The ACC flies under the radar, living in the shadows of its flashier neighbor, the SEC. But the conference packs a punch athletically, bringing home three of the last six NCAA basketball championships and two of the last six football titles. Academically, a strong argument exists that the ACC is second to none. The conference is filled with highly selective, highly prestigious institutions.
While all of the ACC schools offer a world-class education and a respected degree, they aren’t all equal. The guide lists the ACC schools ranked academically and provides the rationale behind each ranking.
Table of Contents
- ACC Schools Ranked Academically
- #1: Duke University
- #2: University of Virginia
- #3 (tie): University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill
- #3 (tie): Georgia Institute of Technology
- #5: Boston College
- #6: Wake Forest University
- #7: University of Miami
- #8: University of Pittsburgh
- #9: Syracuse University
- #10 (tie): Virginia Tech
- #10 (tie): North Carolina State University
- #10 (tie): Clemson University
- #10 (tie): Florida State University
- #14: University of Louisville
ACC Schools Ranked Academically
Our goal in making this list was to focus on the factors that actually influence the quality of education students receive at a particular college or university. Therefore, our ranking criteria looks a little different than that of the major publications like U.S. News.
We still consider where a school ranks in U.S. News, as that affects its national prestige, but we’re more interested in factors such as student selectivity, graduation rates, and the reputations of individual departments and programs within a school. We ignore factors like alumni giving rates and Pell grant percentages, because in our opinion they have little correlation, let alone causation, with the quality of education that a school provides.
Now that we’ve given a rough sketch of our methodology, here are the ACC schools ranked academically.
#1: Duke University
- Location: Durham, NC
- U.S. News ranking: #9
- Acceptance rate: 8%
- Middle 50% SAT range: 1,480-1,560
- Middle 50% ACT range: 34-35
- Graduation rate: 95%
Many schools get labeled “Harvard of the South,” but Duke is the one that comes closest to hitting the mark. While Vanderbilt, Emory, and even Tulane have made strides, Duke is still the most prestigious and selective university in the southeastern United States. Its cachet is buttressed by the fact that on top of its world-class undergraduate school, it boasts top law and medical schools, along with many other elite graduate programs.
#2: University of Virginia
- Location: Charlottesville, VA
- U.S. News ranking: #25
- Acceptance rate: 21%
- Middle 50% SAT range: 1,400-1,510
- Middle 50% ACT range: 32-35
- Graduation rate: 95%
While Duke is the clear-cut top academic ACC school, it gets a little muddled after that. We slotted UVA slightly above UNC-Chapel Hill and Georgia Tech because of its superior graduation rate and lofty test score averages for incoming freshmen. Like Duke, it has a top law school. And because it’s situated where the South meets the Mid-Atlantic, its alumni network extends into the Acela corridor as well as down to Miami.
#3 (tie): University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill
- Location: Chapel Hill, NC
- U.S. News ranking: #28
- Acceptance rate: 19%
- Middle 50% SAT range: 1,330-1,500
- Middle 50% ACT range: 29-33
- Graduation rate: 91%
UNC-Chapel Hill is known nationwide as one of the top public universities in the country. Because the state mandates that more than 80% of each incoming class be composed of North Carolina residents, it’s exceedingly difficult to get into from out of state. (It also explains why the test score averages and graduation rates are a little lower than UVA’s: it has more lenient admissions policies for in-state students.) UNC is part of the “Research Triangle” that also includes Duke and NC State.
#3 (tie): Georgia Institute of Technology
- Location: Atlanta, GA
- U.S. News ranking: #38
- Acceptance rate: 18%
- Middle 50% SAT range: 1,370-1,520
- Middle 50% ACT range: 31-35
- Graduation rate: 88%
Georgia Tech is such a different school from UVA and UNC-Chapel Hill that it was difficult to compare them head to head. If you want to pursue engineering, there is no better place to do it in the ACC and arguably in the country than Georgia Tech. Beyond that, however, its programs are more limited than what you’ll find at traditional flagship state schools. (For instance, you won’t find a sociology major, and you certainly won’t find an art history major.) Its graduation rate is a little low for a school of its caliber, but this is common at engineering schools due to the difficulty of the coursework.
#5: Boston College
- Location: Chestnut Hill, MA
- U.S. News ranking: #36
- Acceptance rate: 26%
- Middle 50% SAT range: 1,330-1,500
- Middle 50% ACT range: 31-34
- Graduation rate: 93%
Boston College is one of the ACC’s newer members, having moved over from the now-defunct Big East. Its comparable in academic prestige to Wake Forest and actually ranks a bit lower in U.S. News, but we gave it the nod because of its higher graduation rate. It’s also worth noting that the school isn’t located in Boston proper but in the suburb of Chestnut Hill. It’s also the second-highest ranked Jesuit school in the country behind Georgetown.
#6: Wake Forest University
- Location: Winston-Salem, NC
- U.S. News ranking: #28
- Acceptance rate: 25%
- Middle 50% SAT range: 1,380-1,480
- Middle 50% ACT range: 30-33
- Graduation rate: 89%
Wake Forest is the smallest university not just in the ACC but in the entire Power 5, with just over 5,000 undergraduates. But it packs a punch for a small university, offering top-ranked medical, law, and business schools. Its undergraduate school feels more like a liberal arts college than a major research university (even though major research absolutely gets conducted there), with small class sizes and classes taught by tenured professors rather than by TAs. It is a Greek-heavy and somewhat conservative campus that definitely appeals to some personality types but not others.
#7: University of Miami
- Location: Coral Gables, FL
- U.S. News ranking: #55
- Acceptance rate: 28%
- Middle 50% SAT range: 1,310-1,450
- Middle 50% ACT range: 30-33
- Graduation rate: 83%
The University of Miami is another ACC school that, like Boston College, isn’t actually located in the city it’s named after. UM (or “The U” as students call it) is in Coral Gables, an upscale suburb about five miles southwest of downtown Miami. It has rocketed up in the rankings over the past two decades as it’s slowly shed its “Sun Tan U” reputation from the 1980s and 1990s. Miami has become a selective and rigorous school full of serious students — though it certainly still attracts the rich kid, South Beach party crowd, as well.
#8: University of Pittsburgh
- Location: Pittsburgh, PA
- U.S. News ranking: #59
- Acceptance rate: 67%
- Middle 50% SAT range: 1,250-1,470
- Middle 50% ACT range: 28-33
- Graduation rate: 83%
The University of Pittsburgh (or “Pitt” as it’s known to students and alums) has a high acceptance rate coupled with impressive test score ranges. This suggests that its applicant pool is somewhat self-selective: only those who know they have competitive stats bother to apply. Pitt gets a boost in our rankings because of its top-notch STEM and pre-med programs. Its medical school is one of the best in the nation. If you want an urban, walkable campus in a thriving city, it’s hard to do better than Pitt in the ACC.
#9: Syracuse University
- Location: Syracuse, NY
- U.S. News ranking: #59
- Acceptance rate: 69%
- Middle 50% SAT range: 1,160-1,370
- Middle 50% ACT range: 25-30
- Graduation rate: 83%
Syracuse has a higher acceptance rate, lower graduation rate, and lower test score ranges than several schools we have it ranked ahead of. The reason we gave it a boost is because it’s so highly regarded among graduate schools and professional schools, and because it has specific programs and departments that rank among the best in the nation, most notably its Newhouse School of Journalism.
#10 (tie): Virginia Tech
- Location: Blacksburg, VA
- U.S. News ranking: #75
- Acceptance rate: 56%
- Middle 50% SAT range: 1,210-1,410
- Middle 50% ACT range: 26-32
- Graduation rate: 85%
These next four schools on our list were impossible to separate from one another, so we lumped them together as a four-way tie. Virginia Tech has gotten much more selective just in the past couple of years, its acceptance rate falling from nearly 80% to just over 50%. Its test score ranges are creeping up too, with the average incoming freshman now boasting more than a 1,300 on the SAT and a 29 on the ACT. For engineering, Virginia Tech, along with NC State, trails only Georgia Tech in the ACC.
#10 (tie): North Carolina State University
- Location: Raleigh, NC
- U.S. News ranking: #79
- Acceptance rate: 47%
- Middle 50% SAT range: 1,290-1,430
- Middle 50% ACT range: 27-32
- Graduation rate: 82%
If you want to study engineering and your choices are Virginia Tech and NC State, you can pretty much flip a coin. Actually, you should decide based on whether you want a city environment or a more rural, mountainous campus. (Whether you get in-state tuition at one school or the other is an important factor, too.) But otherwise, these schools offer similarly rigorous and reputable programs that lead to similar outcomes. You can’t go wrong at either school.
#10 (tie): Clemson University
- Location: Clemson, SC
- U.S. News ranking: #75
- Acceptance rate: 49%
- Middle 50% SAT range: 1,240-1,400
- Middle 50% ACT range: 27-32
- Graduation rate: 84%
Clemson has gotten far more selective in recent years as the size of its applicant pool has increased exponentially, driven in part by the success of its football program under head coach Dabo Swinney. But what many people still don’t know is that Clemson excels at far more than football, tailgating, and Greek life. Its engineering school is one of the best in the South. We rank it just a smidge behind VA Tech and NC State. In addition, Clemson offers the quintessential college experience. You really need to see the campus to believe it.
#10 (tie): Florida State University
- Location: Tallahassee, FL
- U.S. News ranking: #55
- Acceptance rate: 37%
- Middle 50% SAT range: 1,200-1,330
- Middle 50% ACT range: 26-30
- Graduation rate: 83%
As recently as 10 to 20 years ago, Florida State had a “can you fog a mirror?” admissions policy and wasn’t known for rigorous academics. That as changed quickly. The university now accepts fewer than 40% of its applicants and boasts a graduation rate above 80%. It has top programs in fields such as humanities, pre-law, and marketing. Oh, and even though the academics have gotten tougher, the party scene in Tallahassee is still thriving (though it has a sizable non-party crowd as well, so introverted students shouldn’t be intimidated), and the student body still looks like something out of a modeling magazine.
#14: University of Louisville
- Location: Louisville, KY
- U.S. News ranking: #187
- Acceptance rate: 74%
- Middle 50% SAT range: 1,060-1,260
- Middle 50% ACT range: 20-28
- Graduation rate: 58%
Louisville is a bit of an outlier on our list, and in the ACC in general. We’re not saying it’s not a quality institution — you can 100% get a top-notch education there if you apply yourself — but its stats, including a graduation rate below 60%, an average ACT score of 24, and a U.S. News ranking far below the top 100, lag well behind the rest of the conference. The school still has a large commuter population and many adult learners. These students tend to graduate at lower rates, which brings the entire university’s average down. But since UL has joined the ACC, it has made academic strides and will likely continue to do so going forward, making it a potentially great “buy low, sell high” investment for students whose stats might not qualify them for the other ACC schools.
