Which colleges are the most progressive in the U.S.?
Based on diversity, inclusivity, sustainability, and freedom of speech policies and statistics the below rankings reveal the most progressive universities and colleges in the United States.
To jump to a specific section of the study, please click on one of the 5 icons.
For a complete breakdown of the sources and methodology used, go to our methodology section.
Diversity
Freedom of Speech
Inclusivity
Health and Well-being
Sustainability
Top 5 Universities
Winner
Stanford University
Region
West
Diversity
76.6
Inclusivity
85.6
Sustainability
95.0
Freedom of Speech
55.6
Health and Well-being
58.6
Overall Score
74.3
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
73.4
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
71.0
YALE UNIVERSITY
68.2
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES
68.1
Scores
Use the filterable table below to discover who comes top overall and for each respective progressive category. Please read the methodology section for a full explanation into how these scores were calculated.
College
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Diversity
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Inclusivity
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Sustainability
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Freedom of Speech
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Health and Well-being
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Overall Score
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Diversity
Which colleges in the U.S. are the most diverse? Pulling in data measuring LGBTQ+ support, gender, ethnic and geographic diversity, the following universities scored the highest in our analysis:
Top 5 Universities
CALTECH
95
NYU
92.3
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
87.0
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES
85.3
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
85
Findings
The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) narrowly edged out New York University as the most diverse college in the U.S. Its score of 95.0 was thanks, in part, to its current diversity policy and the demographics of its student body. As per its Center for Inclusion and Diversity program, Caltech abides by state and federal laws, including Title IX, at all levels. This includes students, faculty, researchers, and staff.
This commitment to diversity has led to a student population that’s 54.7% men and 45.3% women. Of the 2,237 undergraduate and graduate students, 27% are white. Overall, 7 racial-ethnic groups are represented at Caltech, with Asian and black students accounting for a total of 53.8% of the student population.
Spotlight Q&A
Sarah Ondak
First trans person on the Stanford rowing team
What does it mean to you to be graduating as the first trans rower at Stanford?
To me, it feels kind of weird. I never wanted to be the first anything, but because I was, I felt like I had an obligation to speak up about LGBTQ+ equality on the team. It was never my intention to be the sole representative of my community, but when you’re the only person who identifies in a certain way, you have to make space for yourself.
When you were applying to colleges, what qualities were you looking for? Did inclusivity play a big part in where you applied?
Inclusivity was never really something I considered, which is interesting when I think about how much time I spent advocating for more inclusivity on my team. Not that anyone was homophobic in any way, just that certain conversations weren’t being had. I don’t regret choosing Stanford for a second though.
Standford has recently been ranked the most progressive universtity in the U.S. with high scores in inclusivity. How have you experienced this from your perspective? Would you agree?
Honestly if Stanford is the most progressive school in the US, that’s kind of concerning. I would say I was able to become really close to people from a lot of different backgrounds, and surrounding myself with trans people was really how I found out I myself was also trans. But the student population skews very very affluent and I think that’s an area where diversity can still improve.
Do you think you graduating as Stanford's first trans rower send a message to other universities and perhaps even the sports world as a whole?
I don’t think it’s that big a deal. I’m not being held up as some shining example of “this trans person accomplished xyz and if you’re trans so can you!”. It’s not like that, but maybe just by existing in a space and on the team I made people aware that there are other ways to exist, and that being yourself is in some ways the most radical and important thing you can do.
Inclusivity
Affordability and financial aid were used to gauge inclusivity. The total cost of attending each college on an annual basis was weighed up against the cost for students from low-income backgrounds.
Top 5 Universities
DUKE UNIVERSITY
95.0
YALE UNIVERSITY
86.6
STANFORD UNIVERSITY
85.6
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
85.4
WILLIAMS COLLEGE
83.9
Findings
The desire to achieve a diverse environment is important. However, this is only possible if the financial barriers to entry don’t exclude people from certain socioeconomic backgrounds. Duke is the second highest-rated university in the U.S., with an acceptance rate of just 10%. This makes it one of the most selective in overall terms. However, 50% of those accepted are women and 44.5% of students are from racial-ethnic minorities.
Duke’s ability to balance being highly selective with being open to students from all backgrounds comes from its fee structure. Students from wealthy backgrounds pay $76,929 for tuition. The net price for low-income families, thanks to various grants, is -$5,984. This means low-income undergraduates can not only offset their $76,929 fees, but make money thanks to grants totaling $82,913.
Sustainability
Data and ratings from STARS and Sierra Magazine were combined to provide an overall perspective on how much focus each college puts on energy and sustainability. These are the top performing colleges…
Top 5 Universities
STANFORD UNIVERSITY
95.0
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
86.9
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
86.6
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS
77.0
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
70.7
Findings
Consistently placing high in both The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) and Sierra Magazine’s Cool Schools ratings, Stanford was ranked as the most sustainable college in the US. Stanford’s Platinum STARS rating is up from Gold and is down to a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
As per the university’s data, the emission of greenhouse gases is down 72% on peak levels. Domestic water usage is also down 45%, while energy and landfill usage have both dropped by 26%. These results are due, in part, to operational reporting and dashboards.
By installing 25+ campus dashboards alongside 135+ building-specific dashboards, Stanford can monitor various sustainability metrics.
Freedom of Speech
Methodology: The number of organizations, student clubs, and any direct policies referencing freedom of speech were used to rank colleges according to this metric.
Top 5 Universities
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
95.0
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
80.6
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
75.9
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
71.3
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES
71.3
Findings
The University of Michigan scored high in our measurements of free speech. Stating that it is against stopping events on the grounds that some people are opposed to the event’s content, its Freedom of Speech and Artistic Expression policy reads, “diverse points of view” are “of the highest importance” not just for the speaker, but those wanting to listen.
Health and Well-being
Colleges were rated according to the number of mental health provisions they offer, as well as campus crime statistics.
Top 5 Universities
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
95.0
MIT
88.6
AMHERST COLLEGE
88.3
POMONA COLLEGE
82.7
WELLESLEY COLLEGE
81.6
Findings
Every college scored well with regards to health and well-being thanks to a strong focus on the mental aspects of academia and life in general.
This focus on mental health manifests itself through a variety of counseling and support services.
However, to provide some type of comparative analysis, we gave each institution a campus safety score.
The University of California – San Diego, came top with an index score of 95/100, due to excellent student mental health support and campus safety.
Methodology
Data for this research came from the following sources. These were:
- National Center for Education Statistics
- US Department for Education
- The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS)
- Sierra Club
- Each university and college website for reported policies and statistics
Source data verification was conducted to ensure all data collected and analyzed was reliable. All sources were fact checked to ensure credibility and authenticity.
Following this data collection and analysis, each data point was collated and compared to one another to create a finalized ranking for section and overall score.
Diversity
Diversity
When measuring diversity, we analyzed 4 features to get a good picture. We looked at ethnic diversity, gender diversity, geographic diversity and LGBTQ+ support.
- Ethnic diversity focuses on the makeup of the student and staff ethnicity, analyzing the racial representation.
- Gender diversity explores the ratio of male to female members within both students and staff.
- Geographic diversity focuses on the location of the students within the university.
- LGBTQ+ support focused on looking at the LGBTQ+ support and organizations within each university.
Inclusivity
Inclusivity
When analyzing we decided to focus on how available the universities were from a financial aspect, this included looking at:
Affordability for low-income families – This looked at the average net price of the tuition fees after all the financial aid had been included for individuals who come from low-income families.
Financial Aid – This looked at the financial aid in grants and scholarships that the universities offered to their undergrads on average at each given university.
Sustainability
Sustainability
When looking at the sustainability we decided to focus on 2 respectable and relevant sustainability tracking systems which are used by many universities:
STARS – The STARS system is a reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainable performance. STARS focuses on rating the higher education institutions to assess their long-term sustainability goals, and the recognition of institutions that are taking their first steps to ensure long term sustainability.
Sierra Report – This report is a framework used to analyze the sustainable performance of each university. Like the STARS rating system, yet utilizing a different weighting approach.
Using their overall score, we were able to quantify how well each university performed based on their sustainable performance.
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech
When analyzing freedom of speech, we decided to focus on the number of student organizations available at each university.
Campus safety
Campus safety
Collecting data on the number of crimes committed last year on campus for each university.
Recreational Areas
Recreational Areas
This feature set takes into consideration the number of recreational areas and well-being spaces each individual university has to offer.
Additional rankings
The findings here focus on specific metrics to evaluate what we have labelled ‘progressivity’, highlighting the importance of using a variety of tools and approaches to ranking schools. DegreeChoices’ core ranking system focuses on another key metric – return on investment – to provide an accurate picture of which schools deliver the best economic prospects for students.
Best national universities
Our best national universities category includes large public and research universities and other institutions offering a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate programs.
Best public universities
The best public universities rankings showcase schools that rely primarily on public funds and are therefore able to offer the most affordable tuition and graduate earning potential.
Best HBCU's
We also rank HBCUs, which are community anchor institutions, crucial for the economic upliftment of Black Americans.
Best hispanic serving institutions
You can also explore the best HSIs, accredited 2- and 4-year not-for-profit institutions with at least 25% Hispanic enrollment.
Best liberal arts colleges
Finally, our best liberal arts colleges rankings challenge the notion that a liberal arts education cannot provide excellent ROI.
For any additional questions on the methodology used, please get in touch with us.