by our College Data Analytics TeamBrown University is a private not-for-profit institution in Providence, Rhode Island enrolling 7,226 undergraduates. It accepts 5% of applicants and has an on-time graduation rate of 96%, above the national average of 33%. College Factual ranks it #44 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in its 2027 Best Colleges ranking (top 1%), and its Value for Your Money analysis rates it a Fair Price.
Source: IPEDS 2025; College Scorecard July 2026; College Factual rankings 2027. Data as of: July 2026.
Brown University ranks #44 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges ranking, placing it in the top 1%.
College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities in its annual rankings and ranks them in a variety of ways, including most diverse, best overall quality, best for non-traditional students, and much more.
Brown University was awarded 398 badges in the 2027 rankings.
According to College Factual’s 2027 analysis, Brown is ranked #44 out of 5,159 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This puts it in the top 1% of all schools in the nation!
Brown is also ranked #1 on the Best Colleges in Rhode Island list.
See all of the rankings for Brown University.
Brown University has a very low acceptance rate of 5%, making it one of the most selective out of all the colleges and universities in the nation. It’s probably a good idea to apply to other schools in addition to Brown just in case you don’t make the cut.
About 61% of students accepted to Brown submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 740 and 780. Math scores were between 770 and 800.
Brown received ACT scores from 24% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 34 and 35.
Learn more about Brown University admissions.
The student to faculty ratio at Brown is an impressive 6 to 1. That’s quite good when you compare it to the national average of 15 to 1. This is a good sign that students at the school will have more opportunities for one-on-one interactions with their professors.
Another measure that is often used to estimate how much access students will have to their professors is how many faculty members are full-time. The idea here is that part-time faculty tend to spend less time on campus, so they may not be as available to students as full-timers.
The full-time faculty percentage at Brown University is 92%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
Brown University has a freshmen retention rate of 99%. That’s a good sign that full-time students like the school and their professors enough to want to stick around for another year. It’s also a sign that the admissions team did a good job in choosing applicants who were a good fit for the school.
The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor’s degree is typically four years. This rate at Brown for first-time, full-time students is 96%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Brown University.
The current enrollment includes 7,226 undergraduates at Brown.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at Brown University.
The overall average net price of Brown is $17,140. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $-420 | $2,031 | $5,858 | $16,219 | $44,937 |
The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid. Note that the net price is typically less than the published price for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Brown, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At Brown, approximately 10% of students took out student loans averaging $5,885 a year. That adds up to $23,540 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 1.3%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you’ll be able to pay back your student loans. Get more details about paying for Brown University.
The pay for some majors is higher than others, but on average, students who graduate with a bachelor’s degree from Brown University make about $93,487 a year during their first few years of employment after graduation. This is good news for future Brown University graduates since it is 90% more than the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year.
See which majors at Brown University make the most money.
Brown University is an private not-for-profit institution situated in Providence, Rhode Island. The surrounding area of the school is a good match for students who enjoy city life. Get more details about the location of Brown University.
Contact information for Brown University can be found below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | One Prospect Street, Providence, RI 02912 |
| Phone: | 4018631000 |
| Website: | www.brown.edu |
| Wikipedia: | en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_University |
| Facebook: | www.facebook.com/BrownUniversity |
| Twitter: | twitter.com/BrownUniversity |
In the latest year of available data, students from 22 majors graduated from Brown University. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.
| Most Popular Majors | Completions | Average Salary of Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-Disciplinary Studies | 4,158 | NA |
| Computer Science | 479 | $130,101 |
| Economics | 334 | $64,028 |
| Applied Mathematics | 257 | $105,532 |
| General Social Sciences | 225 | NA |
| International Relations & Security | 180 | $37,882 |
| Medicine | 147 | $60,843 |
| General Biology | 128 | $29,535 |
| General Engineering | 111 | $70,583 |
| Physics | 102 | NA |
564 students took at least one online class at Brown University.
Online courses are a great option for busy, working students as well as for those who have scheduling conflicts and want to study on their own time. As time goes by, expect to see more and more online learning options become available.
Learn more about online learning at Brown University.
Want to see how other colleges compare to Brown? Match them up using College Combat, a free interactive tool for comparing colleges on the features you care about.
Footnotes
*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.
References