Best Retention 2026
Schools with the highest freshman-to-sophomore return rate
How this ranking is calculated
Ranks schools by how many first-year students return for their sophomore year — a direct measure of student satisfaction, belonging, and quality of the first-year experience.
Source measurement years vary and may precede the ranking edition. The update date records the published dataset, not when every outcome was measured.
See exact overall weights and a worked exampleWhat drives the score
- Full-time first-year retention rate
- Graduation rate (used as a secondary signal of sustained student success)
Data sources
- Federal government enrollment and completion data
Retention rate is one of the purest signals of how much students value their experience after actually living it. Schools that rank highly here have earned it through the lived experience of their students.
Top 100 retention results
Sorted by College Index's retention score. The displayed list index rescales the leading score to 100; equal rounded scores may have different sequential ranks.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
University of Chicago
Chicago, IL
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ
Yale University
New Haven, CT
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA
Brown University
Providence, RI
Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY
Duke University
Durham, NC
Northwestern University
Evanston, IL
Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD
University of Virginia-Main Campus
Charlottesville, VA
Claremont McKenna College
Claremont, CA
Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus
Atlanta, GA
Rice University
Houston, TX
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA
Stanford University
Stanford, CA
Pomona College
Claremont, CA
United States Coast Guard Academy
New London, CT
Bowdoin College
Brunswick, ME
Williams College
Williamstown, MA
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI
Amherst College
Amherst, MA
Georgetown University
Washington, DC
University of California-Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL
United States Naval Academy
Annapolis, MD
Washington and Lee University
Lexington, VA
University of California-Berkeley
Berkeley, CA
Barnard College
New York, NY
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN
Northeastern University
Boston, MA
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC
Wellesley College
Wellesley, MA
Tufts University
Medford, MA
Carleton College
Northfield, MN
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA
Washington University in St Louis
St. Louis, MO
Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA
Emory University
Atlanta, GA
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, WI
Villanova University
Villanova, PA
United States Air Force Academy
USAF Academy, CO
Wesleyan University
Middletown, CT
University of Maryland-College Park
College Park, MD
Babson College
Wellesley, MA
Hillsdale College
Hillsdale, MI
Hamilton College
Clinton, NY
Davidson College
Davidson, NC
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore, PA
New York University
New York, NY
Vassar College
Poughkeepsie, NY
William & Mary
Williamsburg, VA
Boston University
Boston, MA
Rhode Island School of Design
Providence, RI
Middlebury College
Middlebury, VT
College of the Holy Cross
Worcester, MA
Smith College
Northampton, MA
California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo, CA
Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL
Colgate University
Hamilton, NY
University of Georgia
Athens, GA
Haverford College
Haverford, PA
Colby College
Waterville, ME
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Worcester, MA
Ohio State University-Main Campus
Columbus, OH
Santa Clara University
Santa Clara, CA
United States Military Academy
West Point, NY
Lehigh University
Bethlehem, PA
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL
University of California-San Diego
La Jolla, CA
Stevens Institute of Technology
Hoboken, NJ
Providence College
Providence, RI
University of California-Irvine
Irvine, CA
University of Washington-Seattle Campus
Seattle, WA
North Carolina State University at Raleigh
Raleigh, NC
Wake Forest University
Winston-Salem, NC
Colorado College
Colorado Springs, CO
Clemson University
Clemson, SC
Bucknell University
Lewisburg, PA
Scripps College
Claremont, CA
Texas A&M University-College Station
College Station, TX
Grinnell College
Grinnell, IA
Bentley University
Waltham, MA
Macalester College
Saint Paul, MN
Tulane University of Louisiana
New Orleans, LA
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Blacksburg, VA
Gonzaga University
Spokane, WA
University of Miami
Coral Gables, FL
University of Florida-Online
Gainesville, FL
Auburn University
Auburn, AL
Pitzer College
Claremont, CA
Bates College
Lewiston, ME
Creighton University
Omaha, NE
Texas Christian University
Fort Worth, TX
University of California-Davis
Davis, CA