Recently, the international higher education research organization QS Quacquarelli Symonds released the 2025 QS World University Rankings.
This year, QS compared and analyzed the performance of 1,500 universities across 106 higher education systems worldwide.
Let's take a look at the new changes in this year’s rankings and the GRE requirements these top universities have for applicants!
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US University Rankings Take a Dive
A total of 16 US universities made the top 50, still occupying a significant share of the rankings, but overall rankings dropped sharply. Apart from Caltech and the University of Pennsylvania seeing rises, all other schools experienced declines of varying degrees:
The University of Chicago, Princeton University, and Yale University dropped out of the top 20, falling below the University of Sydney.
Columbia University saw a significant drop, falling 11 spots to 34th place.
Source: QS & ETS
It is worth noting that although the QS rankings of US universities have been declining, application requirements have not eased at all—the top 50 US schools almost universally require GRE scores!
UK Universities Reshuffled
Eight UK universities made the top 50, with four of them in the top 10.
Imperial College London was this year’s standout dark horse, not only overtaking Oxford and Cambridge to take the top spot in the UK but also surpassing Harvard and Stanford, leaping from sixth last year to second in the world.
Image source: Imperial College London official website
The London School of Economics and Political Science, which performed well last year, dropped five places to 50th this year. The G5 universities overall performed strongly, while the rankings of King's College London, Manchester, Edinburgh, and Warwick generally declined.
Source: QS & ETS
It's not just US schools that require GRE scores—more than half of the top 50 UK universities require GRE submission!
Asian Universities' Global Competitiveness Strengthens
The National University of Singapore remains Asia's top institution, ranked eighth globally. Nanyang Technological University surged 11 spots to 15th, re-entering the global top 20.
Chinese universities shone, with Peking University (15th), the University of Hong Kong (17th), and Tsinghua University (20th) all entering the top 20. In the top 50, all of "HKU, CUHK, HKUST" and "Tsinghua, Peking, Fudan, SJTU, Zhejiang" are present.
Source: QS & ETS
Top Asian universities also mostly require GRE scores!
All Top 50 Schools Require or Accept GRE
In the 2025 QS World University Rankings top 50, 100% of institutions either require or accept GRE scores for master's applications.
No matter how rankings fluctuate, a strong GRE score is essential for applying to a global top-50 school!
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Source: QS & ETS
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT Sloan School of Management—essentially all programs require GRE scores.
Source: MIT official website
Imperial College London
Some popular programs at Imperial College London either require or strongly recommend that applicants submit GRE scores.
Source: IC official website
National University of Singapore
Last year, three full-time master's programs under the Institute of Systems Science (ISS) at NUS added a GRE score requirement.
Source: NUS official website
Tsinghua University
The Tsinghua-Columbia Dual Master's Degree Program in Business Analytics requires GRE scores for the interview/retest stage.
Source: Tsinghua University official website
As you can see, an excellent GRE score is very helpful for top school applications. Students planning to apply should definitely start preparing for the GRE early!
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