2023's Top Smartest U.S. Universities and Colleges

Ranked by Average IQ Scores

Our unique approach sets us apart. We base our rankings on a robust scientific method. This ensures that our list isn't just a collection of opinions but a data-driven analysis backed by credible scientific research.

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Rank College IQ Score Average of Undergraduate Students Percentile SAT Score
1 Caltech 145 99.88 1557
2 MIT 144 99.83 1535
3 Olin College 143 99.81 1528
4 Rice 143 99.81 1527
4 Vanderbilt 143 99.81 1527
6 HMC 143 99.79 1521
6 JHU 143 99.79 1521
6 UChicago 143 99.79 1521
9 Columbia 143 99.79 1520
9 Northwestern 143 99.79 1520
9 Stanford 143 99.79 1520
12 Yale 143 99.77 1514
13 CMU 142 99.76 1513
13 Harvard 142 99.76 1513
13 UPenn 142 99.76 1513
13 Washington University in St. Louis 142 99.76 1513
17 Pomona 142 99.74 1507
18 Duke 142 99.74 1505
19 Brown 142 99.72 1500
19 Cornell 142 99.72 1500
19 Princeton 142 99.72 1500
22 NYU 141 99.69 1493
23 Dartmouth 141 99.69 1492
23 Tufts 141 99.69 1492
25 Northeastern University 141 99.65 1485
25 Swarthmore College 141 99.65 1485
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School IQ Score Average of Undergraduate Students Percentile SAT Score
Williams 142 99.75 1510.00
Notre Dame 140 99.63 1480.00
Emory 140 99.63 1480.00
Georgetown 140 99.63 1480.00
USC 140 99.63 1480.00
Boston College 140 99.63 1480.00
Claremont McKenna College 140 99.63 1480.00
Vassar 140 99.63 1480.00
Wellesley 140 99.58 1470.00
UCLA 139 99.52 1460.00
University of Virginia 139 99.52 1460.00
Middlebury 139 99.52 1460.00
University of Michigan 138 99.45 1450.00
Georgia Tech 138 99.45 1450.00
Pitzer 138 99.45 1450.00
Scripps 138 99.45 1450.00
Rochester 138 99.45 1450.00
Berkeley 138 99.38 1440.00
Boston University 138 99.38 1440.00
William & Mary 138 99.38 1440.00
RPI 138 99.38 1440.00
Tulane 138 99.38 1440.00
UIUC 137 99.29 1430.00
UW Madison 137 99.29 1430.00
Wake Forest 137 99.29 1430.00
Bowdoin 136 99.2 1420.00
UNC Chapel Hill 136 99.2 1420.00
Villanova 136 99.2 1420.00
Lehigh 135 99.09 1410.00
Trinity 135 99.09 1410.00
GWU 135 98.96 1400.00
SUNY Binghamton 134 98.85 1390.00
Stony Brook 134 98.85 1390.00
UF 134 98.85 1390.00
The University of Miami 133 98.7 1380.00
UCSD 133 98.54 1370.00
UT Austin 133 98.54 1370.00
AU 132 98.36 1360.00
Rutgers 132 98.36 1360.00
UGA 132 98.36 1360.00
UMass Amherst 132 98.36 1360.00
Pitt 132 98.36 1360.00
UCSB 132 98.27 1355
OSU 131 98.15 1350.00
Pepperdine 131 98.15 1350.00
UW 131 98.15 1350.00
LMU 131 97.97 1340.00
UC Irvine 130 97.76 1332
BYU 130 97.72 1330.00
Cal Poly 130 97.72 1330.00
UConn 130 97.72 1330.00
UVM 130 97.17 1310.00
Chapman 129 97.17 1310.00
Drexel 129 97.17 1310.00
Syracuse 129 97.17 1310.00
Texas A&M 129 97.17 1310.00
Virginia Tech 129 96.86 1300.00
Penn State 128 96.86 1300.00
University of San Francisco 127 96.55 1290.00
UT Dallas 127 96.19 1280.00
CU Boulder 127 95.79 1270.00
IU Bloomington 126 95.79 1270.00
Miami University 126 95.79 1270.00
Gonzaga University 125 95.45 1262.00
UC Davis 125 95.35 1260.00
Baylor 125 95.35 1260.00
University of Portland 125 95.35 1260.00
UC Santa Cruz 125 94.88 1250.00
University of Arizona 125 94.88 1250.00
University of Cincinnati 125 94.45 1250.00
TCU 124 94.45 1240.00
University of Iowa 124 93.9 1230.00
Seattle University 124 93.9 1227.00
Temple University 124 93.32 1220.00
Pace University 123 93.32 1220.00
University of Alabama 123 92.69 1210.00
Michigan State University 122 92.69 1210.00
Montana State University - Bozeman 121 90.21 1200.00
Oregon State University - Corvallis 121 91.73 1195.00
UC Riverside 119 90.21 1175.00
Sacred Heart University 119 90.21 1175.00
Washington State University - Pullman 116 85.69 1125.00

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FAQ
  1. What can I do with this table?
    You can see which Universities would be more likely to admit you based on SAT scores. If you have not taken an SAT yet or if you are from a country that does not administer the SAT you can use your estimated IQ test score to determine what your SAT score might be.
  2. Does SAT matter anymore? I read some Colleges including Berkeley stopped using SAT scores.
    Yes SAT matters as most Universities/Colleges use it. Some colleges made SAT optional during Covid and few decided to not accept SAT scores anymore, to be more flexible in who to admit.
  3. Are SAT and IQ test scores correlated?
    Yes. The coefficient of correlation was reported to be greater than 0.8, which means there is a strong correlation.
  4. Why SAT and IQ Test scores correlate with each other. In other words, why a high IQ person also scores high in SAT and why a person scoring high in SAT also scores high in IQ Test?
    Because SAT is actually based on an IQ test. You can read about it here.
  5. How strong is a correlation coefficient of 0.8?
    Similar to how smoking correlates to lung cancer and how exercise correlates to cardiovascular health. Meaning people who smoke more are more likely to get lung cancer, people who exercise regularly are more likely to have healthier hearths, people who have higher IQ score are more likely to get higher SAT Scores. All have correlation factor of around 0.8. More technical explanations of correlation factor can be seen at Professor Ratner's paper.
  6. Is there a scientific publication showing the correlation data?
    Yes. You can check the Figure 1 of this paper published by Professor Douglas K. Detterman in the journal "Psychological Science" which includes data, graphs and analysis.
  7. Does this mean all students from a higher ranking school are smarter compared to all students from lower ranked Universities?
    No. These are average values. But you can expect a randomly selected student from the higher ranked school to be smarter than a randomly selected student at a lower ranked school.
  8. Does it mean most students of higher ranked school are smarter than most students of lower ranked school?
    Mostly yes. Unless lower ranked school admitted students with low scores more intensely. Then, its distribution curve of scores will be left skewed. Standard deviation considers square value of each value’s difference to the mean. So most students of such schools may still be smarter compared to the students of schools that we ranked higher. UC Berkeley is a strong candidate to fit to this assumption.
  9. Is the correlation of SAT and IQ test score strong for all IQ test scores?
    No. Correlation is weaker at the very high and very low SAT scores. This is typical in statistical analysis as edge values will have lower precision. For example, a Caltech student may be smarter than an MIT student, even though MIT ranks slightly higher in this ranking. Also, high SAT scores will tend to predict lower IQ test scores than it should be and the lower SAT scores will tend to predict higher IQ test scores than it should be, since IQ test scores tend to display regression to the mean for edge values.
  10. Which mathematical formula did you use?
    IQ = 39.545 + 0.068*(SAT score) from Murray, C. (2013). Coming Apart, page 375.
  11. How can I know my IQ test score estimate?
    You can use our IQ test score estimation product.
  12. What is the average IQ in Harvard?
    Average IQ of Harvard undergraduate students is 142.
  13. What is the IQ of students at MIT?
    14. Average IQ of students at MIT is 144.
  14. Are MIT students smart?
    Yes, MIT students have an average IQ of 144 making them ranked second after Caltech students who have an average IQ of 145.
  15. What is the smartest university in the world?
    16. Smartest University in US is California Institute of Technology (Caltech) with average student IQ of 145. There is a good change it is also the smartest University in the World as US has best schools worldwide.
  16. What is the #1 college in the US?
    California Institute of Technology (Caltech) is the #1 college in US as it has the smartest students with average IQ estimation of 145.
  17. Which Ivy League is considered the best?
    Columbia University ranks slight higher compared to Harvard and Princeton in our list with average IQ of 143. However, harvard is considered to be better compared to Columbia and Princeton with its long standing reputation.
  18. What college has the most successful students?
    California Institute of Technology (Caltech) students are the most succesful students as Caltech requires the highest average SAT score for admission and Caltech students are the smartest students in US with average IQ of 145.
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