located in upper manhattan columbia university in new york comes in at number five on this year’s top colleges list columbia houses three undergraduate programs the flagship columbia college the college of engineering and the school of general studies which admits non-traditional students colombia guarantees housing for all four years and most students take advantage of it more nobel laureates have graduated from or taught at columbia than any other university in the ivy league at number four is princeton university in princeton new jersey princeton is down one spot from last year’s list students whose families have an annual income below 65 000 are eligible for a grant to cover full tuition residential college fee room and board princeton meets 100 of demonstrated financial need for domestic and international students prince and alumni are high achieving the university has produced 21 road scholars over the last decade and 18 total alumni recipients of the nobel prize at number three is stanford university in palo alto california up from number four on last year’s list the institution’s engineering school has housed some of the most accomplished innovations of silicon valley families with annual incomes below 75 000 are not expected to pay tuition room or board at number two is uc berkeley in berkeley california berkeley is down one spot from last year’s list since the free speech movement of the 1960s berkeley students have maintained a strong tradition of involvement in social justice movements an attitude that pervades the berkeley spirit to this day the school is the top producer of peace corps members and 5 300 students participate in off-campus public service programs at number one is the massachusetts institute of technology in cambridge massachusetts up from number six on last year’s list last year researchers at mit filed 439 patents and 25 companies formed using the school’s intellectual property despite the school’s stem focus all students must complete a wide-ranging core curriculum which includes laboratory requirements and a 100 yard swim.