The 25 Most Desirable Large Schools

Founded in 1925, the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, is on Newsweek's list of most desirable large campuses, at No. 18.  
 
Even with 10,422 undergraduates, over 50 percent of undergraduate classes at this private college have 16 or fewer students. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in the fall of 2009 the University of Miami received 21,845 applications and admitted 39 percent of those applicants. Further data shows that the school will retain around 90 percent of its full-time students.  
 
As for the student body, it is made up of 53 percent women, 47 percent men and the majority--45 percent--of the student population is Caucasian. At 23 percent, Hispanics are the next largest segment, followed by African-Americans (8 percent) and Asian-Americans (5 percent).  
 
Tuition for the 2009-2010 school year was $26,640. That year, 85 percent of University of Miami students received some form of aid.