R2 Research Universities

133 universities with a Carnegie R2 classification. R2 means high research activity. R1 is a separate list.

College
Type
University of Alaska FairbanksFairbanks, AlaskaPublicUniversity of South AlabamaMobile, AlabamaPublicArkansas State UniversityJonesboro, ArkansasPublicUniversity of Arkansas at Little RockLittle Rock, ArkansasPublicArizona State University Digital ImmersionScottsdale, ArizonaPublicNorthern Arizona UniversityFlagstaff, ArizonaPublicAzusa Pacific UniversityAzusa, CaliforniaPrivateCalifornia State University-East BayHayward, CaliforniaPublicCalifornia State University-FresnoFresno, CaliforniaPublicCalifornia State University-FullertonFullerton, CaliforniaPublicCalifornia State University-Long BeachLong Beach, CaliforniaPublicCalifornia State University-San BernardinoSan Bernardino, CaliforniaPublicChapman UniversityOrange, CaliforniaPrivateClaremont Graduate UniversityClaremont, CaliforniaPrivateLoma Linda UniversityLoma Linda, CaliforniaPrivateLoyola Marymount UniversityLos Angeles, CaliforniaPrivateSan Diego State UniversitySan Diego, CaliforniaPublicSan Francisco State UniversitySan Francisco, CaliforniaPublicUniversity of California-MercedMerced, CaliforniaPublicUniversity of San DiegoSan Diego, CaliforniaPrivateUniversity of Colorado Colorado SpringsColorado Springs, ColoradoPublicAmerican UniversityWashington, District of ColumbiaPrivateHoward UniversityWashington, District of ColumbiaPrivateThe Catholic University of AmericaWashington, District of ColumbiaPrivateFlorida Agricultural and Mechanical UniversityTallahassee, FloridaPublicFlorida Atlantic UniversityBoca Raton, FloridaPublicFlorida Institute of TechnologyMelbourne, FloridaPrivateNova Southeastern UniversityFort Lauderdale, FloridaPrivateUniversity of North FloridaJacksonville, FloridaPublicAugusta UniversityAugusta, GeorgiaPublicClark Atlanta UniversityAtlanta, GeorgiaPrivateGeorgia Southern UniversityStatesboro, GeorgiaPublicKennesaw State UniversityKennesaw, GeorgiaPublicMercer UniversityMacon, GeorgiaPrivateBoise State UniversityBoise, IdahoPublicIdaho State UniversityPocatello, IdahoPublicUniversity of IdahoMoscow, IdahoPublicDePaul UniversityChicago, IllinoisPrivateIllinois Institute of TechnologyChicago, IllinoisPrivateIllinois State UniversityNormal, IllinoisPublicLoyola University ChicagoChicago, IllinoisPrivateNorthern Illinois UniversityDekalb, IllinoisPublicSouthern Illinois University-CarbondaleCarbondale, IllinoisPublicBall State UniversityMuncie, IndianaPublicIndiana University-IndianapolisIndianapolis, IndianaPublicWichita State UniversityWichita, KansasPublicLouisiana Tech UniversityRuston, LouisianaPublicSouthern University and A & M CollegeBaton Rouge, LouisianaPublicUniversity of New OrleansNew Orleans, LouisianaPublicClark UniversityWorcester, MassachusettsPrivateUniversity of Massachusetts-BostonBoston, MassachusettsPublicUniversity of Massachusetts-DartmouthNorth Dartmouth, MassachusettsPublicUniversity of Massachusetts-LowellLowell, MassachusettsPublicWorcester Polytechnic InstituteWorcester, MassachusettsPrivateMorgan State UniversityBaltimore, MarylandPublicUniversity of Maryland Eastern ShorePrincess Anne, MarylandPublicUniversity of New EnglandBiddeford, MainePrivateCentral Michigan UniversityMount Pleasant, MichiganPublicEastern Michigan UniversityYpsilanti, MichiganPublicMichigan Technological UniversityHoughton, MichiganPublicOakland UniversityRochester Hills, MichiganPublicWestern Michigan UniversityKalamazoo, MichiganPublicMissouri University of Science and TechnologyRolla, MissouriPublicSaint Louis UniversitySaint Louis, MissouriPrivateUniversity of Missouri-Kansas CityKansas City, MissouriPublicUniversity of Missouri-St LouisSaint Louis, MissouriPublicJackson State UniversityJackson, MississippiPublicEast Carolina UniversityGreenville, North CarolinaPublicNorth Carolina A & T State UniversityGreensboro, North CarolinaPublicUniversity of North Carolina at CharlotteCharlotte, North CarolinaPublicUniversity of North Carolina at GreensboroGreensboro, North CarolinaPublicUniversity of North Carolina WilmingtonWilmington, North CarolinaPublicWake Forest UniversityWinston-Salem, North CarolinaPrivateUniversity of North DakotaGrand Forks, North DakotaPublicCreighton UniversityOmaha, NebraskaPrivateUniversity of Nebraska at OmahaOmaha, NebraskaPublicMontclair State UniversityMontclair, New JerseyPublicRowan UniversityGlassboro, New JerseyPublicRutgers University-CamdenCamden, New JerseyPublicRutgers University-NewarkNewark, New JerseyPublicSeton Hall UniversitySouth Orange, New JerseyPrivateStevens Institute of TechnologyHoboken, New JerseyPrivateNew Mexico State University-Main CampusLas Cruces, New MexicoPublicClarkson UniversityPotsdam, New YorkPrivateCUNY City CollegeNew York, New YorkPublicFordham UniversityBronx, New YorkPrivateLong Island UniversityBrookville, New YorkPrivateRochester Institute of TechnologyRochester, New YorkPrivateSUNY College of Environmental Science and ForestrySyracuse, New YorkPublicTeachers College at Columbia UniversityNew York, New YorkPrivateThe New SchoolNew York, New YorkPrivateAir Force Institute of Technology-Graduate School of Engineering & ManagementWright-Patterson AFB, OhioPublicBowling Green State University-Main CampusBowling Green, OhioPublicCleveland State UniversityCleveland, OhioPublicMiami University-OxfordOxford, OhioPublicUniversity of Akron Main CampusAkron, OhioPublicUniversity of DaytonDayton, OhioPrivateUniversity of ToledoToledo, OhioPublicWright State University-Main CampusDayton, OhioPublicUniversity of TulsaTulsa, OklahomaPrivatePortland State UniversityPortland, OregonPublicDuquesne UniversityPittsburgh, PennsylvaniaPrivateIndiana University of PennsylvaniaIndiana, PennsylvaniaPublicLehigh UniversityBethlehem, PennsylvaniaPrivateThomas Jefferson UniversityPhiladelphia, PennsylvaniaPrivateVillanova UniversityVillanova, PennsylvaniaPrivateWest Chester University of PennsylvaniaWest Chester, PennsylvaniaPublicUniversity of Puerto Rico-Rio PiedrasSan Juan, Puerto RicoPublicUniversity of Rhode IslandKingston, Rhode IslandPublicSouth Dakota State UniversityBrookings, South DakotaPublicUniversity of South DakotaVermillion, South DakotaPublicEast Tennessee State UniversityJohnson City, TennesseePublicMiddle Tennessee State UniversityMurfreesboro, TennesseePublicTennessee State UniversityNashville, TennesseePublicTennessee Technological UniversityCookeville, TennesseePublicPrairie View A & M UniversityPrairie View, TexasPublicSam Houston State UniversityHuntsville, TexasPublicSouthern Methodist UniversityDallas, TexasPrivateTarleton State UniversityStephenville, TexasPublicTexas A & M University-Corpus ChristiCorpus Christi, TexasPublicTexas A&M University-KingsvilleKingsville, TexasPublicTexas Christian UniversityFort Worth, TexasPrivateTexas Southern UniversityHouston, TexasPublicTexas State UniversitySan Marcos, TexasPublicThe University of Texas at TylerTyler, TexasPublicThe University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyEdinburg, TexasPublicBrigham Young UniversityProvo, UtahPrivateJames Madison UniversityHarrisonburg, VirginiaPublicWilliam & MaryWilliamsburg, VirginiaPublicUniversity of VermontBurlington, VermontPublicMarquette UniversityMilwaukee, WisconsinPrivateMarshall UniversityHuntington, West VirginiaPublicUniversity of WyomingLaramie, WyomingPublic

Research class is Carnegie Basic classification code 16 (CCBASIC). Enrollment and admission rates come from the College Scorecard.

Guide

What R2 means on this page

R2 is Carnegie code 16, the class for high research activity. R1 is code 15, very high research activity. A university is in one of those classes or in neither. It is not in both. This page lists code 16 only. The table sorts by state.

High research is an official class, not a consolation prize this site invented. A campus here has a research profile the classification treats as high. It does not have the very-high code. Readers who use R1 as a synonym for real research will misread this page.

Schools
133
States
41
Median admit rate
78%
127 report a rate
Median earnings
$57,680
10 years after entry

Code 16

The Scorecard carries the Carnegie basic classification. This page filters it to 16. When a later classification moves a campus up or down, the page moves with the field. There is no extra list of honorary R2 members.

Doctoral research universities outside codes 15 and 16 stay off both pages. The classification has more than two buckets. Collapsing everyone else into R2 would break the code.

R1 is the other research class

Very-high-research universities are on the R1 page. Leaving them off this page is the point of having two codes. A flagship can be R1 while another public university in the same state is R2. The flagship page does not decide that.

Liberal arts colleges sit in baccalaureate classes, not in code 16. A college can be famous for undergraduate teaching and stay off this list. Research activity is the rule.

Compare inside the class

R2 campuses differ in control, size, and price. Public regional research universities and private ones share a code and not a tuition bill. The price section separates the in-state public sticker price from the private sticker price.

Admission rates inside the class are not uniformly selective. The class does not measure selectivity. Use the admission section for that spread, and do not treat a lower rate as the reason a campus is R2.

A class, not a league table

Magazine ranks often place R1 universities above R2 universities by construction of the inputs they use. That is their method. It is not what Carnegie code 16 means. This page will not convert the code into a rank order.

If you want one public campus per state, use the flagship list. Some of those campuses are R2 and some are R1. The two pages answer different questions, and a campus can be on one, the other, or both only when both rules match. Both at once means it is the chosen flagship and its code is 16.

Where the schools are

These schools sit in 41 states. The largest groups are California (14), Texas (11), New York (8), Ohio (8), and Illinois (6). The rest of the roll is spread across the other states in the table.

Who runs them

By reported control, 93 are public and 40 are private nonprofit. A blank control stays out of that split.

Predominant degree is the credential the campus awards most often. On this list it is a bachelor's degree at 130 schools and a graduate degree at 3 schools. A campus can still award other credentials.

How large they are

The largest undergraduate enrollments on this list are Arizona State University Digital Immersion in Scottsdale, Arizona, with 53,782 undergraduates, Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia, with 41,254 undergraduates, California State University-Fullerton in Fullerton, California, with 38,546 undergraduates, Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, with 36,177 undergraduates, and California State University-Long Beach in Long Beach, California, with 35,924 undergraduates. Enrollment is the undergraduate figure. It is not a ranking, and it leaves out graduate students.

3 schools do not report an undergraduate enrollment. Those campuses stay off the size order. A blank is not zero.

1 school is reported as online-only. The others are not marked that way in this file.

Admission

127 of 133 schools report an admission rate. The median of those rates is 78%. Schools with no reported rate stay out of the median. A missing rate is not an open door, and it is not a closed one.

The lowest reported admission rates on this list are Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in Tallahassee, Florida, at 21%, Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, at 22%, and Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, at 26%. A lower rate is harder entry. It is not a score for the school.

The highest reported admission rates on this list are University of South Dakota in Vermillion, South Dakota, at 99%, South Dakota State University in Brookings, South Dakota, at 98%, and California State University-East Bay in Hayward, California, at 97%.

What they charge

Among 91 public colleges that report an in-state sticker price, the median is $9,922. 2 other public colleges on the list do not report one. Among 37 private colleges that report a sticker price, the median is $53,710. 3 other private colleges on the list do not report one.

Sticker price is not net price. Grants, waivers, and a service commitment can move the bill by a wide margin. Open a school for the net-price figures.

Earnings and graduation

Among 132 schools that report earnings, the median of those school-level medians is $57,680. The clock starts at entry, not at graduation. The highest reported medians on this list are Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, at $108,772, Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, at $105,584, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts, at $103,470.

Among 129 schools that report a graduation rate, the median rate is 61%. A blank rate is left out. It is not treated as zero.

Athletics in this file

90 report NCAA Division I athletics, 30 play FBS football, and 33 play FCS football. A blank athletics field means this file has no division for that campus. It does not prove the campus has no team.

Also on other lists

Some of these schools also meet the rule for another list on this site. The overlap is a second flag or a second classification. It is not a second ranking.

11 are also on HBCU colleges. 28 are also on Hispanic-serving institutions.

How these figures work

Admission rate, enrollment, sticker price, earnings, and graduation rate all come from the College Scorecard. Earnings are the median 10 years after a student entered the school. Tuition for a public college is the in-state sticker price. Tuition for a private college is the published sticker price. None of these is net price after aid.

A blank field stays blank. This page does not turn a blank admission rate into an open door, a blank fee into a free application, or a blank earnings figure into zero. The table above is membership under the rule in this guide. Sort order is not a quality ranking.

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