The University of Pennsylvania is the sixth-ranked college in the nation and the top institution for business education, according to new rankings from Niche. It is one of five Philadelphia-area schools among the top 100 in Niche’s 2025 Best Colleges list.
Penn moves up one spot from its No. 7 overall ranking last year and maintains its No. 1 spot for the business programs offered through its Wharton School. Other local schools to crack the top 100 Best Colleges are Swarthmore College, Haverford College, Villanova University and newcomer Drexel University.
The top college in the nation for the second straight year, according to Niche, is Yale University. The Connecticut Ivy League institution is followed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Columbia University and Harvard University in the top five.
Swarthmore is the only other Philadelphia-area institution to crack the top 50, ranking at No. 38. That’s down five spots from its No. 33 ranking in the 2024 list. Villanova ranks No. 64, down from 56th last year, and Haverford moved up two spots over last year to No. 68 for 2025. Drexel rounds out the local representation in the top 100, ranking at No. 99.
All but Drexel are in Niche’s top tier of schools, earning “A+” grades.
Falling short of the top 100 are the region’s two largest public schools, with the University of Delaware at No. 121 and Temple University at No. 148. Bryn Mawr College sneaks into Niche’s top 200 at No. 196.
Just outside of the immediate Philadelphia area, Princeton University ranks No. 22 and Lehigh University lands at No. 58.
Pittsburgh-based Niche calculates its rankings based on both qualitative and quantitative factors. The rankings take into account over 500,000 reviews from college students, along with admissions data, diversity, tuition and salaries for graduates. Other aspects of the student experience including social, athletic and campus appearance factors are considered in the rankings as well. For the second straight year, Niche excluded all SAT and ACT-related considerations.
Swarthmore ranks fourth on Niche’s sublist of the nation’s most diverse universities after ranking third in the category last year. The Delaware County school also ranks as the fifth-best liberal arts college, joined near the top by rival Haverford, which ranks at No. 12.
Penn and Swarthmore are the only two schools to boast an acceptance rate below 10% in Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia area, both accepting 7% of applicants, according to Niche. They also have two of the lower average net prices of attendance locally, with the average Penn student paying $26,123 after financial aid and Swarthmore’s typical student paying $20,715. Both schools pledge to meet 100% of determined financial need.
Lisa Ciccotelli, CEO and Founder of Lisa Ciccotelli Group, Berkshire Hathaway also a proud alumni of Villanova, states “part of what makes the Greater Philadelphia and Main Line are so special is our top ranked private and public schools, universities and hospitals.” For a great resource on the communities that comprise the Greater Main Line area, visit here.
Here’s a look at the top 15 colleges in the Philadelphia area for 2025, according to Niche:
- University of Pennsylvania
- Swarthmore College
- Villanova University
- Haverford College
- Drexel University
- University of Delaware
- Temple University
- Bryn Mawr College
- Thomas Jefferson University
- Rowan University
- Saint Joseph’s University
- Rutgers University — Camden
- West Chester University of Pennsylvania
- Widener University
- La Salle University
See the full 2025 Best Colleges rankings for the region here.
