How these universities are ranked
33 of these universities hold a QS World position, from #1 (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) to #575 (University of South Carolina); they are listed first, in that order. The rest are ordered by research impact. Stanford University has the largest research record in this group, with 89,857,545 citations and an h-index of 2,527. 24 universities have neither a QS position nor a research record yet and appear at the end, marked "Not yet ranked".
Public, private and where they are
The split is 516 public to 8 private institutions. By location, New York (5), Massachusetts (4) and Texas (3) account for the most of those we can place. The oldest is Columbia University, founded in 1754. University of California, Berkeley is the largest, with 45,000 students.
Levels, lengths and start dates
The most common subjects are Business & Management (820), Education (611), Medicine & Health Sciences (599) and Social Sciences & Psychology (460). The usual length is 1–2 years and null. 82% are full-time and 679 can be studied online. Start dates lean to Fall (100% of courses with a stated intake) and Spring (100% of courses with a stated intake). Pratt Institute offers the widest choice, with 73 of these courses.
What it costs
We hold indicative fees for 24 of these universities. University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez is the least expensive at USD 5,274 a year and Columbia University the most at USD 66,000; the middle of the range is about USD 23,082. Check each university's own fee page before you budget — figures change every year.
