If you want to be surrounded with some of the smartest students in the US and get the most bang for your buck, you may want to consider one of the following universities.From our recent list of the smartest colleges in America, we pulled out the top 100 public schools. Thesecolleges offer brainpower and affordability, since the average annual cost of attending an in-state public school is $8,500, according to US News & World Report. Compare that to the average private school cost of $30,500 ' a difference of $22,000 a year.In order to determine a school's overall smarts,Jonathan Wai, aDuke University Talent Identification Program researcher,analyzedthe average standardizedtestscores that schools report toUS News.(Those that did not report scores are not included.)These tests are often criticized, but research shows that both theSATandACTare good measures of general cognitive ability andgive a reasonable snapshot of the brainpower level of that school.ACT scores were translated into SAT scores (math + verbal) usingthis concordance table,so that all schools could be compared using one metric. Then, an average of the 25th and 75th percentile was computed (see a full description of the methodology and limitationshere).On the following ranking, a (2) next to the school's name indicates that some or all students aren't required to supply scores; a (3) indicates that the school did not supply all students it has scores for, or did not tell US News if it had; a (4) indicates that the data is from a previous year, rather than from the most recent year; and a (9) indicates that the school may not require scores from all applicants and that it may not have submitted data for all students.Here are the smartest public colleges in America:Smarts RankSchoolAverageSAT1Georgia Institute of Technology13852University of California-Berkeley13753College of William and Mary13654United States Air Force Academy13605University of Virginia13556University of Michigan-Ann Arbor13406Colorado School of Mines13408University of California-Los Angeles13209University of Maryland-College Park131010University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill130511Ohio State University-Columbus130012Binghamton University-SUNY129413University of California-San Diego129014University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign128514New College of Florida128516United States Military Academy (3)128317United States Naval Academy128018United States Coast Guard Academy (3)127519University of Pittsburgh127020SUNY-Geneseo126921United States Merchant Marine Academy126722University of Wisconsin-Madison126522University of Florida126522University of Minnesota-Twin Cities126522Missouri University of Science & Technology126526University of Texas-Austin126026University of Texas-Dallas126028University of California-Santa Barbara125028Stony Brook University-SUNY125030Clemson University124530Miami University-Oxford124530Truman State University124533University of Georgia124034North Carolina State University-Raleigh123534College of New Jersey123536University of Washington123036University of Connecticut123036CUNY-Baruch College123039Florida State University122539Auburn University122539California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo (3)122542Virginia Tech122043University of California-Davis121043Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey-New Brunswick121043University of Massachusetts-Amherst121043University of Maryland-Baltimore County121047University of Colorado-Boulder120547University of Tennessee120547University of South Carolina120547Michigan Technological University120551Purdue University-West Lafayette120052University of Delaware119552University of North Carolina-Asheville119554St. Mary's College of Maryland (3)119054University of North Carolina-Wilmington119056University of Vermont118556University of Alabama118556University of Oklahoma118556University of Alabama-Huntsville118556New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology118561Texas A&M University-College Station118061University of Central Florida118063Pennsylvania State University-University Park117563Indiana University-Bloomington117565SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry117065University of South Florida117065CUNY-Hunter College117068University of California-Irvine116568University of Iowa116568Michigan State University (3)116568University of Missouri116568Louisiana State University-Baton Rouge116568University of Arkansas116568University of Minnesota-Morris (3)116575College of Charleston (3)116075Christopher Newport University (2)116077University at Buffalo-SUNY115577Salisbury University (9)115577University of North Florida115580George Mason University (2)115080Florida International University115080Virginia Military Institute115083University of Nebraska-Lincoln114583Iowa State University114583University of Kansas114583Arizona State University-Tempe (2)114583University of Cincinnati114583University of Kentucky114583Oklahoma State University114583University of Alabama-Birmingham114583University of Louisville (3)114583James Madison University114583University of Wisconsin-La Crosse114594University of California-Santa Cruz114094New Jersey Institute of Technology114094University of Houston114094Georgia College & State University114098Appalachian State University113599University of Massachusetts-Lowell1130100Colorado State University1125100University of Wyoming1125100SUNY-New Paltz1125100CUNY-Queens College1125100University of Michigan-Dearborn1125Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly included the University of San Diego, a private institution. The list has been reranked and updated with a new total of 104 schools, due to the five-way tie for No. 100.NOW WATCH:Here's The US City With The Most Desirable PeopleOO.ready(function() { OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer', 'M4Zmh4bTogWXn9k_1oHOW7syzKathyCq'); });Please enable Javascript to watch this videoSEE ALSO:The 600 Smartest Colleges In AmericaJoin the conversation about this story
Click here to read full news..
