2021 Top Women's D1 Volleyball Schools
It's not easy to decide which college to attend when there are so many options available for student athletes. At College Factual, we're committed to helping you make that decision by providing information such as that found in our Best Colleges for Division I Women's Volleyball ranking.
Our analysis looked at 307 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for D1 Women's Volleyball athletes. Instead of depending on subjective information, we focus on objective factors to determine this ranking. These factors include such things as the athletic competitiveness of the school and the school's overall quality. This means that a school must provide students with a great education in addition to having a good sports team if it wants to rank well.
Learn more about our ranking methodology.
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Top Colleges in the U.S. for D1 Women's Volleyball athletes
See which schools came out on top of our ranking:
Our analysis found Stanford University to be the best school for D1 Women’s Volleyball athletes in this year’s ranking. Stanford, California is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelor’s degrees to 1,892 students in 2018-2019.
Speaking financially, the D1 Women’s Volleyball team at Stanford took home $607,937 in revenue. The team has a great academic progress rate of 995, signifying that team members care about their grades.
The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 98%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. In addition to its great ranking here, Stanford is in the top 1% of all schools on our overall quality list.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend The University of Texas at Austin. It ranked #2 on our 2021 Best Colleges for D1 Women’s Volleyball athletes list. The University of Texas at Austin is a large public school located in Austin, Texas that handed out 10,098 bachelor’s degrees in 2018-2019.
The D1 Women’s Volleyball team at UT Austin brought home $2,063,829 in revenue in a single year. The team has a great academic progress rate of 984, signifying that team members care about their grades.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 95%. UT Austin also claimed a spot on our overall quality list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools in this category.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Duke University. It ranked #3 on our 2021 Best Colleges for D1 Women’s Volleyball athletes list. Duke University is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in Durham, North Carolina that handed out 2,303 bachelor’s degrees in 2018-2019.
On the financial side of things, the D1 Women’s Volleyball team at Duke made $1,562,909 in revenue. The team had a perfect academic progress rate of 1000.
The impressive student-to-faculty ratio of 7 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools. Duke did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our overall quality list.
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Out of the 307 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Nebraska - Lincoln landed the #4 spot on the list. UNL is located in Lincoln, Nebraska and, has a large student population. In 2018-2019, this school awarded 4,859 bachelor’s degrees to qualified undergraduates.
The D1 Women’s Volleyball team at UNL made $4,106,677 in revenue, while incurring $3,932,573 in expenses. Thus, the team actually made $174,104, which isn’t bad at all. The team members aren’t slouches in the classroom either, since the team academic progress rate is an excellent 989.
In addition to its great ranking here, UNL is in the top 15% of all schools on our overall quality list.
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Out of the 307 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Southern Methodist University landed the #5 spot on the list. SMU is located in Dallas, Texas and, has a fairly large student population. In 2018-2019, this school awarded 1,942 bachelor’s degrees to qualified undergraduates.
The D1 Women’s Volleyball team at SMU brought home $1,857,361 in revenue in a single year. The great academic progress rate of 983 shows that team members perform well in the classroom, too.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 91%. In addition to its great ranking here, SMU is in the top 10% of all schools on our overall quality list.
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University of Denver did quite well in the 2021 Best Colleges for Division I Women’s Volleyball ranking, coming in at #6. DU is located in Denver, Colorado and, has a fairly large student population. In 2018-2019, this school awarded 1,626 bachelor’s degrees to qualified undergraduates.
The D1 Women’s Volleyball team at DU brought home $1,600,078 in revenue in a single year. The team has a great academic progress rate of 981, signifying that team members care about their grades.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 87%. On top of its placing in this ranking, DU also did well on our overall quality list. It’s in the top 15% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.
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University of Florida landed the #7 spot on the 2021 Best Colleges for Division I Women’s Volleyball ranking. Located in Gainesville, Florida, the large public school handed out 9,663 bachelor’s degrees in 2018-2019.
On the financial side of things, the D1 Women’s Volleyball team at UF made $570,752 in revenue. The team has a great academic progress rate of 995, signifying that team members care about their grades.
The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 96%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. In addition to its great ranking here, UF is in the top 5% of all schools on our overall quality list.
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University of Missouri - Columbia ranked #8 on this year’s Best Colleges for Division I Women’s Volleyball list. This large public school is located in Columbia, Missouri, and it awarded 6,314 bachelor’s degrees in 2018-2019.
Speaking financially, the D1 Women’s Volleyball team at Mizzou took home $2,149,806 in revenue. The team has a great academic progress rate of 990, signifying that team members care about their grades.
With a freshman retention rate of 87%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. Mizzou also claimed a spot on our overall quality list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools in this category.
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University of San Diego ranked #9 on this year’s Best Colleges for Division I Women’s Volleyball list. Located in San Diego, California, the medium-sized private not-for-profit school awarded 1,501 diplomas to qualified bachelor’s degree students in 2018-2019.
The D1 Women’s Volleyball team at USD brought home $1,406,853 in revenue in a single year. With a perfect academic progress rate of 1000, the team is showing that they know how to hit the books, too.
With a freshman retention rate of 90%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. On top of its placing in this ranking, USD also did well on our overall quality list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.
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Rice University landed the #10 spot on the 2021 Best Colleges for Division I Women’s Volleyball ranking. Rice is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school situated in Houston, Texas. It awarded 1,228 bachelor’s degrees in 2018-2019.
On the financial side of things, the D1 Women’s Volleyball team at Rice made $1,369,996 in revenue. With a perfect academic progress rate of 1000, the team is showing that they know how to hit the books, too.
With a freshman retention rate of 97%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. Rice also claimed a spot on our overall quality list. It’s in the top 1% of all schools in this category.
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Marquette University did quite well in the 2021 Best Colleges for Division I Women’s Volleyball ranking, coming in at #11. Located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the fairly large private not-for-profit school handed out 2,204 bachelor’s degrees in 2018-2019.
Marquette brought in $1,949,057 while tallying up $1,934,467 in expenses for its D1 Women’s Volleyball team. So, the team made money for the school, bringing in $14,590 in profit. The team has a respectable academic progress rate of 975.
The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 89%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. Marquette excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 10% of all schools on our overall quality list.
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University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus did quite well in the 2021 Best Colleges for Division I Women’s Volleyball ranking, coming in at #12. This large public school is located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and it awarded 5,451 bachelor’s degrees in 2018-2019.
Speaking financially, the D1 Women’s Volleyball team at Pitt took home $1,989,521 in revenue.
With a freshman retention rate of 93%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. As a testament to the quality of education it offers, Pitt also is in the top 10% of our overall quality ranking.
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University of Dayton landed the #13 spot on the 2021 Best Colleges for Division I Women’s Volleyball ranking. Dayton, Ohio is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelor’s degrees to 2,167 students in 2018-2019.
The D1 Women’s Volleyball team at UDayton brought home $794,462 in revenue in a single year. The team members aren’t slouches in the classroom either, since the team academic progress rate is an excellent 995.
With a freshman retention rate of 90%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. On top of its placing in this ranking, UDayton also did well on our overall quality list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.
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University of California - Los Angeles ranked #14 on this year’s Best Colleges for Division I Women’s Volleyball list. Located in Los Angeles, California, the large public school awarded 9,069 diplomas to qualified bachelor’s degree students in 2018-2019.
The D1 Women’s Volleyball team at UCLA brought home $438,830 in revenue in a single year. The team members aren’t slouches in the classroom either, since the team academic progress rate is an excellent 987.
The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 97%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. As a testament to the quality of education it offers, UCLA also is in the top 5% of our overall quality ranking.
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With a ranking of #15, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill did quite well on the 2021 Best Colleges for Division I Women’s Volleyball ranking. UNC Chapel Hill is located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and, has a large student population. In 2018-2019, this school awarded 6,076 bachelor’s degrees to qualified undergraduates.
The D1 Women’s Volleyball team at UNC Chapel Hill brought home $677,059 in revenue in a single year. The team members aren’t slouches in the classroom either, since the team academic progress rate is an excellent 995.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 96%. UNC Chapel Hill excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 5% of all schools on our overall quality list.
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University of Wisconsin - Madison landed the #16 spot on the 2021 Best Colleges for Division I Women’s Volleyball ranking. UW - Madison is a public institution located in Madison, Wisconsin. The school has a large population, and it awarded 8,915 bachelor’s degrees in 2018-2019.
On the financial side of things, the D1 Women’s Volleyball team at UW - Madison made $2,144,715 in revenue. The great academic progress rate of 995 shows that team members perform well in the classroom, too.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 95%. On top of its placing in this ranking, UW - Madison also did well on our overall quality list. It’s in the top 5% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.
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With a ranking of #17, University of Washington - Seattle Campus did quite well on the 2021 Best Colleges for Division I Women’s Volleyball ranking. Seattle, Washington is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelor’s degrees to 9,269 students in 2018-2019.
The D1 Women’s Volleyball team at UW Seattle brought home $932,195 in revenue in a single year. The team members aren’t slouches in the classroom either, since the team academic progress rate is an excellent 990.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 94%. On top of its placing in this ranking, UW Seattle also did well on our overall quality list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.
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Florida State University ranked #18 on this year’s Best Colleges for Division I Women’s Volleyball list. Florida State University is a large public school located in Tallahassee, Florida that handed out 9,688 bachelor’s degrees in 2018-2019.
On the financial side of things, the D1 Women’s Volleyball team at Florida State made $1,983,171 in revenue. The great academic progress rate of 995 shows that team members perform well in the classroom, too.
The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 94%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. In addition to its great ranking here, Florida State is in the top 10% of all schools on our overall quality list.
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Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus landed the #19 spot on the 2021 Best Colleges for Division I Women’s Volleyball ranking. Located in Atlanta, Georgia, the large public school handed out 3,717 bachelor’s degrees in 2018-2019.
Speaking financially, the D1 Women’s Volleyball team at Georgia Tech took home $238,951 in revenue. The team members aren’t slouches in the classroom either, since the team academic progress rate is an excellent 995.
With a freshman retention rate of 97%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. Georgia Tech excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 5% of all schools on our overall quality list.
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Creighton University did quite well in the 2021 Best Colleges for Division I Women’s Volleyball ranking, coming in at #20. Located in Omaha, Nebraska, the medium-sized private not-for-profit school handed out 1,243 bachelor’s degrees in 2018-2019.
The D1 Women’s Volleyball team at Creighton brought home $1,626,531 in revenue in a single year. With a perfect academic progress rate of 1000, the team is showing that they know how to hit the books, too.
With a freshman retention rate of 89%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. On top of its placing in this ranking, Creighton also did well on our overall quality list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.
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Pennsylvania State University - University Park came in at #21 in this year’s edition of the Best Colleges for Division I Women’s Volleyball ranking. University Park, Pennsylvania is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelor’s degrees to 10,893 students in 2018-2019.
On the financial side of things, the D1 Women’s Volleyball team at Penn State University Park made $1,212,691 in revenue. The great academic progress rate of 984 shows that team members perform well in the classroom, too.
The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 93%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. Penn State University Park excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 10% of all schools on our overall quality list.
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Fairfield University ranked #22 on this year’s Best Colleges for Division I Women’s Volleyball list. Fairfield U is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school situated in Fairfield, Connecticut. It awarded 1,069 bachelor’s degrees in 2018-2019.
On the financial side of things, the D1 Women’s Volleyball team at Fairfield U made $858,403 in revenue. The team has a respectable academic progress rate of 974.
With a freshman retention rate of 90%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. On top of its placing in this ranking, Fairfield U also did well on our overall quality list. It’s in the top 15% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.
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University of Southern California landed the #23 spot on the 2021 Best Colleges for Division I Women’s Volleyball ranking. This large private not-for-profit school is located in Los Angeles, California, and it awarded 5,337 bachelor’s degrees in 2018-2019.
On the financial side of things, the D1 Women’s Volleyball team at USC made $2,045,122 in revenue. The team has a respectable academic progress rate of 965.
The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 96%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. USC excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 5% of all schools on our overall quality list.
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University of Notre Dame came in at #24 in this year’s edition of the Best Colleges for Division I Women’s Volleyball ranking. Notre Dame is a fairly large private not-for-profit school situated in Notre Dame, Indiana. It awarded 2,642 bachelor’s degrees in 2018-2019.
The D1 Women’s Volleyball team at Notre Dame brought home $48,156 in revenue in a single year. Sports aren’t the only thing that the team excels at - they had a perfect academic progress rate of 1000.
With a freshman retention rate of 98%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. As a testament to the quality of education it offers, Notre Dame also is in the top 1% of our overall quality ranking.
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Northeastern University ranked #25 on this year’s Best Colleges for Division I Women’s Volleyball list. Located in Boston, Massachusetts, the large private not-for-profit school handed out 4,127 bachelor’s degrees in 2018-2019.
The D1 Women’s Volleyball team at Northeastern brought home $1,447,275 in revenue in a single year. The team has a great academic progress rate of 996, signifying that team members care about their grades.
With a freshman retention rate of 97%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. On top of its placing in this ranking, Northeastern also did well on our overall quality list. It’s in the top 5% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.
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Not only did these schools make the top 45 list, but they also landed in the top 15% of this year’s ranking:
Narrow Colleges by Region
Honorable Mentions
These schools also performed well in our Best Colleges for Division I Women’s Volleyball ranking:
| Rank | College | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 47 | Ohio State University - Main Campus | Columbus, OH |
| 48 | Villanova University | Villanova, PA |
| 49 | Santa Clara University | Santa Clara, CA |
| 50 | University of New Hampshire - Main Campus | Durham, NH |
| 51 | Wake Forest University | Winston-Salem, NC |
| 52 | James Madison University | Harrisonburg, VA |
| 53 | University of Hawaii at Manoa | Honolulu, HI |
| 54 | Samford University | Birmingham, AL |
| 55 | Northwestern University | Evanston, IL |
| 56 | Howard University | Washington, DC |
| 57 | Colorado State University - Fort Collins | Fort Collins, CO |
| 58 | University of Cincinnati - Main Campus | Cincinnati, OH |
| 59 | University of Oregon | Eugene, OR |
| 59 | University of Central Florida | Orlando, FL |
| 59 | Temple University | Philadelphia, PA |
| Rank | College | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 62 | Saint Louis University | Saint Louis, MO |
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Notes and References
Footnotes
*Avg Tuition and Fees and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate are for the top 25 schools only.
References
- The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of our data about colleges.
- Revenue and expense information comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s Equity in Athletics Data Analysis (EADA) website.
- The academic progress rate (APR) of each team was made available by the NCAA.
- Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
- Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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