Rudolph-designed Art & Architecture Building. Many famous 19th-century buildings along Hillhouse Avenue, which Charles Dickens once described as the most beautiful street in America, are also part of Yale's campus.

The Yale University Library holds over 12 million books, making it the second-largest university library system in the U.S. The main library, Sterling Memorial Library, contains over 4 million volumes.

Yale is also home to rare book collections. The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library houses a significant collection of rare books and manuscripts. The Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library contains historical medical texts and artifacts. The Lewis Walpole Library holds the largest collection of English literature works. The Elizabeth Club, technically a private organization, provides Yale researchers with rare pages and early editions from the Elizabethan era.

• Location: Ithaca, New York, USA.
• Founded: 1865.
• Tuition Fees: $60,000.
• Notable Alumni: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Ratan Tata, Bill Nye, Toni Morrison, David Einhorn, and others.

Cornell University is a private research university and a member of the Ivy League, located in Ithaca, New York. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, the university was established with the mission of contributing to all fields of intellectual knowledge, from the classics to science, and from theory to practical applications. According to recent statistics, 23% of Cornell's student body is international, representing various nations and cultures, creating a diverse and welcoming environment for all students.

Cornell is organized into seven undergraduate colleges and seven graduate schools at its main Ithaca campus, with each college setting its own admissions standards and academic programs. The university also manages two satellite medical campuses, one in New York City and one in Qatar, as well as Cornell Tech. As of October 2019, 59 Nobel Laureates, four Turing Award winners, and one Fields Medalist have been affiliated with the university.

• Location: Seattle, Washington, USA.
• Founded: 1861.
• Tuition Fees: $33,648.
• Notable Alumni: Dale Chihuly, Chuck Close, William H. Gates, Sr., Donald Bren, Kazuhiko Ōigawa, and more.

University of Washington is located in Seattle, Washington, a beautiful city in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, close to the Canadian border.

Founded in 1861, University of Washington (UW) is a public research university on the West Coast. It offers undergraduate, graduate, and professional degree programs through a variety of colleges, including architecture and urban planning, arts and sciences, education, engineering, aquatic and oceanic sciences, business, dentistry, international studies, law, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public affairs, public health, and social work. UW has a rich history spanning over 150 years and is recognized as one of the top universities in the U.S. with globally acclaimed programs. The university has three campuses in Seattle (main campus), Tacoma, and Bothell. UW provides a wide range of degree options with over 1,800 courses offered across 16 schools and colleges.

• Location: London, England.
• Founded: 1826.
• Tuition Fees: £16,340-£24,140.
• Notable Alumni: Alexander Graham Bell, Francis Crick, Jomo Kenyatta, and others.

University College London (UCL) is one of the oldest and largest colleges of the University of London, often referred to as the 'Global University of London.' It is currently ranked 7th globally (according to the QS World University Rankings 2016) and is a leader in research strength in the UK (according to the Research Excellence Framework). Established in 1826, UCL has about 29,000 students, with 13,000 international students.

UCL has three main campuses: Bloomsbury, Archway, and Hampstead. The Bloomsbury campus is home to landmarks such as the British Museum, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, the British Medical Association, the House of Lords at the University of London, and several of UCL’s key departments, including the School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the School of Pharmacy, and the Royal Veterinary College.

All international students (both undergraduate and postgraduate) in their first year are guaranteed accommodation in university-managed halls, self-catered flats, student-managed rooms, and private rented housing arranged by UCL’s partner organizations. Accommodation is available across UCL's Bloomsbury, Marble Arch, and Paddington campuses.

• Location: Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
• Founded: 1876.
• Tuition Fees: From $45,500 per year.
• Notable Alumni: James Riedel, Michael Bloomberg, Hugo López-Gatell Ramírez, Woodrow Wilson, and others.

Johns Hopkins University is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading medical schools. However, over the years, it has expanded its academic offerings, providing a broad range of disciplines to its students.

With over 21,000 students, Johns Hopkins offers programs through 9 schools: Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Whiting School of Engineering, Carey Business School, School of Education, School of Medicine, School of Nursing, Peabody Institute (for music), Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. It is also a founding member of the Association of American Universities. Over its 140-year history, 37 Nobel laureates and 1 Fields Medalist have been affiliated with Johns Hopkins.

Hopkins ranks number 1 in the nation for receiving federal research funding, and its School of Medicine is the top recipient of external awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In 2016, Johns Hopkins Hospital was ranked the 4th best hospital in the USA by US News & World Report.

• Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
• Founded: 1636.
• Tuition Fees: $59,550 with an additional $22,262 for housing and $1,088 for health insurance.
• Notable Alumni: U.S. Presidents Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, President George W. Bush, Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook founder), civil rights leader W.E.B. Du Bois, and more.

Founded in 1636, Harvard University is the oldest university in the United States and has remained a top contender in global rankings, consistently ranking first in the ARWU rankings since their debut in 2003. It also ranks 6th in the 2016-2017 Times Higher Education (THE) rankings and 3rd in the 2016-2017 QS World University Rankings.

Harvard was initially known as New College but was renamed in 1939 in honor of clergyman John Harvard, a former student who donated his library of 400 books and half of his wealth to the university upon his death.

Today, Harvard offers programs across ten main schools: Arts and Sciences, Medicine, Theology, Law, Dentistry, Business, Graduate Design, Graduate Education, Public Health, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. The university excels in fields like Medicine and Life Sciences, ranking #1 globally, while also ranking second in Social Sciences and Humanities.

With a sprawling campus that covers 85 hectares, including an 8.5-hectare medical campus and over 1,800 hectares in total, Harvard boasts an extensive library system, with its flagship Widener Library housing over 15 million items, making it the largest academic library in the U.S. and one of the largest worldwide. Harvard also oversees several renowned museums, such as the Fogg Museum and the Busch-Reisinger Museum.

Given its prestigious history and stunning campus, Harvard has often served as the backdrop for films, novels, and plays, including *Love Story*, *Doctor*, and *Stealing Harvard*. However, after 2007, filming inside Harvard buildings is no longer permitted.

• Location: Stanford, California, USA.
• Founded: 1891.
• Tuition Fees: Approximately $47,331.
• Notable Alumni: Chelsea Clinton (daughter of former U.S. President Bill Clinton), Elon Musk (founder of SpaceX), Nobel laureate in Chemistry Paul Lawrence Modrich (2015), and more.

Stanford University, ranked second in the 2016 ARWU rankings, has held this position 11 times. It has also consistently placed high in other major rankings, including 3rd in the 2016-2017 Times Higher Education rankings and 2nd in the QS 2016-2017 rankings.

Stanford, officially known as Leland Stanford Junior University, was named after the only son of founders Leland and Jane Stanford. Leland Stanford was a railroad magnate and the Governor of California during the university's founding.

The university currently includes seven schools: Business, Environmental Science, Energy and Earth Sciences, Education, Engineering, Humanities and Sciences, Law, and Medicine. The most popular fields of study include Computer Science, Human Biology, Engineering, Biology, Science, Technology, and Society.

Stanford’s campus is the largest of any U.S. university, spanning 3,300 acres. It features a power plant with a 49 MW capacity, its own water systems, central heating, and a post office. The campus includes botanical gardens, libraries, chapels, hospitals, and towering redwood forests. The university’s library system boasts over 300,000 rare books, 1.5 million e-books, 2.5 million audiovisual materials, and thousands of digital resources. Stanford also manages the Cantor Arts Center.

Stanford is one of the most competitive universities in the U.S., with acceptance rates even lower than Harvard’s. In 2015, the acceptance rate for its MBA program was just 6.1%.

• Location: Cambridge, England.
• Founded: 1209.
• Tuition Fees: $11,800 for UK and EU students, and $23,198 to $35,310 for international students.
• Notable Alumni: Scientist Isaac Newton, former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin, and more.

Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the second oldest English-speaking university in the world, following only Oxford, and the fourth oldest still operating globally. It is ranked 4th in the world according to ARWU, THE, and QS rankings this year.

The university comprises 31 autonomous colleges, including 3 that are exclusively for women. Additionally, it has six schools, including Arts and Humanities, Biological Sciences, Clinical Medicine, Humanities and Social Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Engineering.

Cambridge is home to 114 libraries that collectively house around 15 million books, including 8 million in its central library. Each department and college also maintains its own library with unique collections of rare books and manuscripts. The university also oversees 8 museums, including the Fitzwilliam Museum, the Kettle’s Yard Contemporary Art Museum, and the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences.

The university has featured prominently in literature and the arts, with works like *The Longest Journey*, *Timescape*, and *Doctor Thorne*, as well as films like *Chariots of Fire* and *Cambridge Spies*.