The 15 most influential universities in the world

Marguerite WardSep 21, 2020, 20:34 IST

Columbia University was among the most influential colleges on the list.Andrew Kelly/Reuters

The start of the school year means that for many high school juniors, and some seniors, it's time to decide which colleges to apply to.
Academics and data scientists at school ranking website AcademicInfluence.com identified the most influential colleges and universities using a proprietary algorithm that looks at each institution's alumni and professors.
Cornell University, Stanford University, and Harvard University are some of the colleges that made the list.

For a whole class of high school students, this fall brings up a big question: Which colleges to apply to?

While these are uncertain times amid the coronavirus pandemic, with some students even choosing to take a gap year, the decision on where to apply is still a crucial one.

Academics and data scientists at school ranking website AcademicInfluence.com identified the most influential colleges and universities. They did this using a proprietary algorithm that ranks the impact of college alumni and professors (for example, the number of times a person is named on Wikipedia or cited on the research website Crossref), according to Jed Macosko, cofounder of the site and Wake Forest University physics professor.

Here are the top 15 most influential universities in the world, per the ranking.

15. University of Pennsylvania

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Location: Philadelphia

Tuition: $49,220

Notable alumni: American linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky, Tesla and SpaceX's Elon Musk, and American business magnate Warren Buffett

Location: Philadelphia

Tuition: $49,220

Notable alumni: American linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky, Tesla and SpaceX's Elon Musk, and American business magnate Warren Buffett

14. University of Michigan

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Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

Tuition: $15,897 (in-state)

Notable alumni: Google co-founder Larry Page, American playwright Arthur Miller, and American mathematician Claude Shannon

Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

Tuition: $15,897 (in-state)

Notable alumni: Google co-founder Larry Page, American playwright Arthur Miller, and American mathematician Claude Shannon

13. University of Oxford

Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Location: Oxford, England

Tuition: £9,250 (about $12,000) for UK students

Notable alumni: American media mogul Rupert Murdoch, "Lord of the Rings" author J.R.R Tolkien, and Medieval philosopher Roger Bacon

Location: Oxford, England

Tuition: £9,250 (about $12,000) for UK students

Notable alumni: American media mogul Rupert Murdoch, Lord of the Rings author J.R.R Tolkien, and Medieval philosopher Roger Bacon

12. Cornell University

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Location: Ithaca, New York

Tuition: $54,584

Notable alumni: Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison, American writer Kurt Vonnegut, and American mathematician Norbert Wiener

Location: Ithaca, New York

Tuition: $54,584

Notable alumni: Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison, American writer Kurt Vonnegut, and American mathematician Norbert Wiener

11. New York University

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Location: New York, New York

Tuition: $49,256

Notable alumni: Polio vaccine inventor Jonas Salk, Austrian and British economist Friedrich Hayek, and actress Angelina Jolie

Location: New York, New York

Tuition: $49,256

Notable alumni: Polio vaccine inventor Jonas Salk, Austrian and British economist Friedrich Hayek, and actress Angelina Jolie

10. University of Cambridge

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Location: Cambridge, England

Tuition: £9,250 (about $12,000) for UK students, approximately £25,00 ($32,000) for international students

Notable alumni: British naturalist Charles Darwin, English philosopher Francis Bacon, and American economist Milton Friedman

Location: Cambridge, England

Tuition: £9,250 (about $12,000) for UK students, approximately £25,00 ($32,000) for international students

Notable alumni: British naturalist Charles Darwin, English philosopher Francis Bacon, and American economist Milton Friedman

9. University of Chicago

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Location: Chicago, Illinois

Tuition: $55,425

Notable alumni: American economist and Nobel-prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, molecular biologist and geneticist James Watson, and astrophysicist Carl Sagan

Location: Chicago, Illinois

Tuition: $55,425

Notable alumni: American economist and Nobel-prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, molecular biologist and geneticist James Watson, and astrophysicist Carl Sagan

8. Princeton University

People walk around the Princeton University campus in New Jersey, November 16, 2013. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

Location: Princeton, New Jersey

Tuition: $49,450

Notable alumni: Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, "The Great Gatsby" author F. Scott Fitzgerald, and British mathematician and logician Alan Turing

Location: Princeton, New Jersey

Tuition: $49,450

Notable alumni: Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, The Great Gatsby author F. Scott Fitzgerald, and British mathematician and logician Alan Turing

7. Yale University

Michelle McLoughlin/Reuters

Location: New Haven, Connecticut

Tuition: $53,430

Notable alumni: US federal judge Richard Posner, American economist Paul Krugman, paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson

Location: New Haven, Connecticut

Tuition: $53,430

Notable alumni: US federal judge Richard Posner, American economist Paul Krugman, paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson

6. University of California, Berkeley

The Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. gary yim/Shutterstock

Location: Berkeley, California

Tuition: $11,442 (in-state)

Notable alumni: "Call of the Wild" author Jack London, evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis, and "The Feminine Mystique" author Betty Friedan

Location: Berkeley, California

Tuition: $11,442 (in-state)

Notable alumni: Call of the Wild author Jack London, evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis, and The Feminine Mystique author Betty Friedan

5. Columbia University

Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images

Location: New York, New York

Tuition: $50,665

Notable alumni: US founding father Alexander Hamilton, anthropologist Margaret Mead, and poet Allen Ginsberg

Location: New York, New York

Tuition: $50,665

Notable alumni: US founding father Alexander Hamilton, anthropologist Margaret Mead, and poet Allen Ginsberg

4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Tuition: $51,520

Notable alumni: American linguist Noam Chomsky, German-American nuclear physicist Hans Bethe, and American physicist Murray Gell-Mann

Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Tuition: $51,520

Notable alumni: American linguist Noam Chomsky, German-American nuclear physicist Hans Bethe, and American physicist Murray Gell-Mann

3. Stanford University

Beck Diefenbach/Reuters

Location: Stanford, California

Tuition: $50,703

Notable alumni: Astronaut and physicist Sally Ride, Google cofounder Sergey Brin, and venture capitalist and entrepreneur Peter Thiel

Location: Stanford, California

Tuition: $50,703

Notable alumni: Astronaut and physicist Sally Ride, Google cofounder Sergey Brin, and venture capitalist and entrepreneur Peter Thiel

2. University of London

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Location: London

Tuition: Varies based on program of study

Notable alumni: English writer H.G. Wells, telephone inventor and scientist Alexander Graham Bell, and Bengali poet and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore

Location: London

Tuition: Varies based on program of study

Notable alumni: English writer H.G. Wells, telephone inventor and scientist Alexander Graham Bell, and Bengali poet and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore

1. Harvard University

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Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Tuition: $46,340

Notable alumni: Microsoft founder Bill Gates, French philosopher Jacques Derrida, and American philosopher and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson

Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Tuition: $46,340

Notable alumni: Microsoft founder Bill Gates, French philosopher Jacques Derrida, and American philosopher and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson

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The 15 most influential universities in the world

15. University of Pennsylvania

14. University of Michigan

13. University of Oxford

12. Cornell University

11. New York University

10. University of Cambridge

9. University of Chicago

8. Princeton University

7. Yale University

6. University of California, Berkeley

5. Columbia University

4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

3. Stanford University

2. University of London

1. Harvard University