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Top Philosophy Universities in the USA offering quality bachelor's and master's programs. Students with a Bachelor of Philosophy perform well on specialty tests and learn the art of critical thinking and sound reasoning, which is the foundation of success in other areas of study. Through critical thinking skills, many schools encourage law students to study philosophy as it provides a solid foundation for choosing almost any career.
Numerous areas are open to international students studying philosophy in the United States:
- right
- journalism
- business
- politics and teaching
- training in magistracy, doctoral studies in philosophy.
The study of philosophy in the United States has a long history. Elite programs are offered by Ivy League universities: Princeton, Harvard and New York University. When choosing a program, decide which area of philosophy interests you the most, think about which schools offer the best programs, for example, in metaphysics, epistemology or ethics.
Explore our ranking of the best US universities for the study of philosophy and find the best option.
Best philosophy universities in USA 2026 - QS World University rankings
| 1 | New York University (NYU) |
| 2 | Rutgers University–New Brunswick |
| 5 | University of Pittsburgh |
| 9 | Harvard University |
| 13 | Princeton University |
| 17 | Stanford University |
| 18 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) |
| 20 | University of Notre Dame |
| 21 | University of California, Berkeley (UCB) |
| 21 | Yale University |
| 26 | University of Chicago |
| 27 | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor |
| 28 | University of Southern California |
| 43 | University of California, Irvine |
| 46 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
| 51-100 | Boston College |
| 51-100 | Boston University |
| 51-100 | Brown University |
| 51-100 | CUNY Graduate School and University Center |
| 51-100 | Columbia University |
| 51-100 | Cornell University |
| 51-100 | Indiana University Bloomington |
| 51-100 | Johns Hopkins University |
| 51-100 | Pennsylvania State University |
| 51-100 | Rutgers University–Newark |
| 51-100 | Texas A&M University |
| 51-100 | University of California, San Diego (UCSD) |
| 51-100 | University of Pennsylvania |
| 51-100 | Washington University in St. Louis |
| 101-150 | City University of New York |
| 101-150 | Duke University |
| 101-150 | Emory University |
| 101-150 | Georgetown University |
| 101-150 | Northwestern University |
| 101-150 | The City College of New York |
| 101-150 | The University of Arizona |
| 101-150 | University of Colorado Boulder |
| 101-150 | University of Massachusetts Amherst |
| 101-150 | University of Memphis |
| 101-150 | University of Texas at Austin |
| 101-150 | University of Utah |
| 101-150 | University of Virginia |
| 101-150 | Vanderbilt University |
| 151-200 | DePaul University |
| 151-200 | Fordham University |
| 151-200 | The Catholic University of America |
| 151-200 | University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) |
| 151-200 | University of California, Riverside |
| 201-225 | Carnegie Mellon University |
| 201-225 | Michigan State University |
