2025 U.S. News Best Colleges | Delaware Valley Schools & More
College rankings in the United States are virtually an annual rite of passage, with the U.S. News & World Report among the most eagerly awaited announcements each year. And now the 2025 rankings have been released, and a few local schools in this state — predominantly Philadelphia and South Jersey regions we reviewed decades ago as part of The Columbine Project — are at the top.
These categories including National Universities, Liberal Arts Colleges, Regional Universities, and others such as Top HBCUs and Best Public Schools. They are based on a new ranking system that considers as many as 17 measures of academic quality such as graduation rates, first-year retention and student loan debt.
: Here’s how Delaware Valley schools fared in the 2025 rankings
Best National Universities
Princeton University
Rank: #1
Where: Princeton, New Jersey (Approximately 1 hour from Philadelphia)
Tuition and Fees: $62,400
Acceptance Rate: 4%
Undergraduates: 5,671
The pride of the Ivy League has again topped the list for the Best National Universities category, but what about your school? It also placed #1 in the category of Best Value Schools.
UPenn
Rank: #10
Where: Philadelphia, PA
Tuition and Fees: $68,686
Acceptance Rate: 6%
Enrollment informationUndergraduate Enrollment: 9,995
THE THE University of Pennsylvania is a regular in the rankings. National Universities: It ranked 10th, up from 16th in the previous yearBest Undergraduate Business programs stood first this year.
Best Liberal Arts Colleges
Swarthmore College
Rank: #3
Published on Oct 20, 2016Near Delco Paradise (Not So Secret park) PA
Tuition and Fees: $65,494
Acceptance Rate: 7%
Enrolled Undergraduates: 1,644
#3 Best Liberal Arts Colleges (Swarthmore College; Swarthmore, Pennsylvania — 11 miles from Philadelphia) Students also have the opportunity to take classes with Bryn Mawr College and Haverford College as part of the Tri-College Consortium. The site also placed Swarthmore 5th on the Best Value Schools list.
Haverford College
Rank: #24
Area — Delaware County, Pa.
Tuition and Fees: $70,398
Acceptance Rate: 13%
Undergraduate Enrollment: 1424
Another member of the Tri-College Consortium, Haverford College comes in at 24 among the Best Liberal Arts Colleges in the country.
Bryn Mawr College
Rank: #29
Location Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Tuition and Fees: $65,920
Acceptance Rate: 31%
Number of undergraduates: 1,360
Bryn Mawr College — A women-only school (with cross-enrollment at Swarthmore and Haverford) It ranked #29 among the Best Liberal Arts Colleges.
Regional Universities – North
The College of New Jersey, TCNJ
Rank: #1
Where: Ewing, New Jersey (near Trenton)
Tuition and Fees: In-State, $19,632
Acceptance Rate: 62%
Total Undergraduates: 7073
In the Best Regional Universities North category, which consists of schools from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and neighboring states, TCNJ took the #1 spot! The College of New Jersey also came in on top of the category on Top Public Schools.
Saint Joseph’s University
Rank: #5
Place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Tuition and Fees: $53,260
Acceptance Rate: 86%
Number of Undergrads: 4,828
#5 Regional Universities North #20 Best Value Schools, Saint Joseph’s University (Philadelphia)
Well, the US News Rankings – Popular But Controversial
U.S. News Best Colleges rankings are a major tool for college-bound students and families. Yet they are not free from criticism. Critics contend that the rankings rely too heavily on selectivity and graduation rates while underemphasizing factors such as diversity and social mobility of students.
Nevertheless, the rankings have an outsize effect. Schools advertise their rankings, and many students rely on them when determining what college they should ultimately choose.
Changes Made in the 2025 Rivals Rankings
In 2025, U.S. News changed its formula to such a minor extent it barely mattered. Among other changes, those revised calculations eliminated six-year graduation rates for first-generation students. After all, this metric had been challenged before for its lack of standardisation institution to institution.
The rankings also revealed a trend that middle-tier schools experienced some of the largest year-to-year shifts while top-ranked universities and colleges hardly budged.
Conclusion
There is no question that the U.S. News Best Colleges Rankings provide highly useful data about a school’s performance, but students must remember it when deciding on what college to attend! Every student has different things that they prioritize, and this list is just part of the overall decision for most.
Schools in the Delaware Valley remain some of the best in the country, leaving students with plenty of options for their academic future.