What is The Olive Book 100?
The Olive Book 100 isn’t your typical college ranking. Instead of relying on stats and numbers, it’s based on real student choices. When students get accepted to multiple colleges, their picks reveal what they truly value—academic strength, campus vibe, affordability, and more. This list highlights schools that students actually choose, helping you find colleges that align with what matters most to you. Use this list as a guide to explore and discover colleges that fit your goals and preferences.
| Rank | College |
|---|---|
| 1 | MIT |
| 2 | Columbia |
| 3 | Stanford |
| 4 | Princeton |
| 5 | Yale |
| 6 | Harvard |
| 7 | Brown |
| 8 | Northwestern |
| 9 | Johns Hopkins |
| 10 | Cal Tech |
| 11 | University of Chicago |
| 12 | Duke |
| 13 | Cornell |
| 14 | Penn |
| 15 | Cal Berkeley |
| 16 | UCLA |
| 17 | Dartmouth |
| 18 | Carnegie Mellon |
| 19 | University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill |
| 20 | Vanderbilt |
| 21 | Georgetown |
| 22 | Emory |
| 23 | Washington University in St. Louis |
| 24 | Amherst College |
| 25 | Wellesley College |
| 26 | Boston College |
| 27 | Claremont McKenna College |
| 28 | University of California, Davis |
| 29 | University of California, San Diego |
| 30 | Pomona College |
| 31 | Barnard College |
| 32 | Harvey Mudd College |
| 33 | Smith College |
| 34 | University of Michigan, Ann Arbor |
| 35 | Southern Cal |
| 36 | University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign |
| 37 | University of Wisconsin, Madison |
| 38 | Notre Dame |
| 39 | University of Texas, Austin |
| 40 | Georgia Tech |
| 41 | Purdue |
| 42 | University of North Carolina School of the Arts |
| 43 | Virginia Tech |
| 44 | University of California, Irvine |
| 45 | University of Virginia |
| 46 | Trinity College |
| 47 | University of Georgia |
| 48 | University of Florida |
| 49 | Tufts |
| 50 | University of California, Santa Barbara |
| 51 | Rice |
| 52 | NYU |
| 53 | University of Washington |
| 54 | Texas A & M, College Station |
| 55 | University of Maryland, College Park |
| 56 | Rutgers University, New Brunswick |
| 57 | Lehigh |
| 58 | University of Rochester |
| 59 | Wake Forest |
| 60 | Case Western Reserve University |
| 61 | Delaware State |
| 62 | University of South Alabama |
| 63 | Howard University |
| 64 | Pitzer College |
| 65 | Brigham Young University, Provo |
| 66 | University of South Carolina |
| 67 | Texas Christian University |
| 68 | DePaul University |
| 69 | Chapman University |
| 70 | Indiana University, Bloomington |
| 71 | Florida State |
| 72 | Grinnell College |
| 73 | Ohio State University |
| 74 | Haverford College |
| 75 | San Diego State University |
| 76 | Newman University |
| 77 | Washington and Lee |
| 78 | Dickinson College |
| 79 | Tulane |
| 80 | Carleton College |
| 81 | University of Delaware |
| 82 | Swarthmore College |
| 83 | University of San Diego |
| 84 | Bryn Mawr College |
| 85 | Vassar College |
| 86 | Davidson College |
| 87 | Bowdoin College |
| 88 | Texas Tech |
| 89 | University of California, Riverside |
| 90 | University of Central Florida |
| 91 | University of South Florida |
| 92 | University of Oklahoma |
| 93 | Louisiana Tech University |
| 94 | Northern Illinois University |
| 95 | St Olaf College |
| 96 | Hamilton College |
| 97 | Occidental College |
| 98 | Williams College |
| 99 | University of Alabama at Huntsville |
| 100 | William and Mary |
