A look at the top 25 universities in the United States according to the US News rankings.

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US News has declared its ranking of the best colleges and universities for 2011 rated on best quality and best value.

The 2011 edition rated over 1,800 national universities, national liberal arts colleges, regional universities and regional colleges on 16 areas related to academic excellence which included peer assessment, retention and graduation of students, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, alumni giving, and graduation rate performance.

Take a look at the top 25…

Harvard University

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Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and established in 1636, Harvard takes top spot in the rankings.

The university has over 2,100 faculty members and a student intake of about 21,000 each year for its degree programmes.

Tuition and fees: $38,416 approx

Princeton University

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Located in Princeton, New Jersey, it is the fourth oldest college in the US (chartered in 1746).

The iniversity provides undergrad and graduate programmes in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and engineering.

It has over 1,100 faculty members, 34 departments and student intake of over 7,490 each year.

Tuition and fees: $36,640 approx

Yale University

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Located in New Haven, Connecticut, Yale was founded in 1701 and is the third oldest university in the US.

It offers over 2,000 undergraduate courses in the liberal arts and sciences and has over 65 departments and programmes.

Tuition and fees: $38,300 approx

Columbia University

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Located in New York, it was founded in 1754 and is the fifth oldest university in the US.

It has over 3,560 faculty and provides postgraduate education through 13 graduate and professional schools.

Tuition and fees: $43,300 approx

Stanford University

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Located in Palo Alto, California, the university was established in 1891.

Organised into 7 schools, it offers 18 degrees and enrols over 18,600 students annually for its undergrad and graduate courses.

Tuition and fees: $39,000 approx

University of Pennsylvania

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Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the university has over 4,100 faculty to support about 24,600 students.

It has 12 schools that offer undergraduate, graduate and continuing education programmes.

Tuition and fees: $40,514 approx

California Institute of Technology

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Caltech is located in Pasadena, California.

It has six academic divisions with a focus on enginnering and science, about 300 faculty and a student intake of about 2,100 each year.

Tuition and fees: $36,282 approx

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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Located in Cambridge, Massachusettes, MIT has five schools — architecture and planning; engineering; humanities, arts, and social sciences; management; and science.

Housing 32 academic departments, it employs over 1,000 faculty and has a student intake of over 10,000 students each year.

Tuition and fees: $39,212 approx

Dartmouth College

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Located in Hanover, New Hampshire, Dartmouth was established in 1769.

It has a undergraduate and graduate college, with three professional schools. It offers 17 graduate degrees and has over 5,800 students enrolled with over 995 faculty.

Tuition and fees: $40,437 approx

Duke University

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Located in Durham, North Carolina, Duke University was established in 1924.

It has 10 schools and colleges with a total of 13,662 students enrolled. With an annual intake of about 4,300 students it is supported by 1,752 faculty.

Tuition and fees: $40,472 approx

University of Chicago

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Located in Illinois the university has 4 graduate divisions and 6 professional schools.

It has over 2,211 faculty and over 15,000 students enrolled.

Tuition and fees: $41,091 approx

Northwestern University

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Located in Evanston, Illinois, the university was founded in 1851.

It has 12 schools and colleges offering over 260 undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees.

Tuition and fees: $40,247 approx

Johns Hopkins University

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Located in Baltimore, Maryland, JHU was founded in 1876.

It has 9 schools offers 50 majors and 40 minors across the humanities, social sciences, engineering and natural sciences.

Tuition and fees: $40,680 approx

Washington University in St Louis

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Situated at St Louis, Missouri, the university was established in 1853.

Made up of 7 schools, it has 3,297 faculty and over 13,000 students enrolled in its 300 programmes and 1,900 courses.

Tuition and fees: $40,374 approx

Brown University

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Located in Providence, Rhode Island, brown was founded in 1764.

Over 7,000 students are enrolled in the undergraduate, graduate and medical schools. It offers nearly 100 programmes supported by 628 faculty members.

Tuition and fees: $40,820 approx

Cornell University

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Located in Ithaca, New York, Cornell was established in 1865.

It offers 4,000 courses in its 11 undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools. It has over 2,900 faculty and has a total of 21,325 student enrolments.

Tuition and fees: $39,666 approx

Rice University

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Located in Houston, Texas, Rice was established in 1912.

It is organised into 8 schools offering 40 undergraduate, 51 masters and 29 doctoral programmes. It also has over 1000 faculty.

Tuition and fees: $33,771 approx

Vanderbilt University

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Located in Nashville, Tennessee, the university was established in 1873.

It has 10 schools offering undergraduate programmes in the liberal arts and sciences, engineering, music, education and human development, as well as graduate and professional degrees.

It has over 12,500 student enrolled and 3,124 full-time faculty.

Tuition and fees: $39,932 approx

University of Notre Dame

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Located in Notre Dame, Indiana, it was founded in 1842.

The university has four colleges, three schools, six major research institutes, and more than 40 centers and special programmes.

Tuition and fees: $39,919 approx

Emory University

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Located in Atlanta, Georgia, Emory was founded in 1836.

It has 11 undergrad and graduate schools with over 12,930 students enrolled.

Tuition and fees: $39,158 approx

Georgetown University

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Located in Washington, DC it was established in 1789.

It offers 180 programmes in four undergraduate schools, three graduate and professional schools. It has over 15,000 studenst enrolled.

Tuition and fees: $40,203 approx

University of California, Berkeley

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The oldest of the 10 universities affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley is divided into 14 colleges and schools, with 130 academic departments and more than 80 interdisciplinary research units.

More than 7,000 courses in 350 degree programmes are on offer. It has over 35,843 students enrolled and over 2,000 faculty.

Tuition and fees: $33,747 approx

Carnegie Mellon University

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Located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon began in 1900.

It consists of seven schools and colleges with over 11,000 students enrolled.

Tuition and fees: $41,940 approx

University of Southern California

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USC is located in Los Angeles and was founded in 1880.

It has a total of 35,000 students, 3,200 full-time faculty and 19 academic units.

Tuition and fees: $41,022 approx

University of California, Los Angeles

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Located in Los Angeles, California, UCLA rounds off the top 25.

Founded in 1919, it is the second oldest out of 10 to be associated with the University of California.

It offers 118 undergrad and 200 graduate degree programmes and takes in over 35,000 students every year.

Tuition fee: $33,660 approx

Source : Rediff