The College Consensus ranking of the Best Colleges in Maryland combines the results of the most respected college ranking systems with the averaged ratings of thousands of real student reviews from around the web to create a unique college meta-ranking. This approach offers a comprehensive and holistic perspective missing from other college rankings. Visit our about page for information on which rankings and review sites were included in this year’s consensus rankings.
The Best Colleges & Universities in Maryland category is limited to schools in Maryland. Schools that did not qualify for a Consensus Score were ranked by their Student Review score.
If you’re interested in online-based schools, check out our ranking of the Best Online Colleges in Maryland. You can also find out more about college financial aid with our list of the Top Maryland Scholarships.
Recommended Online Schools in Maryland
Visit sites to learn more about enrollment, tuition, and aid
Recommended Online Schools in Maryland
Visit sites to learn more about enrollment, tuition, and aid
Recommended Online Schools in Maryland
Visit sites to learn more about enrollment, tuition, and aid
The Rundown: Best Colleges in Maryland
The best colleges in Maryland are built on the long, proud history of one of the oldest American states. Maryland was the birthplace of religious freedom, one of the first states to ratify the Constitution, and the state that donated the land for Washington DC, and no other state in the union has capitalized on that history quite like Maryland. Maryland depends on the federal government, and public institutions like smaller regional members of the University System of Maryland are crucial to educating future managers, professionals, and workforce for government, healthcare, and education. Schools like Towson University and Frostburg State rank among the best regional universities in the North, while others, like UM Baltimore County (one of our top Underrated Colleges Doing Great Things) and Morgan State University (a top-ranked historically black college) are making a difference for Maryland’s minority students.
The leadership of Maryland’s industry, along with some of the most important research being done for government agencies like NASA and the National Institutes of Health, is built on two of the best major research universities in the US, the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University. Originally an agricultural school, UMD is the state’s flagship, one of the highest-ranked public universities in the nation, and a Public Ivy (it’s also one of College Consensus’ Top Green Schools). Johns Hopkins is a household name, America’s first modern research university and a world leader in medicine.
Maryland also has a strong tradition of small liberal arts colleges. Some of Maryland’s finest colleges, like Loyola University Maryland, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and Mount St. Mary’s University, were founded by Maryland’s strong Catholic population (the colony began as a refuge for Catholic persecuted in England) and rank among the best Catholic colleges in America. (It doesn’t hurt that they rank among the best beach colleges and best college dorms, either.) Others, like St. John’s College, Washington College, and Hood College, are nationally-ranked liberal arts colleges, known as innovative and progressive institutions that have helped revolutionize and shape higher education, not only in Maryland, but in the US. With some of the nation’s best small colleges, Maryland’s colleges and universities have a tremendous responsibility, one for which they are entirely up to task.
The Future According to Maryland’s Best Colleges
The best colleges in Maryland don’t react – they act. And they don’t anticipate the future – they build it. With its influence on Washington, Maryland’s higher education system is quite unlikely to lose its relevance; if anything, the power and authority of institutions like Johns Hopkins and UMD is only going to grow as they reach out; both JHU and the UMD system have emerged as leaders in online and other non-traditional education. With a growing minority and international population, Maryland’s culture continues to get richer, and no matter how power shifts and fluxes in Washington, Maryland moves ever forward.
That cultural and economic richness is reflected in the best colleges in Maryland, which offer something for everyone: elite liberal arts colleges in the New England style; Catholic and evangelical Christian colleges; urban research institutions and classic college-town public universities; and no shortage of regional universities that go underappreciated even as the state depends on them.
Related:
Best Online Colleges & Universities in Maryland
