A view from Charles street of the grassy "Beach" and Milton S Eisenhower Library of the Johns Hopkins University; three male students, their backs facing the camera, sit on top of the marble university sign, other students sunbathing and playing catc
WASHINGTON, D.C. - If you're looking for world-class higher education in the DMV, you don't have to travel far!
Some of the top-ranking universities across the country are sitting right in our backyard in Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland.
What we know:
Eight universities across the region have claimed spots in the top 100 of the U.S. News & World Report’s 2027 Best Colleges rankings.
This year's ranking saw Princeton lose its 15-year crown as the nation's No. 1 university to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Johns Hopkins University also dropped two spots, remaining in the top 10.
Here's how schools in Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland ranked among the list's Top 100 universities:
Washington, D.C.
- No. 23: Georgetown University
- No. 59: George Washington University
- No. 73: Howard University
- No. 95: American University
Virginia
- No. 26: University of Virginia
- No. 52: Virginia Tech/ William & Mary
Maryland
- No. 9: Johns Hopkins University
- No. 49: University of Maryland, College Park
These are the top colleges, universities in the 2027 U.S. News rankings
A new college ranking evaluates nearly 1,700 institutions across the country based on academic quality, student outcomes, faculty resources and other factors.
How the list is calculated
Dig deeper:
The 2027 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings evaluate more than 1,700 colleges and universities using up to 17 distinct measures of academic quality and graduate success. To ensure fair comparisons, institutions are first divided into 10 distinct categories based on their academic missions and research focus.
While U.S. News relies heavily on detailed statistical surveys submitted directly by the schools, participation is not strictly required to be ranked. For non-responders, researchers cross-referenced school-reported figures with external federal and third-party databases, including the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard and Elsevier's global analytics.
Each school is scored on a 0 to 100 scale within its specific category, with the top-performing institution setting the benchmark at 100.
The Source: Information from this article was sourced from the U.S. News & World Report’s 2027 Best Colleges rankings.