After that generalization, you have to start looking program by program. No one is #1 in all of them. Many of the best U.S. universities that just happen not to be in the Ivy League also have programs that are top ranked.

But you will find the many of the math and science programs at Harvard and Princeton are among the best anywhere.

CAL TECH for example is very high rated.

So is MIT

So is UC Berkeley

Then comes your Princetons and Yales and Harvards and others.

You gotta remember Cal Tech is basically NASA and does all the unmanned missions. Mars rover this in a CAL TECH baby.

UC BERKELEY helped make the A BOMB. Dr. Lawrenece Livermore (the physics school is named for him) and Nobel Lauriate was in charge of refining the Plutominum and Uranium.