Lehigh Ranks No. 15 in WSJ’s Best Colleges of 2025

The Wall Street Journal/College Pulse 2025 Best Colleges in the U.S. rankings named Lehigh University No. 15 out of the top 500 universities in the country.

Lehigh was featured among the nation’s top colleges for the second straight year, earning an overall score of 84.6. Rankings are based on Student Outcomes (70%), Learning Environment (20%), and Diversity (10%). Lehigh excelled in “Student Outcomes,” with high scores in Salary Impact (99) and Graduation Rate (85). The calculation also considers the time to pay off net price, where Lehigh stood at 1 year, 8 months.

The rankings assess colleges on financial success, graduation chances, and future earnings, combined with survey feedback on college life. Other lists included Best Salaries, where schools were ranked on graduate salaries and how those relate to attendance costs. On this list, Lehigh ranked No. 13.

The 2025 rankings were expanded to 100 more schools, with many new entrants in the top 50. Nearly 55,000 students and alumni were surveyed online from January to May 2024, combined with 57,000 responses from the previous year, totaling over 112,000 participants after removing duplicates.

Here are the publication’s top-10 colleges:

1. Princeton University
2. Babson College
3. Stanford University
4. Yale University
5. Claremont McKenna College
6. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
7. Harvard University
8. University of California
9. Georgia Institute of Technology
10. Davidson College

Lehigh University’s academic programs continue to attract talented students. Prospective students can connect with the Admissions Office for questions, visits, and information sessions.