Essence Magazines 50 best colleges for African Americans list

Choosing a college is one of the most important decisions Black students will make in their lifetime. ESSENCE partnered with MoneyMagazine to create a definitive list of the schools that serve African Americans most. The following factors were used when making the list. Representation (African-Americans had to make up at least 5 percent of each college’s student body.)  , affordability, and Postgrad earnings.

Here are the top 50 colleges and universities in the country: 

1. Princeton University 

2. Harvard University

3. Duke University 

4. Cornell University

5. Florida A&M University 

6. Spelman College

7. University of Pennsylvania

8. Yale University

9. North Carolina A&T State University 

10. University of Maryland, College Park

11. Columbia University 

12. Georgia Institute of Technology

13. Georgetown University 

14. University of Florida

15. Hampton University 

16. Bowie State University 

17. Wellesley College

18. Berea College 

19. Amherst College

20. Virginia State University 

21. Xavier University of Louisiana 

22. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

23. Rice University 

24. Vanderbilt University 

25. Brown University

26. University of Richmond

27. Dartmouth College

28 Howard University 

29. University of Virginia 

30. Davidson College

31. The College of William and Mary 

32. Alcorn State University 

33. Williams College

34. Trinity Washington University

35. Jackson State University

36. Johns Hopkins University 

37. Elizabeth City State University 

38. Prairie View A&M University 

39. Pomona College

40. Northwestern University 

41. Binghamton University 

42. Emory University

43. North Carolina Central University 

44. Tennessee State University 

45. Towson University 

46. Stony Brook University 

47. Barnard College

48. Winston-Salem State University 

49. Talladega College

50. Rutgers University-Newark