Colleges Near Philadelphia

Philadelphia's western suburbs hold one of the country's most concentrated clusters of elite small liberal-arts colleges: Swarthmore (7% admit), Haverford (12%), and Bryn Mawr are three separate, historically linked institutions within a few miles of each other, plus Villanova just down the road. Add Penn (5%) in the city itself, Drexel and Temple as large urban options, and a reach into Delaware and South Jersey (University of Delaware, Rutgers-Camden) -- this metro's federal definition actually spans four states -- and Philadelphia has one of the deepest, most varied lists in this whole series.