The 50 colleges that score highest for Writing and rhetoric on public federal data: selectivity, graduate earnings, program size, academic strength and graduate depth. It is a starting point for your research, not a judgment of quality.
50 colleges · each name links to its page, with sources · data snapshot October 2, 2026 · Updated October 2, 2026
How we rank programs · showing the top 50 of 50 core colleges ranked, those with enough graduates and earnings data · All top-programs lists
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| Rank | College | State | What we measured | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Chicago | IL | Median earnings $78,169 (field-wide) · 38 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 2 | Columbia University in the City of New York | NY | Median earnings $47,702 · 51 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 3 | Johns Hopkins University | MD | Median earnings $63,503 · 23 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 4 | Brown University | RI | Median earnings $73,497 (field-wide) · 41 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 5 | Carnegie Mellon University | PA | Median earnings $71,205 · 13 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 6 | Emory University | GA | Median earnings $54,848 · 32 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 7 | University of California-Berkeley | CA | Median earnings $69,373 · 39 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 8 | Washington University in St Louis | MO | Median earnings $86,182 (college-wide) · 16 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 9 | Colby College | ME | Median earnings $80,490 (college-wide) · 13 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 10 | University of Southern California | CA | Median earnings $41,637 · 40 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 11 | Hamilton College | NY | Median earnings $42,806 · 23 graduates last year · 4% of the school's degrees | |
| 12 | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | MI | Median earnings $43,689 · 22 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 13 | University of Richmond | VA | Median earnings $81,253 · 19 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 14 | University of Miami | FL | Median earnings $75,328 (college-wide) · 17 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 15 | University of Rochester | NY | Median earnings $53,702 (field-wide) · 13 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 16 | Macalester College | MN | Median earnings $63,878 (college-wide) · 19 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 17 | Denison University | OH | Median earnings $67,753 (college-wide) · 15 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 18 | Oberlin College | OH | Median earnings $49,906 (field-wide) · 38 graduates last year · 4% of the school's degrees | |
| 19 | The University of Texas at Austin | TX | Median earnings $68,314 · 34 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 20 | Brandeis University | MA | Median earnings $62,291 (field-wide) · 11 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 21 | Clemson University | SC | Median earnings $67,102 · 78 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 22 | Bucknell University | PA | Median earnings $49,785 (field-wide) · 18 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 23 | Franklin and Marshall College | PA | Median earnings $76,124 (college-wide) · 24 graduates last year · 4% of the school's degrees | |
| 24 | Binghamton University | NY | Median earnings $49,366 · 36 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 25 | University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus | PA | Median earnings $57,012 · 188 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 26 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | IL | Median earnings $44,004 · 23 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 27 | Colorado College | CO | Median earnings $65,222 (college-wide) · 16 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 28 | University of Washington-Seattle Campus | WA | Median earnings $47,124 · 37 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 29 | George Washington University | DC | Median earnings $70,766 (field-wide) · 13 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 30 | Emerson College | MA | Median earnings $51,742 · 118 graduates last year · 11% of the school's degrees | |
| 31 | Stony Brook University | NY | Median earnings $55,210 (field-wide) · 19 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 32 | The University of Tampa | FL | Median earnings $59,436 (college-wide) · 14 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 33 | Purdue University-Main Campus | IN | Median earnings $49,918 · 40 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 34 | Syracuse University | NY | Median earnings $61,159 · 28 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 35 | Bennington College | VT | Median earnings $38,289 (college-wide) · 12 graduates last year · 6% of the school's degrees | |
| 36 | Pepperdine University | CA | Median earnings $82,939 (college-wide) · 14 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 37 | University of Minnesota-Twin Cities | MN | Median earnings $60,415 · 132 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 38 | Baylor University | TX | Median earnings $54,367 (field-wide) · 18 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 39 | University of Montevallo | AL | Median earnings $46,767 · 14 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 40 | DePauw University | IN | Median earnings $51,983 · 10 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 41 | Miami University-Oxford | OH | Median earnings $61,474 · 55 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 42 | Texas Christian University | TX | Median earnings $64,885 (field-wide) · 12 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 43 | Chapman University | CA | Median earnings $44,183 · 33 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 44 | Arizona State University Digital Immersion | AZ | Median earnings $62,668 (college-wide) · 42 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 45 | University of Central Florida | FL | Median earnings $46,532 (field-wide) · 17 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 46 | Hobart William Smith Colleges | NY | Median earnings $68,522 · 12 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 47 | James Madison University | VA | Median earnings $57,179 · 46 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 48 | The New School | NY | Median earnings $42,674 (field-wide) · 15 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 49 | University of North Carolina Wilmington | NC | Median earnings $37,968 · 34 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 50 | Ithaca College | NY | Median earnings $51,001 · 27 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees |
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