25 Most Rigorous Colleges (Photos)

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To find out which schools are offering the most rigorous education, we looked at the quality of the student body and of their instructors. First, we scored colleges on the selectiveness of admissions with data from the National Center for Education Statistics as an indicator of student competition, weighted 50 percent. Student surveys provided by Niche on workload manageability made up 30 percent. We made up the remaining 20 percent by assessing the amount of time students were likely to spend with the best instructors. For this, we used Niche surveys on schools with the smartest professors combined with data on class size from the National Center for Education Statistics.

Quinn Ryan/The Daily Beast

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#25

Claremont McKenna College

Claremont, California

Smartest Professors Score: 8.9

Percent of Applicants Admitted: 12%

Student to Faculty Ratio: 8:1

Workload Manageability Score (lower=harder): 6.3

Reed Saxon/AP

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#24

Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, Maryland

Smartest Professors Score: 8.8

Percent of Applicants Admitted: 18%

Student to Faculty Ratio: 10:1

Workload Manageability Score (lower=harder): 4.8

Andre Jenny/Alamy

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#23

Colgate University

Hamilton, New York

Smartest Professors Score: 9.5

Percent of Applicants Admitted: 26%

Student to Faculty Ratio: 9:1

Workload Manageability Score (lower=harder): 3.6

Debra Millet/Alamy

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#22

Wake Forest University

Winston Salem, North Carolina

Smartest Professors Score: 9.0

Percent of Applicants Admitted: 35%

Student to Faculty Ratio: 11:1

Workload Manageability Score (lower=harder): 1.6

Andre Jenny/Alamy

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#21

Northwestern University

Evanston, Illinois

Smartest Professors Score: 8.1

Percent of Applicants Admitted: 15%

Student to Faculty Ratio: 7:1

Workload Manageability Score (lower=harder): 5.0

Sarah Hadley/Alamy

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#20

University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Smartest Professors Score: 9.1

Percent of Applicants Admitted: 12%

Student to Faculty Ratio: 6:1

Workload Manageability Score (lower=harder): 5.6

JG Photography/Alamy

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#19

Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Smartest Professors Score: 8.7

Percent of Applicants Admitted: 25%

Student to Faculty Ratio: 13:1

Workload Manageability Score (lower=harder): 2.3

Directphoto Collection/Alamy

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#18

Washington and Lee University

Lexington, Virginia

Smartest Professors Score: 10.0

Percent of Applicants Admitted: 18%

Student to Faculty Ratio: 8:1

Workload Manageability Score (lower=harder): 4.5

Andre Jenny/Alamy

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#17

Vanderbilt University

Nashville, Tennessee

Smartest Professors Score: 8.7

Percent of Applicants Admitted: 13%

Student to Faculty Ratio: 8:1

Workload Manageability Score (lower=harder): 4.9

Sean Pavone/Alamy

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#16

Stanford University

Stanford, California

Smartest Professors Score: 9.8

Percent of Applicants Admitted: 6%

Student to Faculty Ratio: 12:1

Workload Manageability Score (lower=harder): 5.9

Justin Sullivan/Getty

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#15

Davidson College

Davidson, North Carolina

Smartest Professors Score: 7.8

Percent of Applicants Admitted: 26%

Student to Faculty Ratio: 10:1

Workload Manageability Score (lower=harder): 1.6

Davis Turner

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#14

Amherst College

Amherst, Massachusetts

Smartest Professors Score: 8.9

Percent of Applicants Admitted: 14%

Student to Faculty Ratio: 8:1

Workload Manageability Score (lower=harder): 4.2

AugustSnow/Alamy

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#13

Duke University

Durham, North Carolina

Smartest Professors Score: 8.3

Percent of Applicants Admitted: 13%

Student to Faculty Ratio: 7:1

Workload Manageability Score (lower=harder): 4.3

Diana Pappas/Alamy

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#12

Yale University

New Haven, Connecticut

Smartest Professors Score: 9.5

Percent of Applicants Admitted: 7%

Student to Faculty Ratio: 6:1

Workload Manageability Score (lower=harder): 5.9

Michelle McLoughlin/Reuters

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#11

Cornell University

Ithaca, New York

Smartest Professors Score: 9.1

Percent of Applicants Admitted: 16%

Student to Faculty Ratio: 12:1

Workload Manageability Score (lower=harder): 3.3

James Schwabel/Alamy

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#10

Dartmouth College

Hanover, New Hampshire

Smartest Professors Score: 7.8

Percent of Applicants Admitted: 10%

Student to Faculty Ratio: 8:1

Workload Manageability Score (lower=harder): 4.4

David R. Frazier/Alamy

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#9

Harvard University

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Smartest Professors Score: 8.4

Percent of Applicants Admitted: 6%

Student to Faculty Ratio: 7:1

Workload Manageability Score (lower=harder): 5.0

Joe Raedle/Getty

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#8

Harvey Mudd College

Claremont, California

Smartest Professors Score: 8.7

Percent of Applicants Admitted: 18%

Student to Faculty Ratio: 8:1

Workload Manageability Score (lower=harder): 2.4

John Linden for Harvey Mudd College

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#7

Middlebury College

Middlebury, Vermont

Smartest Professors Score: 9.2

Percent of Applicants Admitted: 17%

Student to Faculty Ratio: 9:1

Workload Manageability Score (lower=harder): 2.2

Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty

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#6

Princeton University

Princeton, New Jersey

Smartest Professors Score: 8.6

Percent of Applicants Admitted: 7%

Student to Faculty Ratio: 6:1

Workload Manageability Score (lower=harder): 3.7

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#5

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Smartest Professors Score: 9.8

Percent of Applicants Admitted: 8%

Student to Faculty Ratio: 8:1

Workload Manageability Score (lower=harder): 3.5

Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters

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#4

Swarthmore College

Swarthmore, Pennsylvania

Smartest Professors Score: 9.3

Percent of Applicants Admitted: 14%

Student to Faculty Ratio: 8:1

Workload Manageability Score (lower=harder): 1.7

ClassicStock/Alamy

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#3

University of Chicago

Chicago, Illinois

Smartest Professors Score: 9.9

Percent of Applicants Admitted: 9%

Student to Faculty Ratio: 6:1

Workload Manageability Score (lower=harder): 3.0

P.Spiro/Alamy

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#2

Cooper Union

New York, New York

Smartest Professors Score: 8.8

Percent of Applicants Admitted: 8%

Student to Faculty Ratio: 8:1

Workload Manageability Score (lower=harder): 2.4

Spencer Platt/Getty

25 Most Rigorous Colleges (Photos)

The Daily Beast looks at workload, competitiveness, and professors to find which colleges aren’t handing out the easy A’s.

Brandy Zadrozny