Universities in Massachusetts
11 indexed campuses in Northeast, 138,700 students in total. Ranked by the Campus Atlas quality index; tuition shown as the in-state / out-of-state band.
Top 10 by quality index
| # | Institution | City | Control | Students | Admitted | Tuition | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harvard | Cambridge, MA | private | 36,000 | 3.6% | $59,500 | 98 |
| 2 | MIT | Cambridge, MA | private | 4,700 | 4% | $59,500 | 97 |
| 3 | Williams | Williamstown, MA | private | 3,600 | — | $60,000 | 88 |
| 4 | Amherst | Amherst, MA | private | 2,300 | — | $60,000 | 86 |
| 5 | Wellesley | Wellesley, MA | private | 2,500 | — | $59,000 | 82 |
| 6 | Smith | Northampton, MA | private | 2,600 | — | $59,000 | 76 |
| 7 | Tufts | Medford, MA | private | 12,500 | — | $62,000 | 74 |
| 8 | Babson | Babson Park, MA | private | 3,000 | — | $58,000 | 72 |
| 9 | BU | Boston, MA | private | 36,000 | 14% | $61,000 | 71 |
| 10 | Northeastern | Boston, MA | private | 31,000 | 7% | $60,000 | 69 |
Largest campuses
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA · private · 36k students
Test overview.
Boston University
Boston, MA · private · 36k students
A city campus running along Commonwealth Avenue: communication, business, health sciences and one of the largest international student bodies in the US.
Northeastern University
Boston, MA · private · 31k students
Built around co-op: most students alternate paid semesters with study, which pushes early employment numbers into the top band.
Tufts University
Medford, MA · private · 13k students
International relations, veterinary medicine and health policy across the Boston area.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA · private · 4.7k students
Small, intensely technical and heavily funded: engineering, computing and the physical sciences with one of the largest research budgets per student in the country.
Bentley University
Waltham, MA · private · 4.5k students
Business and analytics college with the digital assets laboratory.
City clusters
- Boston2 campuses · 67k students
- Cambridge2 campuses · 41k students
- Medford1 campus · 13k students
- Waltham1 campus · 4.5k students
- Williamstown1 campus · 3.6k students
- Babson Park1 campus · 3.0k students
- Northampton1 campus · 2.6k students
- Wellesley1 campus · 2.5k students
- Amherst1 campus · 2.3k students
Guides about Massachusetts
- AdmissionsHarvard's admissions data fight reached a courtroom - here is what is at stakeA Boston judge questioned the Justice Department's procedure in late September while the EEOC opened a parallel case on hiring records.
- ResearchMIT put $2.1 million into open transit software and $10 million into psychiatric researchTwo September announcements show where a research institute of 4,700 students spends its money - and how students get pulled in.
- Campus LifeBoston: fifty colleges inside one marketCambridge, Fenway and Chestnut Hill behave like a single academic labor market.
Enrolment, tuition and acceptance figures are rounded planning values compiled in 2025/26 for orientation. Verify exact numbers with each university's official fact sheet before you apply.