25 Happiest Colleges (Photos)
Does college have to be so stressful? The Daily Beast analyzed retention rates and student opinions to find out which schools are turning out the happiest students.
Quinn Ryan/The Daily Beast
To find out which colleges have the most satisfied students, we first considered retention rate—that is, how many full-time freshman returned for a second year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics which made up 40 percent of our methodology. For the remaining 60 percent, we turned to Niche for student ratings on the overall student experience and whether they would do it all over again, as well as the quality of the student health center to consider the well-being of students and their access to health services.
Quinn Ryan/The Daily Beast
#25
University of California-Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Retention Rate: 96%
Overall Experience Score: 7.4
"If I could do it all again" Score: 8.7
Student Health Center Score: 7.1
Justin Sullivan/Getty
#24
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Blacksburg, Virginia
Retention Rate: 92%
Overall Experience Score: 6.8
"If I could do it all again" Score: 9.9
Student Health Center Score: 7.7
Replay Photos
#23
Emory University
Atlanta, Georgia
Retention Rate: 95%
Overall Experience Score: 7.5
"If I could do it all again" Score: 9.2
Student Health Center Score: 6.9
Kay Hinton/Emory University
#22
University of California, Davis
Davis, California
Retention Rate: 92%
Overall Experience Score: 6.3
"If I could do it all again" Score: 9.1
Student Health Center Score: 9
Daniel de Vise/Getty
#21
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Retention Rate: 98%
Overall Experience Score: 8.8
"If I could do it all again" Score: 6.3
Student Health Center Score: 8
Flickr/University of Pennsylvania
#20
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, Indiana
Retention Rate: 97%
Overall Experience Score: 8.1
"If I could do it all again" Score: 7.6
Student Health Center Score: 8
Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
#19
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas
Retention Rate: 92%
Overall Experience Score: 7
"If I could do it all again" Score: 9.7
Student Health Center Score: 8.3
Wesley Hitt/Getty
#18
Penn State
University Park, Pennsylvania
Retention Rate: 92%
Overall Experience Score: 7.1
"If I could do it all again" Score: 9.4
Student Health Center Score: 8.8
Mario Tama/Getty
#17
Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio
Retention Rate: 92%
Overall Experience Score: 7.3
"If I could do it all again" Score: 8.7
Student Health Center Score: 9.3
Diamond Images/Getty
#16
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Retention Rate: 97%
Overall Experience Score: 7.9
"If I could do it all again" Score: 9.6
Student Health Center Score: 6.6
Leon Halip/Getty
#15
Columbia University
New York, New York
Retention Rate: 96%
Overall Experience Score: 8.1
"If I could do it all again" Score: 9
Student Health Center Score: 7.4
Mario Tama/Getty
#14
University of Georgia
Athens, Georgia
Retention Rate: 94%
Overall Experience Score: 7.1
"If I could do it all again" Score: 9.5
Student Health Center Score: 8.5
Kevin C. Cox/Getty
#13
Washington University in St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
Retention Rate: 96%
Overall Experience Score: 8.5
"If I could do it all again" Score: 8.3
Student Health Center Score: 7.8
AFP/Getty
#12
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida
Retention Rate: 96%
Overall Experience Score: 7.6
"If I could do it all again" Score: 8.7
Student Health Center Score: 8.5
Rob Foldy/Getty Images
#11
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Retention Rate: 97%
Overall Experience Score: 8.1
"If I could do it all again" Score: 9.1
Student Health Center Score: 7.4
Craig Jones/Getty Images
#10
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, Wisconsin
Retention Rate: 95%
Overall Experience Score: 7.4
"If I could do it all again" Score: 8.8
Student Health Center Score: 9
Wikimedia Commons
#9
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Retention Rate: 96%
Overall Experience Score: 8
"If I could do it all again" Score: 8.5
Student Health Center Score: 8.6
Stephen Dunn/Getty Images
#8
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas
Retention Rate: 93%
Overall Experience Score: 8.1
"If I could do it all again" Score: 8.9
Student Health Center Score: 9.2
Marsha Miller/University of Texas at Austin
#7
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California
Retention Rate: 97%
Overall Experience Score: 8.5
"If I could do it all again" Score: 8.7
Student Health Center Score: 8.1
Gus Ruelas/University of Southern California
#6
Rice University
Houston, Texas
Retention Rate: 96%
Overall Experience Score: 9
"If I could do it all again" Score: 8
Student Health Center Score: 8.5
CRAIG HARTLEY/Getty
#5
Washington and Lee University
Lexington, Virginia
Retention Rate: 95%
Overall Experience Score: 7.3
"If I could do it all again" Score: 8.8
Student Health Center Score: 9.8
Flickr/Washington and Lee University
#4
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Retention Rate: 97%
Overall Experience Score: 9.7
"If I could do it all again" Score: 8.9
Student Health Center Score: 6.8
William B. Plowman/Getty
#3
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Retention Rate: 98%
Overall Experience Score: 10
"If I could do it all again" Score: 9.2
Student Health Center Score: 6.5
William B. Plowman/Getty
#2
Brown University
Providence, Rhode Island
Retention Rate: 97%
Overall Experience Score: 8.4
"If I could do it all again" Score: 9.2
Student Health Center Score: 9.2
John Greim/Getty
#1
Stanford University
Stanford, California
Retention Rate: 98%
Overall Experience Score: 10
"If I could do it all again" Score: 9
Student Health Center Score: 8.5
Brian Bahr/Getty Images
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