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For institutions of higher learning in the United States two records were set in the academic year 2012-13. First, more international students came to study in the United States than ever before. Over 819K (819,644) international students were enrolled — an increase of about 7% (55,000) from the previous year (2011-12). This is approximately 40% more international students than for the academic year 10 years previous. [Ref: iie]
Second, more American students went to study abroad: over 283K (283,332) – an increase of about 3%. This number has tripled over two decades, yet only 10% of American students study abroad while undergraduates.
International students only make up about 4% of total student enrollment (about 25M students) in the USA. However, they contributed $24B to the U.S. economy across all 50 states. International undergrads have outnumbered international grads for the last two academic years, thanks mostly to scholarship programs in countries sending the most students abroad. This changes the 12-year trend in which international grad students outnumbered international undergrad students.
Nearly half (49%) of all international students enrolled for 2012-13 came from China, India and South Korea — even though numbers for the latter two declined from the 2011-12 academic year, down 4% and 2%, respectively. At the same time, 16 countries had an increase in 2012-13 over the previous academic year.
With this in mind, here is a list of the top 50 colleges and universities in the USA with the most international students.
Notes:
International student enrollment figures are primarily from IIE (Institute of International Education) Open Doors report data on International Education Exchange covering the 2012-13 academic year for all institutions listed here. IIE data may not exactly match individual institution Web sites or their corresponding Wikipedia entries for listed universities.
Additional information in the IIE report is from NAFSA state economic impact statement reports for 2013.
Additional information for this list is from IIE leading institutions list
Numbers and percentages relating to student enrollment are for the 2012-13 academic year unless otherwise specifically marked.
Where readily available, the following information for each university or college is given: motto, freshman application acceptance rate for Fall 2012, total student enrollment for 2012.
The term “Public Ivy” refers to a higher-learning institution that is a publicly-funded research university and is considered to give the equivalent education of an Ivy League university at a public tuition cost. Some Public Ivies are private but have some sort of public funding component. The actual Ivy League universities are Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth, Cornell, Brown, and University of Pennsylvania — all of which have been long-established. Not on this list: Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Brown.
50
University of Illinois – Chicago (UIC)
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UIC’s original College of Pharmacy was founded in 1858, followed by the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1882, and the the Columbian College of Dentistry in 1891. These colleges were incorporate into the University of Illinois in 1913. The University of Illinois at Chicago Circle was founded in 1965. The current UIC is a merger of the all the above, with Chicago Circle joining in 1982.
There are a total of 15 colleges and schools, with just over 27.5K students enrolled for Fall 2013. As of Fall 2012, there were 82 bachelor’s programs, 93 master’s, and 66 doctoral.
US News ranked UIC tied for 10th place in 2012 for the most ethnically diverse universities in the United States. Over 1/3 of “students speak English as a second language.” The student body is composed of 61% undergrad, 39% grad/ professional students.
UIC has the largest medical school in the USA. Total annual research expenditures (all departments) is over $335M. The 2012 budget was $2.00 billion.
Additional School Information:
Website
Founded in 1858
Location: Chicago, Illinois
# International students: 3,371
Motto: Teach, research, serve, care
Type: Public, research
49
The New School
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The New School was founded in 1919 by Charles A. Beard et al. It has over 135 degree programs, houses the World Policy Institute think tank, hosts the National Book Awards, and has “Parsons The New School for Design” art school and Parsons Festival. There are seven different schools /divisions that cover several disciplines, including social sciences, liberal arts, humanities, architecture, fine arts, design, music, drama, finance, psychology and public policy.
The graduate school started in 1933 as a place for scholars in exile. The undergrad programs have student-directed curriculum, which focuses on a particular discipline – requiring students to explore a general education beforehand. The curriculum is said to be “highly experimental and avant-garde.” Courses include “Games 101,” “Punk & Noise” and “Play and Toil in the Digital Sweatshop.”
Additional School Information:
Website
Founded in 1919
Location: New York, New York
# International students: 3,398 / 10,575
Type: Private, research
48
Santa Monica College (SMC)
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Santa Monica College is a two-year public junior college that ranks as the tops in California as a transfer college. Of all 109 community colleges in California, more students transfer from SMC to University of California, University of Southern California, and other four-year schools). SMC offers occupational certificate programs in over 80 fields of study, and has an Arts Mentor Program where select students receive grad-level training from professionals.
Notable alumni include Sean Penn, James Dean, David Geffen, Dustin Hoffman, Rickie Lee Jones, Ryan Seacrest, Hilary Swank and others.
Additional School Information:
Website
Founded in 1929
Location: Santa Monica, California
# International students: 3,471
Type: Public, community college
47
University of Iowa (UI)
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UI is the oldest university in the state of Iowa and is considered a Public Ivy school. The university has a number of firsts for a U.S. learning institution. It was the first public university in the U.S., in 1855, to admit men and women on an equal basis. It was the first university worldwide “to accept creative work in theater, writing, music, and art on an equal basis with academic research.” E.g., in lieu of a thesis.
-One of the first in the U.S.: “to grant a law degree to woman and to an African American, and to put an African American on a varsity athletic squad.” It was the first state university to recognize the an LGBT student organization.
UI has eleven colleges covering over 100 areas of study and seven professional degrees. This includes 5,000+ courses yearly covering 200 major, minor and certificate programs. UI is said to be the original developer of the Master of Fine Arts degree. The UI campus includes the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. It also runs the Iowa Writer’s Workshop.
Additional School Information:
Website
Founded in 1847
Location: Iowa City, Iowa
# International students: 3,571
Acceptance rate: 78.4%
Type: Public, flagship
46
University of Texas – Arlington (UTA)
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UTA has ten schools and colleges that collectively offer over 180 degrees (bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral, professional). The New America Foundation declared UTA in 2013 as one of six “Next Generation” universities in the USA. Factors for this ranking included degree programs, online courses, growth in enrollment, and emerging status as a research university. (UTA has a nanotechnology research and teaching facility, amongst other facilities.)
The majority (~63%) of alumni live in North Texas; however, international students made up 9% of Fall 2013 enrollment and they represent over 120 countries. The university is also considered to have a racially and ethnically diverse student body. There are over 300 campus organizations, and 10,000 students live on or within five miles of campus.
Notable alumni include singer Ray Price, actor Lou Diamond Phillips, and astronauts Kalpana Chawla and Robert L. Stewart.
Additional School Information:
Website
Founded in 1895
Location: Arlington, Texas
# International students: 3,586
Acceptance rate: 69% (2010)
Motto: Disciplina praesidium civitatis / The cultivated mind is the guardian of democracy
Type: State university
45
George Washington University (GWU)
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George Washington, while U.S. President, wanted an institution of higher learning in the Capital. He died before that happened, but through the efforts of Rev. Luther Rice, President James Monroe and 32 members of Congress, GWU was created in 1821 through an Act of Congress. The focus of GWU would be “dedicated to educating and preparing future leaders.”
The main campus of GWU is four blocks from the White House, has 10 grad and undergrad colleges and schools, and just under 100 research centers and institutes. There are three campuses — Foggy Bottom and Mount Vernon (both in D.C.) and the GW Virginia Science and Technology Campus — plus various graduate education centers. The Mount Vernon Campus was previously the Mount Vernon College for Women. The Virginia science and tech campus is used for research and grad programs, and hosts 17 research centers, labs and institutes — one of which is the National Crash Analysis Center.
There are over 450 student organizations, and alumni live in 150 countries. Notable alumni/ former students include U.S. senator J. William Fulbright (creator of the Fulbright scholarships), J. Edgar Hoover (former FBI director), former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, actress Kerry Washington, actor Alec Baldwin, several politicians in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, as well as numerous serving U.S. ambassadors, and others.
Additional School Information:
Website
Founded in 1821
Location: Washington, D.C.
# International students: 3,635
Motto: Deus nobis fiducia / God is our trust
Type: Private
44
University of Delaware (UD)
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The original “Free School” founded by Minister Francis Alison in New London, Pennsylvania, changed its name and location several times, eventually settling in Newark, Delaware, in 1769. At that point, it was still part of Pennsylvania, so it did not get chartered until 1833.
The current UD is considered a Public Ivy. Its seven colleges and three schools collectively offer numerous degree programs: 3 associate, 147 bachelor’s, 119 master’s, 54 doctoral, 15 dual graduate programs. This is done in collaboration with over 70 research centers.
Additional research resources include a 146-foot coastal vessel — part of the College of Earth, Ocean and Environment college — which is used by scientists for research. The STAR (Science, Technology and Advanced Research) campus repurposes a former General Motors assembly plant.
There are over 300 student organizations on campus. Three of the original ten students went on to sign the Declaration of Independence; one of the ten signed the U.S. Constitution. Notable faculty includes a Nobel laureate and other highly-regarded award winners.
Additional School Information:
Website
Founded in 1743 (chartered in 1833)
Location: Newark, Delaware
# International students: 3,696 / 21,856
Acceptance rate: 56.6%
Motto: Scientia sol mentis est / Knowledge is the light of the mind
Type: Private and public (receives some state assistance)
43
Syracuse University (SU)
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SU’s roots go back to the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary founded in 1831 in Lima, New York — which became Genesee College in 1850. The actual university was independently established in 1870, after long debate about moving the college to Syracuse. While US considers themselves nonesectarian, they maintained a relationship with the United Methodist Church as recently as 2011.
The university owns a hotel (Sheraton), country club with 36-hole golf course, a conference center, and more. The SCRC (Special Collections Research Center) contains “rare books, manuscripts, works of architecture and design, and popular culture,” including cartoons, science fiction and pulp literature. The art collection has over 45,000 objects and includes work from Picasso, Rembrandt and others. There is also a collection of audio, the Belfer Audio Laboratory and Archive, which has around 540,000 recordings in various formats. The collection has the voices of Thomas Edison, Amelia Earhart, Albert Einstein and Oscar Wilde, amongst others.
SU has thirteen schools and colleges, including the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and others. There are admissions and alumni presences in LA, NYC, and Atlanta, as well as an LA Semester program. SU is internationally-minded, with 40% of SU students study abroad through the SU Abroad program.
Notable alumni include current U.S. V.P. Joe Biden, television host Dick Clark, Lt. Col. Eileen Collins (first female space shuttle commander), actor Taye Diggs, fashion designer Betsey Johnson, news anchor Ted Koppel, author Joyce Carol Oates, actor Tom Everett Scott, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, comedian/ actor Jerry Still, actress Vanessa Williams and others.
Additional School Information:
Website
Founded in 1870
Location: Syracuse, New York
# International students: 3,762
Acceptance rate: 51.3%
Motto: Suos cultores scientia coronat / Knowledge crowns those who seek her
Type: Private, research
42
University of California – San Diego (UCSD)
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UCSD is considered a Public Ivy. It offers over 200 undergrad and grad degree programs, including nine joint doctoral programs with San Diego State University and other University of California campuses. It has 10 schools and colleges (including six residential colleges), including the Scripps Institute of Oceanography (existed before UCSD), Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Rady School of Management. UCSD has six undergrad colleges, five grad schools, two professional med schools, and runs four research institutes. It is affiliated with regional research centers, including the Salk Institute and the Sanford-Burhnam Medical Research Institute, and houses two think tanks. Additional research resources include a seaport and vessels for marine research, owned by the oceanography institute. UCSD also owns the Birch Aquarium.
The university is highly regarded in multiple fields, including social psychology, oceanography, international relations, molecular biology, genetics, engineering, neuroscience, and behavior — according to ScienceWatch.
Alumni, faculty and researchers have collectively won multiple awards, including at least 20 Nobel Prizes (as of Apr 2013) — although not necessarily while during their time at UCSD. For example, Linus Pauling won in 1954 and 1962, but was faculty from 1967-69. Other notable alumni include science fiction authors Gregory Benford, David Brin and Kim Stanley Robinson — all of whom earned PhDs — Mike Judge, creator of the animated TV shows “Beavis and Butthead” and “King of the Hill,” and director/ writer of the TV show “Silicon Valley.
Additional School Information:
Website
Founded in 1960
Location: La Jolla, California
# International students: 3,795
Acceptance rate: 36.8% (2013)
Motto: Fiat lux / Let there be light
Type: Public, research
41
Rutgers – New Brunswick
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Rutgers was originally chartered as Queen’s College in 1766, ten years before the American Revolution. Rutgers – New Brunswick is the oldest campus of Rutgers University, and it has 5 sub-campuses that hold its 18 schools colleges (undergrad, grad, professional). RU NB has 175 research centers and institutes, 22 libraries, 20 computer labs and 110 RU-tv channels for tutorials, interviews and other uses. It also has health care facilities, studios, and performance venues. All 670 buildings on the nearly 2700-acre university are deemed lighting energy efficient.
The university offers 100+ undergrad majors and 220+ grad degree programs at its 5 campuses: Busch, College Avenue, Douglass, George H. Cook, Livingston. It claims nearly 60% of grad students are women, just over 40% are men. International students represent over 105 countries. Campus housing covers 85% of freshman students and 46% of undergrads in general. Students can choose from over 400 student organizations, 80+ frats and sororities and 6 student centers.
Faculty include 35 National Academy members and 15 American Academy of Arts and Sciences members.
Additional School Information:
Website
Founded in 1766
Location: New Brunswick – Piscataway, New Jersey
# International students: 3,797
Acceptance rate: 61% (2010)
Motto: Sol iustitiae et occidentem illustra / Sun of righteousness, shine upon the West also
Type: Public, flagship, research
40
University of Arizona (U of A)
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The of U of A is classified as a Carnegie Foundation RU/VH (research university, very high research activity) university. It gets the most NASA grants for space exploration than any American university — the most funds per year than the next nine NASA-JPL (Jet Propulsion Lab)-funded universities combined. In addition to being involved in five spacecraft missions as of Jun 2011, it operates observatories and telescopes, including Peak National Observatory. U of A is also involved in the building of the $500M Giant Magellan Telescope, due for completion in 2016.
U of A has been part of pop culture, with multiple films either shot there or otherwise referenced, including “Revenge of the Nerds.” This is also reflected in notable alumni, who include singer Linda Ronstadt, actor Greg Kinnear, novelist Barbara Kingsolver, actress Kristen Wiig (Saturday Night Live alumnus).
Notable alumni include Nobel laureate Brian Schmidt (2011, Physics). Notable faculty includes two Nobel laureates, Nicolaas Bloembergen and Willis E. Lamb.
Additional School Information:
Website
Founded in 1885
Location: Tucson, Arizona
# International students: 3,863 /40,223
Acceptance rate: 76.9%
Motto: Bear down, Arizona
Type: Public, flagship, research
39
Johns Hopkins University (JHU)
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JHU was founded in 1876 and named for its primary benefactor, philanthropist Johns Hopkins. It has ranked #1 for over 3 decades by the NSF (National Science Foundation) amongst U.S. academic institutions for various research endeavors, including science, medical and engineering. Over 35 Nobel Prize winners have been affiliated with JHU (count as of 2011) — including 18 in Physiology or Medicine. Current faculty honors, specifically, include 4 Nobel Prizes, 1 Pulitzer Prize, 51 American Academy of Arts & Sciences Fellows, 61 Institute of Medicine Members, 28 National Academy of Science Members, and several others. As well, faculty and staff have collectively written over 50 books
JHU was “the first medical school to admit women on an equal basis with men and to require a bachelor’s degree.” A newly-created nursing school in 1889 accepted both men and women as students. However, other grad schools at JHU took a long time to allow the awarding of PhDs. Johns Hopkins was an abolitionist, which led to Kelly Miller becoming the school’s first African American graduate student – albeit, some time after Hopkins’ passing. However, commonplace racial diversity took until the 1960s-70s.
In addition to Washington, D.C., and Maryland, JHU has campuses in Italy, Malaysia, China and Singapore. There are two main campuses in Baltimore, housing five graduate divisions. Overall, there are nine schools — including the Carey Business School, School of Medicine, Bloomberg School of Public Health, School of Nursing, Peabody Institute, SAIS and others — covering over 180 fields of study.
Additional School Information:
Website
Founded in 1876
Location: Baltimore, Maryland
# International students: 3,889
Acceptance rate: 16.8% (2013)
Motto: Veritas vos liberabit / The truth will set you free
Type: Private, not-for-profit
38
North Carolina State University (NCSU)
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Historically, NCSU’s top programs are in engineering, agriculture, life sciences, textiles and design. Overall, it offers over 100 bachelor’s degrees, 100+ master’s degrees, 60+ doctoral degrees and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree, through its 10 schools and colleges, plus the First Year College and Graduate School. It is consistently ranked in top 50 public universities in the U.S. by various organizations, and North Carolina’s state capital, Raleigh, was ranked the best city to live in, in America, by Bloomberg Businessweek in Sep 2011. In 2013, the Washington Monthly listed NCSU as 4th amongst national universities that assist low- and middle-income students in getting affordable, marketable degrees.
NCSU also has a strong research and startup environment. It is the only American university “leading two National Science Foundation Engineering Research Centers.” It claims 800 U.S. and 1,500 worldwide patents, covering over 400 consumer products, and has over 800 license agreements with industry partners. Over 100 companies have been spun-off from NCSU research, including 8 in the last year, with venture capital exceeding $1.5B.
Additional School Information:
Website
Founded in 1887
Location: Raleigh, North Carolina
# International students: 3,906 / 34,009
Acceptance rate: 49.6%
Type: Public
37
Iowa State University (ISU)
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ISU was founded in 1858 and is amongst the first three colleges to take advantage of the land-grant law signed by then President Abraham Lincoln. Its eight colleges and two schools (including the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication) offer about 100 bachelor programs, 110+ master programs, 80+ doctoral programs, 1 professional program in veterinary medicine. There are over 800 student organizations on campus, and international students represent over 100 countries.
ISU has over 90 centers and institutes. This science and tech heavy university claims the invention of the world’s first electronic computer. It currently has the world’s highest-resolution virtual reality lab, with 16.7M pixels per wall. It also has a supercomputer, Cyence, that performs 183 trillion calculations per second.
Notable alumni include George Washington Carver, ISU’s first African American student (and faculty member) and a botanist / scientist who promoted the idea of crop rotation and who developed about 100 household products made from peanuts.
Additional School Information:
Website
Founded in 1858
Location: Ames, Iowa
# International students: 3,988
Acceptance rate: 83.3% (2013)
Motto: Science with practice
Type: Public, flagship
36
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
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MIT was founded in 1861, although it did not open its doors until 1865. It has six schools and colleges, including the Sloan School of Management, and 35 departments and programs. Class lecture notes are freely available online through OpenCourseWare. The edX initiative offers online courses from other university partners (including Harvard, Berkeley, U of Texas) as well. It ranks sixth overall in U.S. News’ 2012 American universities rankings — #1 for undergrad engineering and #2 for undergrad business. In QS World University Rankings for 2012, MIT ranked as the top university in the world for the first time, moving up from #3 in 2011 and #5 in 2010.
Amongst its discoveries are the 2014 finding of a two-dimensional material similar to graphene that could be used to make flat solar cells and transistors.
The list of notable alumni is long and includes 31 Nobel Prize winners, 47 Rhodes Scholars, and 61 Marshall Scholars. Graduates include Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, physicist Richard Feynman (1939 Nobel Prize, Physics) and others. Alumni have also founded or co-founded companies, including Intel, McDonnell Douglas, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, Genentech, Dropbox, Campbell Soup, Bose and others.
Additional School Information:
Website
Founded in 1861
Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts
# International students: 3,167 / 11,189
Acceptance rate: 8.9%
Motto: Mens et manus / Mind and hands
Type: Private
35
SUNY Stony Brook University (SBU)
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SUNY Stony Brook University started in 1957 as State University College in Oyster Bay on Long Island and moved to Stony Brook in 1962. It owns Stony Brook University Medical Center and co-manages Brookhaven National Laboratory. In 2005, it acquired land for a Research & Development Park in 2005. It also houses four business incubators. SBU is a member of the Association of American Universities and is a National Merit Institution. Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings ranked SBU in the top 1 percent worldwide. It was ranked by U.S. News as in the top 100 nationwide and in the top 35 of public universities. Kiplinger ranked SBU as amongst the 30 best values in public colleges and universities. It is one of 10 American universities that the NSF recognizes for combining research with an undergrad education.
SBU has 13 schools and colleges, which offer 68 majors and 80 minors. The university had a high freshman return rate of 90% for Fall 2011 enrollees returning for a second year. Teaching faculty are highly-credentialed, with 98% of instructors holding either a doctoral degree or the highest degree in their field. The faculty has over 1,840 inventions and 500 U.S. patents to their credit.
Additional School Information:
Website
Founded in 1957
Location: Stony Brook, New York
# International students: 4,122
Acceptance rate: 39.5% (2013)
Motto: To learn, to search, to serve
Type: public, research
34
University of Maryland – College Park (UMCP)
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University of Maryland – College Park, founded in 1856, is the largest university in Maryland. It has strong partnership ties, with various faculty members receiving funding and other support from NIH, NASA, NIST and DHS. The university is ranked highly by U.S. News (2014), Kiplinger’s (2014), Academic Ranking of World Universities (2013), Princeton Review (2013) and others. UMCP’s ten colleges and schools offer 90 undergrad majors, as well as grad and professional programs. In non-academic milestones, it’s in the top 25 list (2013) of colleges that produce Peace Corps volunteers.
Notable faculty includes four Nobel Prize winners. Two alumni are also Nobel Prize winners. Nobel prize winners from outside UMCP who have given an annual talk include President Jimmy Carter, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and South African President Nelson Mandela. Other notable alumni include Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Emmy-winning journalist Connie Chung, “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” co-creator Larry David, football player/ analyst Boomer Esiason, “The Boondocks” animated TV show creator Aaron McGruder and others.
Additional School Information:
Website
Founded in 1856
Location: College Park, Maryland
# International students: 4,492/ 24,149
Acceptance rate: 46.8%
Motto: Fatti maschii, parole femine (Italian) / Strong deeds, gentle words
Type: Public, flagship
33
Stanford University
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Stanford University was established in 1885; opened in 1891 by Leland Stanford (former California governor and U.S. senator) and wife Jane Lathrop Stanford as a memorial to their son, who died from typhoid fever. It is the largest contiguous campus in the U.S. with over 8,000 acres, and has 700 buildings. There are currently over 5,000 externally-sponsored projects in which the university is participating. Stanford, which is the most selective research university in the U.S. as of the Class of 2017, has an endowment of $18.7B. It was also home to a node for the original ARPANET — a predecessor to the Internet.
There are seven schools and colleges. Ninety-seven percent of undergraduates live on campus, and the student body enjoys a 5-1 student-to-faculty ratio (over 2,000 faculty members).
Notable faculty and alumni include “22 Nobel laureates that are currently members of the Stanford community.” Fifty-eight laureates have been or are affiliated with Stanford in total. Other notable alumni include 30 living billionaires, 17 astronauts and 11 members of Congress. The approximate annual revenue of companies founded by Stanford alumni is about $2.7 trillion. Alumni and faculty have founded Google, Yahoo!, Nike, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, as well as other companies.
Additional School Information:
Website
Founded in 1891
Location: Palo Alto, California
# International students: 4,535
Acceptance rate: 6.6%
Motto: Die Luft der Freiheit weht (German) / The wind of freedom blows
Type: Private
32
Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT)
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IIT was founded in 1940, with its roots traced back to the Armour Institute of Technology — which was founded in 1890. Philip Danforth Armour, Sr., made a donation of $1M in 1890 (~$25M in 2012 value), with which the original institute was founded. Armour was inspired by a Chicago minister who wanted a school for all students instead of just the elite. The minister, Frank W. Gunsaulus, became the first president of the institute.
IIT has eight schools and colleges, six of which offer undergrad programs. It has 34 undergraduate majors and offers both traditional and professional master’s programs, as well as doctoral programs, certificate specializations and dual-degree options. The institute had a 93% retention rate for first year students in Fall 2012 enrollment. International students make up a large part of the student body, 59% of grad students and 24% of undergrad students classified as international.
Notable faculty includes three Nobel laureates – 2 in Physics, one in Economics.
Additional School Information:
Website
Founded in 1940
Location: Chicago, Illinois
# International students: 4,609
Acceptance rate: 64% (2010)
Motto: Transforming lives. Inventing the future.
Type: Private, research
31
Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech, GT)
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The Georgia Institute of Technology was founded in 1885, and is the result of two Confederate officers being inspired by MIT’s educational model. A bill signed in 1885 by the Governor of Georgia allowed for the creation and funding of the institute. Land was donated in 1887. The main Georgia Tech campus is partly in Midtown Atlanta, and there are satellite campuses in Savannah, Georgia, as well as France, Ireland, China and Singapore. The 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics had the athletes village on campus.
Georgia Tech has 6 colleges — including Scheller College of Business — that house 30+ schools and degree programs (bachelor’s, master’s doctoral). GT ranked in top ten (#7) of public American universities by U.S. News & World Report, who also ranked them as the top industrial engineering program and #5 undergrad and #5 grad engineering colleges. According to DiverseEducation.com, GT ranks anywhere from #1 to #8 in degrees awarded to minority students overall, as well as African American students, Asian American students, Hispanic students and Native American students.
Additional School Information:
Website
Founded in 1885
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
# International students: 4,740 / 21,557
Acceptance rate: 54.9%
Motto: Progress and service
Type: Public
30
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)
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Carnegie Mellon University was founded in 1900 by industrialist Andrew Carnegie. It has 7 colleges and schools. Recruiters polled for a 2010 Wall Street Journal article ranked CMU as #1 for computer science hires. CMU also ranked highly for finance and business. The university has been involved in the creation of over 1,000 companies primarily in Pittsburgh, Silicon Valley and India. As well as being a world leader in robotics, it also has its hand in space exploration. NASA Mars rovers and crash avoidance systems use software from CMU.
Thirty-five percent of CMU student body are international – putting the university in the top 10 most international student bodies by percentage in the USA. Faculty are highly qualified, with about 96% having a Ph.D. or equivalent for their respective fields. This faculty teaches 99% of all undergrad courses and some grad courses.
Notable alumni include “Nobel Prize winners, tech company founders, inventors, orchestra conductors, Oscar-winning producers.” Examples include John Forbes Nash (Nobel laureate in economics and the subject of the film A Beautiful Mind), billionaire hedge fund investor David Tepper; Java programming language creator James Gosling; artist Andy Warhol; astronauts Edgar Mitchell and Judith Resnik, and others.
Additional School Information:
Website
Founded in 1900
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
# International students: 4,744
Acceptance rate: 25% (2013)
Motto: My heart is in the work
Type: Private
29
Cornell University
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Cornell, an Ivy League school, was founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell, Andrew Dickson White. Cornell is private but receives a federal land grant. Overall, it has seven undergrad schools and colleges, a grad school, and seven professional schools that offer professional degrees in business management, medicine, law, and veterinary medicine. It also has nearly 100 academic departments and numerous centers, institutes, labs and programs. Each college and school defines its own academic programs and admits students. Collectively, they offer 4,000+ courses across nearly 100 departments, with nearly 70 undergrad majors and 90+ minors, and 90+ grad fields of study. It also has dual-degree programs. There are two satellite medical campuses, in New York City and Education City, Qatar.
Notable faculty includes several Nobel laureates and Pulitzer Prize winners. Amongst faculty have been actor John Cleese and astronomer/ astrophysicist Carl Sagan. As of 2010, “Cornell is the only university with three female winners” of unshared Nobel Prizes amongst alumni. These winners are Pearl S. Buck, Barbara McClintock and Toni Morrison. Other notable alumni include, amongst many, Janet Reno (first female U.S. Attorney General), Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, Robert Atkins (creator of Atkins Diet), the founders and co-founders of many companies (Burger King, Hotels.com, PeopleSoft, Priceline.com, Staples, Qualcomm). Writer alumni include the aforementioned Pearl S. Buck and Toni Morrison, Thomas Pynchon and E.B. White. Cornell also claims several actor, athlete, CEO and other alumni.
Additional School Information:
Website
Founded in in 1865
Location: Ithaca, New York
# International students: 4,891 / 21,424
Acceptance rate: 16.2%
Motto: “I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study.” (Ezra Cornell quote)
Type: Private
28
University of Houston (UH)
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University of Houston has 12 colleges and schools — including the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management — that collectively offer over 100 undergrad majors and minors, and almost 200 grad degree programs (131 master’s, 54 research doctorates, and three professional doctorates in law, optometry, pharmacy) UH awards over 8,200 degrees each year. Its annual research budget is nearly $130M and it “operates 40+ research centers and institutes on campus.”
Notable faculty includes Nobel laureate Jody Williams and three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Edward Albee. Notable alummi include novelist Alice Sebold, Matt Mullenweg (creator of WordPress blogging software), numerous professional golfers, NFL football players and NBA basketball players, U.S. senator Elizabeth Warren, actor Jim Parsons (Big Bang Theory), actor Brent Spiner (Star Trek), actor brothers Randy and Dennis Quaid, TV host Star Jones, singer Kenny Rogers, rapper Lil’ Wayne, and many others.
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Founded in 1927
Location: Houston, Texas
# International students: 4,901
Acceptance rate: 56.2%
Motto: In tempore / In time
Type: State university
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Academy of Art University
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The Academy of Art University was founded by fine art painter Richard S. Stephens in 1929 and is now owned by the Stephens Institute. The founder’s granddaughter, Dr. Elisa Stephens, took over in 1992 as President of the Academy from her father, Dr. Richard A. Stephens. It’s one of the largest property owners in San Francisco and may be the largest privately owned art and design school in the United States.
Bachelor’s degrees in Fine Art were awarded starting in 1966, after the school was incorporated. It now offers two bachelor’s degrees, three master’s degrees, one associate’s degree, and several certificate programs as well as Continuing Art Education courses in over 30 areas of emphasis. Students all have the same tuition, including U.S. permanent residents and international students. (About 30% of the Academy’s students are international.) Federal and state financial assistance is not available for international students.
Notable alumni include actresses Lauren Conrad and Heidi Montag, and 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Deanne Fitzmaurice.
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Founded in 1929
Location: San Francisco, California
# International students: 5,081
Motto: Built for artists by artists
Type: Private
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Harvard University
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Harvard, an Ivy League school, was founded in 1636 and named after minister John Harvard, the first benefactor. It is the oldest American university and has the largest endowment of any university worldwide (over $32B for Fiscal Year 2013). As well as having over 5,000 acres of real estate holdings, it has the largest academic library in the U.S., with 80 libraries, 18.9M volumes, 400M manuscript items, 10M photographs and more. Harvard ranks #1 or #2 overall in many university ranking lists.
The university has 12 degree-granting schools and colleges, plus the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, as well as a division of Continuing Education (includes Harvard Summer School and Harvard Extension School). As of Fall 2012, international students have made up about 11% of the undergrad student body and 27% of grad and professional students. Harvard offers financial aid of over $160M to over 60% of undergrad students. Over 65% of all students receive scholarship aid, with the average grant in 2013-14 being $46K.
Notable faculty as of 2010 included Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt; historian Henry Louis Gates, Jr.; economist Amartya Sen; political scientist Robert Putnam; astrophysicist Alyssa A. Goodman, and others.
Alumni represent 201 countries. Notable alumni include 47 Nobel laureates and 48 Pulitzer Prize winners, as well as 32 heads of state. Graduates include numerous American political leaders including President Barack Obama, John F. Kennedy, Al Gore, George W. Bush, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John Hancock, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, as well as political leaders of other countries, several royals, religious leaders, tech founders (Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg), civil rights leader W.E.B. DuBois, numerous famous writers and poets, musicians, filmmakers, athletes, actors and more.
Harvard alumni and faculty are also on Time Magazine’s 2014 100 Most Influential People in the World list:
President Barack Obama, Sheika al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, John Kovac, Ory Okolloh, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Diane Paulus, and David Sinclair.
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Founded in 1636
Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts
# International students: 5,131 / 28,147
Acceptance rate: 5.9%
Motto: Veritas / Truth
Type: Private
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Texas A&M University (TAMU)
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Texas A&M University got its start in 1876 as the Agricultural & Mechanical College of Texas, and is the first institute of higher learning in the state. It in the top 10 largest American universities (by enrollment) and tops in Texas. Its 5,500 acres houses the George Bush (Sr.) Presidential Library, which opened in 1997 — one of very few universities with a presidential library.
Other milestones include membership in the Association of American Universities; an endowment of $7.6B, which puts it in the top 5 amongst public American universities; and a Corps of Cadets with 2,300 members. (TAMU is “one of three public universities with a full-time, volunteer Corps of Cadets.” It is one of only six senior military colleges. Only U.S. service academies commission more officers than TAMU.)
TAMU has 10 colleges and 18 research institutes, as well as branches in Galveston, Texas, and Qatar. It has over 120 undergrad and 240 grad degree programs and a number of professional degrees.
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Founded in 1876
Location: College Station, Texas
# International students: 5,149
Acceptance rate: 67.1%
Type: Public, flagship, research
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University of Texas – Dallas (UTD)
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UT Dallas was founded in 1969 in Richardson, Texas. UTD was ranked by Times Higher Education magazine in 2013 as 15th in their top 100 list of young schools (under 50 years old), using 13 performance indicators that include research, diversity and international collaborations, and teaching. Fortune magazine claims that 14 of the 20 most profitable companies recruit from UT Dallas.
UTD has seven schools and colleges offer over 130 academic programs (undergrad and grad) — including the top-ranked Naveen Jindal School of Management MBA program. The student-to-faculty ratio is 21-1, and UTD has over 50 “centers, labs and institutes that facilitate research and opportunities for hands-on learning.” International students made up over 20% of the student population. Notable faculty include a Nobel laureate and four members of the National Academies.
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Founded in 1969
Location: Richardson, Texas
# International students: 5,193
Motto: Disciplina praesidium civitatis / Education, the guardian of society
Type: State, research
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University of Wisconsin – Madison (UW-Madison)
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The official beginnings of UW Madison are in 1838, when a law was passed to incorporate an University of the Territory of Wisconsin. However, the school was not founded until after Wisconsin became a state in 1848. The first women students were admitted in 1863, during the Civil War.
Its 20 colleges and schools offer bachelor’s degrees, graduate and professional degrees. As of 2009, UW-Madison had 130+ undergrad majors, approx 150 master’s programs, and 120 doctoral programs. Overall, over 4,700 course are offered. It has an international institute jointly created by the College of Letters and Sciences and the International Studies division. The university’s international student body represents 130 countries.
UW Madison is categorized as an RU/VH Research University (very high research activity) in the Carnegie Classification. Notable faculty/ researchers include Elmer V. McCollum, who founded Vitamin A (1913) and B (1916).
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Founded in 1848
Location: Madison, Wisconsin
# International students: 5,291 / 42,820
Acceptance rate: 54.6%
Motto: Numen lumen / “God, our light” or “The divine within the universe, however manifested, is my light.”
Type: Public, flagship
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Houston Community College (HCC)
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The Houston Community College System includes nine Texas cities and parts of three more, including Houston. Eight colleges are currently part of HCCS. It was governed under the HISD (Houston Independent School District) by public referendum, from 1971-1989. A Board of Trustees was established and the college separated from HISD in 1989. It was “restructured into a multi-college system” in 1992. Overall HCC has over 15 campuses and two sub-colleges. It offers two online programs – continuing ed and distance ed.
Additional School Information:
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Founded in 1971
Location: Houston, Texas
# International students: 5,333
Type: Community college
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University of Texas – Austin (UT Austin)
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UT Austin had its start in 1883, with part of the income of land and grazing rights from 2 million acres in Texas, granted by the state. The university in the top five nationwide for “largest single campus enrollment.” It is co