Vanderbilt University (Peabody)

The Peabody College of Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University has a rolling application deadline. Its tuition is full-time: $1,782 per credit and part-time: $1,782 per credit. The Peabody College of Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University has 84 full-time faculty on staff with a 2.4:1 ratio of full-time equivalent doctoral students to full-time faculty.

The Peabody College of Education and Human Development offers hands-on education in more than a dozen areas for graduate and professional students. There are more than 15 areas to specialize in, including Reading Education and Human Development Counseling. Students can earn degrees in select fields part time. Undergraduates at Vanderbilt can complete an advanced degree quickly, with one-year master’s programs in areas like Behavior Analysis and Organizational Leadership. Ph.D. students go to school tuition-free for up to five years and can attend the American Education Research Association’s yearly conference for free.

Faculty and students are often deeply involved in research efforts year-round, and Peabody has more than a dozen research labs and centers on campus. The school of education is also home to two government-funded research centers: the National Center on School Choice and the National Center on Performance Initiatives.

On campus, Peabody has its own subsection within the larger Vanderbilt University. Graduate students cannot live on campus, but the school offers a web database of housing options nearby. Downtown Nashville is about a mile away, and the city is home to everything from the Tennessee Titans, an NFL team, to Bonnaroo, an annual rock music festival.

Its alumni are more likely to stay in the teaching profession than graduates of many other schools, Peabody reports, and notable alumni include Bettie Page, a former pin-up model, and Chris Barbic, founder of YES College Preparatory Schools, Houston-based institutes for at-risk Latino students.

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private institution that was founded in 1636. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 6,694, its setting is urban, and the campus size is 5,076 acres. It utilizes a semester-based academic calendar. Harvard University's ranking in the 2016 edition of Best Colleges is National Universities, 2. Its tuition and fees are $45,278 (2015-16).

Harvard is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston. Harvard's extensive library system houses the oldest collection in the United States and the largest private collection in the world. There is more to the school than endless stacks, though: Harvard's athletic teams compete in the Ivy League, and every football season ends with "The Game," an annual matchup between storied rivals Harvard and Yale. At Harvard, on-campus residential housing is an integral part of student life. Freshmen live around the Harvard Yard at the center of campus, after which they are placed in one of 12 undergraduate houses for their remaining three years. Although they are no longer recognized by the university as official student groups, the eight all-male "final clubs" serve as social organizations for some undergraduate students; Harvard also has five female clubs.

In addition to the College, Harvard is made up of 13 other schools and institutes, including the top-ranked Business School and Medical School and the highly ranked Graduate Education School, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Law School and John F. Kennedy School of Government. Eight U.S. presidents graduated from Harvard College, including Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John 

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private institution in Cambridge, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston. This Ivy League school is the oldest higher education institution in the country and has the largest endowment of any school in the world.

Princeton University

The ivy-covered campus of Princeton University, a private institution, is located in the quiet town of Princeton, New Jersey. Princeton was the first university to offer a "no loan" policy to financially needy students, giving grants instead of loans to accepted students who need help paying tuition