Best Colleges on the East Coast

Where you go to college can be pretty important, powerful alumni can help open up a wider world of opportunity. Now, if you don't get into one of the best colleges on the East Coast, that doesn't mean your life is over. But trust me, college is better than high school.

These universities are held in high esteem around the country, even around the globe. The list is based on the reputation of the schools and its faculty, its dedication to a broad liberal arts education, accreditation, and its overall academic rigors compared to other institutions of higher educations on the East Coast.

Get into one of these highly respected universities and you're off to a great start and are on the fast track. These are the best colleges on the East Coast.

Amherst College

Amherst College is located in Amherst, Massachusetts, a stones throw away from UMASS — one of the state's larger universities. This small, private liberal arts college allows students to create a curriculum of their own choosing from numerous interdisciplinary programs. Each student is paired with a faculty advisor, who works with the student to guide their curriculum selection process — the student to adviser ratio is five to one.

This prestigious college is tough to gain access to, accepting only 14 percent of applicants. According to the US News & WorldReport, Amherst is ranked as the second best liberal arts college in the country — easily one on the best colleges on the East Coast.

Williams College

Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, home to around 2,000 undergraduates. The college was ranked first in 2017 U.S. News & World Report's liberal arts ranking for the 15th consecutive year. This place is elite.

The college has produced many prominent alumni, including eight Pulitzer Prize winners, ten billionaire alumni, a Nobel Prize Laureate, 54 members of the United States Congress, 18 US Governors, four US Cabinet Secretaries, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, a President of the United States, CEOs and founders of Fortune 500 companies — the list goes on. Williams College is one of the best colleges on the East Coast — and the planet.

Dartmouth College

Dartmouth is home to about 4,200 undergraduate students, making it the smallest of the Ivies. It's known for the Dartmouth Plan, an unconventional academic calendar practiced only at Dartmouth, where classes run in four, 10-week blocks.

A lot of researching goes on at Dartmouth College, and it has one of the largest endowments on the East Coast. Dartmouth grads are some of the most sought after in the country, a no doubter for best colleges on the East Coast. It won't be easy to get in, they only take about ten percent of applicants.

Columbia University

Columbia is one of the oldest colleges in the United States, and it was originally named King’s College before the Revolutionary War broke out. It's located in Manhattan, so it's a great place to go to school — the city never sleeps.

People come from all around the world to attend one of the best colleges on the East Coast, and the institution has incredible brand recognition. It's one of the top schools in a variety of areas, and it has a $9 billion endowment. Alumni include 20 living billionaires, 123 Pulitzer Prize winners, 39 Academy Award winners, and three United States Presidents, etc.

University of Pennsylvania

U Penn has the highest graduation rate of any college in Pennsylvania, with nearly 90 percent of all students obtaining their degree within four years. It's an Ivy league institution, and is located within Philadelphia's city limits. The university is the fourth oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and was founded by Benjamin Franklin — now that's a brand name.

U Penn has produced many alumni that have distinguished themselves academia, politics, the sciences, as well as the arts and media. The quality and of Penn's alumni has established the institution as one of the most powerful alumni networks in the United States, and one made it one of the best colleges on the East Coast.

Yale University

Yale is one of the world’s most famous institutions of higher education, and has an endowment of over $25 billion, safely one of the best colleges on the East Coast. Yale is well known for excellence in practically every area, and the school is located in New Haven, Connecticut.

In addition to its researching excellence, Yale is renowned for the large number of US politicians it has produced over the years. Many presidents have attended the prestigious school (some who are considered the greatest presidents of all time), most notably Bill Clinton. It's the place where Bill met and started dating Hillary Rodham — who nearly became the sixth person to become president who attended Yale.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Located near Boston, this college is one of the most highly regarded scientific and engineering research universities in the world, and one of the best colleges on the East Coast. It's one of the toughest schools to get into, boasting an acceptance rate of around seven percent.

It was famously depicted in the Oscar winning film, Good Will Hunting, where Matt Damon plays a genius janitor at MIT. Notably, the school has a strong entrepreneurial culture and the aggregated revenues of companies founded by MIT alumni would rank as the 11th largest economy in the world.

Harvard University

Harvard's campus is located in the greater Boston area. It neighbors many other prestigious and well-known colleges, a few that are even among the best colleges on the East Coast. However, none has the type of endowment Harvard has, 36 billion, making it the most well-funded school in the US.

It's home to the Harvard Library, which is the world's largest academic and private library system, comprising 79 individual libraries with over 18 million volumes. Harvard's legacy as a leading research and educational institution has had a significant impact in both academia and popular culture.

Princeton University

Princeton is one of the best colleges on the East Coast, as well as one of the oldest colleges in the US. Two US presidents, 12 US Supreme Court Justices, and numerous living billionaires and foreign heads of state are all counted among Princeton's wide reaching alumni.

Princeton also guarantees student housing for all four years, almost 98 percent of undergraduates live in Princeton facilities — an incredibly high number. Former first lady Michelle Obama attended Princeton, as well as literary titan F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose first published novel, This Side of Paradise, is about his time on campus. In many ways that novel is among the books no one reads, as most skip right over it and dive into The Great Gatsby.