While U.S. News and World Report crowned the top four Oklahoma colleges, Forbes is coming in with their own list of the best schools in the nation.
The 2025-26 Top Colleges list includes 500 universities and colleges that Forbes considers producing “successful, high-earning, and influential graduates from all economic backgrounds” with low student debt, according to an article that accompanied this year’s list. The rankings also reflect factors like enrollment and outcomes for low-income students.
“Schools ranked highly on our list if their students returned after the first year, graduated on time, secured high salaries after graduation and left college with little student debt,” the article stated.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology reclaimed the top spot on Forbes’ list, second place on U.S. News’ list; meanwhile, three of Oklahoma’s schools made it to the top half of the list.
See how Oklahoma colleges and universities fared on Forbes’ latest rankings.
Oklahoma schools on the Forbes ‘America’s Top Colleges’ list
Only three of Oklahoma’s colleges and universities made the top 500 schools list for Forbes. While the University of Oklahoma took the top spot, the other two schools were similar to the U.S. News list.
The Sooners scored 96th on the 2026 Top Colleges list nationwide, with high marks in colleges in the South (22nd) and Research University (77).
Sitting at 96th, this puts the University of Oklahoma in conversation with schools like Indiana University, Bloomington (94), Babson College (95) and California State University, Long Beach (97).
The top colleges in Oklahoma, according to Forbes, are:
Oklahoma State and Tulsa both come in just shy of the 250 halfway mark of the list. This puts the Cowboys just below Oberlin College in Ohio and schools like Bentley University, Saint Louis University and Whitman College between the two northern Oklahoma schools.
Both schools still got distinctions in other categories.
OSU was ranked the 44th best school in the South and 138th for research universities. While Tulsa scored 46th in the South, 140th in research and 119th in Private colleges.
See the full rankings online at forbes.com/top-colleges
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Forbes named these 3 Oklahoma schools the among nation’s best: See list