美国财经杂志《福布斯》2014年7月30日公布2014年美国最佳100所大学，位于麻省的威廉斯学院(Williams College)击败多所名牌学府，排名第一，斯坦福大学屈居第二。传统名校耶鲁大学及哈佛大学，则分别排名第6及第7位。据报道，该榜单的公布在美国引起热烈讨论，特别是关于大学人文与科研教育孰轻孰重的讨论，这次以人文为重的学院略胜一筹。
福布斯公布全美大学榜 哈佛耶鲁未进前三。

据报道，《福布斯》以教学质量、学生满意度、毕业率、学贷负担，以及校友事业成就等为指标，评估全美国650所大学。相对于学生入学时的成绩，《福布斯》更注重毕业生的质素。在前10所最佳大学中，有一半院校位于麻省新英格兰，包括普林斯顿大学及麻省理工学院。

威廉斯学院的名气虽不及哈佛及耶鲁，但也属老牌院校，学科以文科、数理及社会科学为主。其大部分课堂的学生小于20人，创立校友会及毕业袍等传统。《福布斯》曾指，以学院投入的的资源而言，威廉斯学院是全美最能把学生培养成高薪人士的学校，著名校友包括美国在线(AOL)始创人史蒂夫·凯斯和新加坡前总理吴作栋。

作为人文学院，威廉斯学院教授只教本科生，而不做研究工作，学院奉行牛津式教学法，学生做研究，并且为自己的论点与对手及辅导教师进行一个星期的答辩。学院属于贵族学院之列，学费昂贵，学生必须家境良好且高中成绩优秀。
杂志表示：“这次是由以学生为本的小型人文学校，对决精英研究型、较着重科技、工程及数理的大学院，两者不分轩轾。”

美国最佳百大学府榜单：

Rank	Name	State	Cost	Total Student Population
1	Williams College	Massachusetts	$61,850	2,124
2	Stanford University	California	$60,749	18,519
3	Swarthmore College	Pennsylvania	$60,671	1,552
4	Princeton University	New Jersey	$55,832	7,975
5	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Massachusetts	$59,020	11,189
6	Yale University	Connecticut	$61,620	11,906
7	Harvard University	Massachusetts	$59,950	28,147
8	Pomona College	California	$59,730	1,607
9	United States Military Academy	New York	N/A	4,592
10	Amherst College	Massachusetts	$61,544	1,817

Rank	Name	State	Cost	Total Student Population
11	Haverford College	Pennsylvania	$61,898	1,205
12	University of Pennsylvania	Pennsylvania	$61,800	24,725
13	Brown University	Rhode Island	$60,460	8,885
14	Bowdoin College	Maine	$59,900	1,839
15	Wesleyan University	Connecticut	$62,849	3,262
16	Carleton College	Minnesota	$60,425	2,055
17	University of Notre Dame	Indiana	$60,117	12,126
18	Dartmouth College	New Hampshire	$63,279	6,277
19	Northwestern University	Illinois	$63,193	21,215
20	Columbia University	New York	$64,144	26,471

Rank	Name	State	Cost	Total Student Population
21	California Institute of Technology	California	$58,755	2,243
22	Davidson College	North Carolina	$57,458	1,790
23	Duke University	North Carolina	$61,748	15,386
24	University of Chicago	Illinois	$64,988	15,245
25	Tufts University	Massachusetts	$61,000	10,837
26	Vassar College	New York	$61,320	2,406
27	United States Naval Academy	Maryland	N/A	4,536
28	Georgetown University	District of Columbia	$62,179	17,357
29	Wellesley College	Massachusetts	$59,092	2,482
30	Middlebury College	Vermont	$59,470	2,516

Rank	Name	State	Cost	Total Student Population
31	Cornell University	New York	$61,618	21,424
32	Rice University	Texas	$54,291	6,484
33	Washington and Lee University	Virginia	$58,575	2,302
34	United States Air Force Academy	Colorado	N/A	4,120
35	Barnard College	New York	$61,512	2,504
36	Boston College	Massachusetts	$60,706	14,605
37	University of California, Berkeley	California	$56,197	35,893
38	Colgate University	New York	$60,050	2,886
39	Colby College	Maine	$59,110	1,863
40	University of Virginia	Virginia	$53,461	23,907

Rank	Name	State	Cost	Total Student Population
41	College of William and Mary	Virginia	$51,306	8,258
42	Kenyon College	Ohio	$60,070	1,667
43	Oberlin College	Ohio	$62,132	2,944
44	University of California, Los Angeles	California	$55,294	39,945
45	University of Michigan, Ann Arbor	Michigan	$53,490	43,426
46	Reed College	Oregon	$59,630	1,455
47	Whitman College	Washington	$56,600	1,539
48	Lafayette College	Pennsylvania	$59,750	2,488
49	Smith College	Massachusetts	$60,167	3,212
50	University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill	North Carolina	$45,806	29,278