City Los Angeles
Enrollment 48,000
Nickname Bruins

Tops Among Publics UCLA’s health care services, programs for veterans, and inclusive spirit helped push the university into the top spot on US News & World Report's Top Public Schools list for the seventh year in a row.

Highly Sought After UCLA is the most applied-to university in the nation, with more than 146,000 applications for fall 2024 first-year admission.

Good Taste UCLA has earned the title of Best College Food in America from niche.com.

Sports Legends Famed basketball coach John Wooden led his teams to ten national titles in twelve years. Trailblazing icons Jackie Robinson, Kenny Washington (first African American to break the NFL’s informal ban against Black players), Ann Meyers (first woman to receive a college basketball scholarship), and Arthur Ashe (first African American tennis player to win the US Open) changed the world on and off the playing fields and courts.

Hills of Westwood

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City Champaign-Urbana
Enrollment 57,000
Nickname Fighting Illini

Advancing Tech Revolutionary ideas and inventions from faculty, students, and alumni, including the transistor, the visible LED, the modern graphical internet browser, PayPal, and YouTube, have quite literally changed the way everyone sees and interacts with the world.

For the Bookish University Library holds one of the largest public university collections in the world, with fifteen million volumes at more than twenty libraries.

A Historic Field Illinois Athletics will celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of Memorial Stadium in 2024. The stadium was constructed as a tribute to Illinois men and women who gave their lives for the country during World War I. In the dedication game against the University of Michigan October 18, 1924, Harold “Red” Grange—Fighting Illini legend and college football’s first superstar—ran the opening kickoff back ninety-five yards for a touchdown in front of sixty-seven thousand roaring fans, one of his five running touchdowns on the day.

March of the Illini

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City Bloomington
Enrollment 48,000
Nickname Hoosiers

Digital Future IU has a first-of-its-kind informatics school, spearheading research in supercomputing, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and data science.

Rave Reviews Faculty and graduates in the Department of Theatre, Drama, and Contemporary Dance have won four Tonys, six Oscars, thirty-three Emmys, and sixty-six Grammys.

From Academia to Industry IU chemists developed and patented a fluoride toothpaste that became Crest.

Hoops Hysteria The 1975–76 men’s squad, coached by the legendary Bob Knight, remains the last team to go undefeated and win the NCAA National Championship.

Hello, Hoosiers!

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City Iowa City
Enrollment 31,000
Nickname Hawkeyes

The Writing University The renowned Iowa Writers’ Workshop was the first creative writing degree program in the nation. Iowa is ranked the top public university for writing by US News & World Report.

Where Art Meets Science Iowa awarded the first-ever master of fine arts in 1940, distinguished itself in space exploration with discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts, and houses a nationally recognized medical center.

Star Power, Powerful Wave Caitlin Clark, the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division I basketball, twice led Iowa to the title game and was selected first in the April 2024 WNBA draft (Indiana Fever). At the end of the first quarter of home football games, fans and players give the Hawkeye Wave to youth patients and families of the University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children’s Hospital that looks over the stadium.

Hawkeyes in Flight

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City College Park
Enrollment 41,000
Nickname Terrapins

Government Center As the only public research university inside the Washington, DC, beltway, UMD has strategic partnerships with national institutions that provide exceptional opportunities for faculty and students. UMD offers more than three hundred academic programs, twenty-five living-learning programs, and four hundred study abroad programs to empower students to make a global impact.

The Greater Good The university’s Do Good Institute—a campus-wide hub of social innovation and entrepreneurship—has established UMD as a global leader in advancing social change, philanthropy, and nonprofit leadership.

Consistent Conference Champs Since joining the Big Ten in the 2014–15 season, Maryland has won or shared in forty-nine regular season or tournament championships, third-most in the conference.

Terrapin Station

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City Ann Arbor
Enrollment 52,000
Nickname Wolverines

Dedicated to Discovery With nineteen schools and colleges and more than two hundred centers and institutes, the University of Michigan conducts research in nearly every area of science, social science, medicine, engineering, public health, education, business, and the humanities. In 2023, Michigan reported a record $1.86 billion in research expenditures, fueling advancements in areas ranging from mobility to artificial intelligence to social justice.

Finding Answers The university is focused on issues in today’s world with initiatives that include firearm injury prevention, poverty solutions, environmental justice, and sustainability.

Storied Athletic Tradition Intercollegiate competition officially began in 1865, with the baseball team winning its first three games. In 1879, football started its path to becoming college’s all-time winningest program. Nearly three hundred Wolverines have represented thirty-seven countries in the Olympics, winning more than 180 medals, including at least one medal in every Summer Games since 1900.

Meet Michigan

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City East Lansing
Enrollment 51,000
Nickname Spartans

Tops in Teacher Ed For thirty years running, US News and World Report has ranked the College of Education No. 1 in elementary and secondary teacher education. MSU is also home to the No. 1 undergraduate and graduate programs in supply chain management.

Combating Cancer In 1965, Michigan State scientists discovered the chemical compound cisplatin is a cancer treatment. The compound—which prevents the DNA in cancer cells from replicating—is used to treat many types of the disease. Today, rare isotopes produced by the powerful heavy-ion accelerator on campus are used to develop targeted cancer imaging and therapy.

Courting Success The men’s basketball team has made twenty-six straight NCAA tournament appearances, including ten Final Fours. During the 2023–24 academic year, MSU won Big Ten titles in women’s soccer, cross country, gymnastics, and men’s ice hockey.

Home of the Spartans

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Cities Minneapolis and St. Paul
Enrollment 50,000
Nickname Gophers

“10,000 Lakes” and a Legendary River The U of M’s Twin Cities campus is in Minneapolis—on both sides of the Mississippi River—and St. Paul. A field station near the headwaters offers students and researchers access to diverse habitats.

Comprehensive and Responsive The U of M is highly ranked in nursing, chemical engineering, business, ecology, psychology, and robotics. The university is also a pioneer in apple breeding and organ transplantation, with more than thirteen thousand organ transplant surgeries since the program began in the 1960s. The pacemaker was invented at the U of M, as was the retractable seat belt.

Raising Banners Fitting for the “State of Hockey,” the women’s team has won seven national titles and the men’s team, five. Dating to 1904, the Golden Gopher football team has won seven national championships.

Gopher Land

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City Lincoln
Enrollment 24,000
Nickname Cornhuskers

A Top-Tier Research University The University of Nebraska–Lincoln drives cutting-edge research across disciplines, from taking over for Princeton in leading US physicists at the Large Hadron Collider to constructing the first USDA research facility for sustainable, resilient, and highly efficient agriculture on UNL’s campus.

Doing Big Things For the seventh straight year, the University of Nebraska has been named among the top one hundred patent-earning institutions in the world.

There Is No Place Like Nebraska With five national championships each for our football and volleyball programs, and as Division 1 leaders for NCAA Academic All-Americans, Husker Athletics has cultivated a powerful tradition of excellence. Known for having the best fans in college sports, Nebraska broke world records in August 2023 when 92,003 fans packed Memorial Stadium for a historic Husker Volleyball match.

Rally Huskers

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Cities Evanston and Chicago, Illinois
Enrollment 23,000
Nickname Wildcats

At the Top Northwestern consistently ranks among the top US universities — No. 9 nationally in the 2024 US News and World Report— and is known for prestigious programs across multiple disciplines.

Graduate Programs Northwestern is one of four top ten US universities ranked in the top twenty in all five graduate education categories business, medicine, law, education, and engineering.

Standing Out with Trophies and Diplomas The field hockey team took the 2021 national championship and women’s lacrosse has won eight NCAA titles since 2005. Student-athletes have a 98 percent graduation rate, tied for No. 1 among institutions in the Football Bowl Subdivision—formerly Division I-A —and leading the Big Ten for the nineteenth consecutive year.

Go, ’Cats!

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City Columbus
Enrollment 61,000
Nickname Buckeyes

Capturing the Ever-elusive Electron Professor Pierre Agostini was part of a team awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in physics. Agostini and his colleagues used pulses of light that lasted just one quintillionth of a second to capture electrons—something that had never been done before.

Jump Starters The Buckeye Accelerator program helps student entrepreneurs prepare a startup for launch, with structured support that includes funding, skill building, and networking.

Script Ohio The musical drill “Script Ohio” is one of the most recognizable Ohio State traditions, dating to 1936. During football games, the roar of the crowd surges with the dotting of the i, an honor that goes to a senior sousaphone player.

Dot the i

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City Eugene
Enrollment 23,000
Nickname Ducks

Making a Splash Focused on societal impact, the UO is strong in biological and applied sciences and a research leader in sport and human performance, mental health and well-being, and environmental resilience. UO scientists were the first to use zebrafish as a model organism; today, labs worldwide use the shimmery fish to study everything from diabetes to Parkinson’s disease.

Rare Air Attracting students from all fifty states and more than ninety countries, Oregon is one of only two schools in the Pacific Northwest in the Association of American Universities, a consortium of seventy-plus leading public and private research institutions.

From TrackTown USA to the End Zone Change agent and innovator, the UO was the setting for Nike’s birth, the waffle-sole running shoe, and the 1960s jogging craze that make Eugene a running capital. Today the UO is home to elite track and field and a football team as exciting to watch—check out the latest uniforms!—as they are punishing to play.

'Sco Ducks

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City University Park and communities across Pennsylvania
Enrollment 90,000
Nickname Nittany Lions

Research Excellence Penn State ranks third nationally for the breadth and depth of its research, as measured by the number of top ten rankings in key fields. From stopping the spread of malaria to salvaging rare earth elements from coal waste, the university’s interdisciplinary researchers solve problems for the world’s benefit.

Largest Alumni Network With more than 775,000 alumni, Penn State has the largest—and one of the most passionate—alumni networks in the United States.

Football Fans Wear White At designated White Out games, more than 110,000 fans break out color-coordinated shirts to cheer on the Nittany Lions at Beaver Stadium, creating an unforgettable atmosphere and a home field advantage.

Where Nittany Lions Lurk

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City West Lafayette, Indiana
Enrollment 56,000
Nickname Boilermakers

Innovation and Discovery Purdue is committed to developing practical solutions to today’s toughest challenges. As champions for research and innovation, Purdue researchers have advanced thinking in physical artificial intelligence, semiconductors and microelectronics, drug discovery and cancer research, cybersecurity, global sustainability, computing, and quantum science and engineering.

The Value of Higher Ed Committed to affordability and accessibility, the main campus has frozen tuition thirteen years in a row.

Founding Member The Big Ten was established in 1896 under the leadership of Purdue president James Smart. Fifteen Purdue quarterbacks have gone on to play in the NFL.

Boiler Up!

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City New Brunswick, New Jersey
Enrollment 51,000
Nickname Scarlet Knights

All are Welcome Among Big Ten schools, Rutgers–New Brunswick ranks first in campus ethnic diversity and social mobility. It’s also the top university in the conference for transfer students. Rutgers Scarlet Service, an undergraduate internship program, sends students to nonprofits and government offices to work on issues related to public health, infrastructure, education, and the environment.

The Leading Edge From deploying ocean robots during hurricanes for better forecast accuracy to examining the relationship between rigorous exercise and Alzheimer’s disease, Rutgers research scientists are addressing global challenges.

Where Football Began Rutgers is the birthplace of college football, having hosted the first-ever collegiate matchup November 6, 1869—a 6-4 victory over Princeton.

Battle with the Scarlet Knights

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City Los Angeles
Enrollment 49,000
Nickname Trojans

School of Schools With twenty-three schools, including six in the creative arts, USC provides a breadth and depth of academic programs for students to excel in every field that interests them.

Computing Pioneers The university developed the first network computers and shaped the internet’s core architecture. USC researchers created the Domain Name System (which introduced .com, .edu, and .org to internet naming standards) and two alumni laid the foundation for ChatGPT. The new School of Advanced Computing is part of a $1 billion Frontiers of Computing initiative to integrate advanced computing—with an emphasis on ethics and responsibility—into academics across all disciplines.

Heisman History With eight Heisman Trophy winners, the Trojans stand unrivaled in college football history. USC has produced more Olympians, medalists, and gold medalists than any other university.

Fight On!

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City Seattle
Enrollment 61,000
Nickname Huskies

Climate Focus Students and faculty in the College of the Environment—the nation’s largest—conduct interdisciplinary research on climate change, ocean health, natural hazards, conservation, and more. The UW is also home to the Clean Energy Institute, whose mission is to accelerate clean-energy technology and solutions.

Farm to Dorm The UW Farm is a 1.5-acre student-powered urban organic farm and educational facility that supplies six tons of produce each year for campus dining halls, local food banks, and the community.

Gold Standard The UW’s “Boys in the Boat” rowing team won Olympic gold in 1936, an underdog story captured in the best-selling book turned Hollywood movie. The men’s and women’s programs continue to live up to that legacy, with the men recently winning their twentieth national championship.

Wave to Washington

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City Madison
Enrollment 50,000
Nickname Badgers

Research Powerhouse UW–Madison’s annual research expenditures top $1.5 billion, eighth among universities nationally and generating discoveries such as cosmic neutrinos at the South Pole and the first lab-cultivated embryonic stem cells.

Wisconsin Idea Students and faculty embrace a century-old principle called the “Wisconsin Idea”—a belief that education should improve people’s lives beyond the classroom. Thousands of alumni have taken this service mission abroad through the Peace Corps, which named the university its top producer of volunteers in 2023.

Smellin’ Roses The Badgers have won thirty-three NCAA national championships in team sports, including a record seven titles in women’s hockey, the latest in 2023. Known for its hard-nosed play, the football team has appeared in ten Rose Bowls and became the first program to win back-to-back games in Pasadena (1999 and 2000).

Badger Territory

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