The 50 smartest colleges in America

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Caltech students

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Caltech once again tops the list of the smartest colleges in America this year.

We recently ranked the 50 best colleges in America based on how well they prepare students for success after graduation. Next, we wanted to find out which schools enroll the smartest students.

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Jonathan Wai, a Duke University Talent Identification Program research scientist, created a ranking exclusively for Business Insider of the smartest US colleges and universities based on the schools' average standardized test scores. Research shows that both the SAT and ACT are good measures of general cognitive ability, since they measure one's ability to reason.

We updated last year's ranking by including the 1,338 schools in the national university, liberal arts college, regional university, and regional college lists that reported SAT or ACT scores in the latest US News & World Report ranking. ACT scores were converted to SAT scores (math + verbal) using this concordance table so all schools could be compared on one metric. Then, an average of the 25th and 75th percentile was computed (see more detail on methods and limitations here).

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Once again, the Pasadena-based California Institute of Technology takes the top spot on the list, and the University of Chicago, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton round out the top five schools.

Keep scrolling to see the 50 smartest colleges in America.

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