Most Innovative Colleges 2017: Top 20 Schools With Free Tuition, Cool Degree Programs And Other Perks

With video applications, Starbucks-financed degrees and mandatory computer science courses, these schools are doing college right.

U.S. News & World Report released Tuesday its ranking of the best colleges in the nation, and it also broke down the most innovative schools. Arizona State University in Tempe and Harvey Mudd College topped the national universities and liberal arts college lists, respectively, and a quick Google search shows that U.S. News wasn't lying about their institutional improvements.

Arizona State, for example, partnered with Starbucks last year to offer free tuition to employees. Stanford University recently found that smartphones are faster at typing out dictated text messages than humans. Berea College makes all of its students work at least 10 hours a week so it can offer free tuition.

All college rankings are subjective and therefore should be taken into consideration alongside a variety of other factors, but if you're searching for a cool school, these might be good places to start. Check out the 2017 U.S. News rankings below.

National Universities

1. Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona

2. Stanford University in Stanford, California

3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts

4. Georgia State University in Atlanta

5. University of Maryland–Baltimore County in Baltimore

6. Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

7 (tie). Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta and Northeastern University in Boston

9 (tie). Portland State University in Portland, Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor

National Liberal Arts Colleges

1. Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California

2. Colorado College in Colorado Springs

3. Berea College in Berea, Kentucky

4 (tie). Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia, Bard College in Annandale-On-Hudson, New York, Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas and Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio

8 (tie). Goucher College in Baltimore and Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa

10 (tie). Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin, Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota and Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California