Adelphi Rises, Outperforms Competitors in Wall Street Journal’s “America’s Best Colleges” Rankings

Adelphi University is once again the top-ranked university on Long Island on the Wall Street Journal/College Pulse 2025 Best Colleges in the U.S. list. The University ranks #112 out of 500 institutions (top 22 percent) on the WSJ's list, improving 30 spots from #142 out of 400 (top 36 percent) on the 2024 list. Adelphi's standing among regional peers is strong, with St. John's University (190) and Fordham University (194) as the University's closest competitors.

Adelphi is ranked the seventh-best university in New York state. Other competitors fell much further behind, including City College (225), Queens College (239), Brooklyn College (243), Pace (257), Stony Brook (265), New York University (273), New York Institute of Technology (310), Hofstra (352) and Hunter College (391).

In ranking the top 500 universities in the country, the WSJ/College Pulse 2025 Best Colleges in the U.S. list relies heavily on student outcomes (70 percent), measured by salary impact (33 percent), years to pay off net price (17 percent) and graduation rate impact (17 percent). The other 30 percent is measured by the learning environment (20 percent) and diversity (10 percent).

"This ranking reaffirms the impact of our Momentum and Momentum 2 strategic plans and Adelphi's rising reputation in higher education," said Christine M. Riordan, president of Adelphi University. "Climbing higher up this list is a testament to our graduates earning salaries nearly 30 percent higher than the national average, our improved affordability and value through increased scholarship funding, and our support services that ensure student success."

Read more about Adelphi's rankings in these and other outlets.