Top 50 Competitive College Debate Programs in the US - 2025

We're back with an updated list of the Top 50 Competitive College Debate Programs in the United States. ALM staff spend thousands of hours researching, speaking with coaches and debaters, observing debate tournaments, and gathering input from debate professionals around the country. While our ranking does include competitive success, programs ranking were determined by a combination of their competitive opportunity, competitive success, coaching staff, resources, historical success in competitive debate, and program prestige.

For the second year in a row, Harvard College topped our list for the best competitive debate program in the United States, with a strong showing in the American Parliamentary Debate Association and plenty of resources available for competitors of all experience levels. Our biggest climber was Mississippi State University, who jumped to 14th after a very strong year of competition in the International Public Debate Association, and the increasing caliper of the program as a whole.

It is important to keep in mind that colleges on this list do not necessarily compete against one another, as there are multiple collegiate debate leagues and formats. This annual ranking includes teams that compete in the American Debate Association, American Parliamentary Debate Association, British Parliamentary, Public Forum, Lincoln-Douglas, Cross Examination Debate Association, International Public Debate Association, and the National Parliamentary Debate Association. Teams that compete in multiple formats or in multiple leagues are rewarded with a higher score for competitive opportunity. Teams that win tournaments or secure national championships are rewarded with higher scores for competitive success. More resources for students, hosting tournaments, community events, and a long history of success are also important for climbing in the rankings.

There are a few notable changes from last year's list (found here). This year, we ranked more programs than ever before, included college LD and PF teams, and added a tie-breaker algorithm, so that there are no ties on the list.

Debaters and coaches are invited to provide comment through this page, via email, or on our Facebook page to provide more information for our team to revise the rankings for next year. Until then, congratulations to the Top 50 Best Debate Teams of 2025, and happy debating!

2025 College Debate Team Rankings

Rank	Prev	Change	Team
1	1	0	Harvard University
2	1	-1	University of Chicago
3	3	0	University of California - Berkeley
4	4	0	University of Kansas
5	4	-1	Northwestern University
6	9	3	Rice University
7	14	7	Emory University
8	9	1	Louisiana State University - Shreveport
9	4	-5	Yale University
10	9	-1	University of Michigan
11	22	11	Bossier Parish Community College
12	22	10	Wake Forest University
13	9	-4	University of Georgia
14	49	35	Mississippi State University
15	4	-11	University of Southern California
16	4	-12	George Mason University
17	14	-3	George Washington University
18	14	-4	Cornell University
19	14	-5	Southern Methodist University
20	9	-11	Mercer University
21	22	1	Liberty University
22	14	-8	Georgetown University
23	14	-9	United States Military Academy
24	22	-2	Baylor University
25	14	-11	Texas Tech University
26	30	4	Indiana University
27	22	-5	Lee College
28	40	12	Wichita State University
29	40	11	James Madison University
30	32	2	Northeastern University
31	14	-17	Samford University
32	40	8	Union University
33	49	16	Abilene Christian University
34	22	-12	Columbia University
35	40	5	Rutgers
36	UNR	UNR	University of Texas at Tyler
37	22	-15	Princeton University
38	UNR	UNR	William Jewell College
39	35	-4	American University
40	35	-5	University of Minnesota
41	35	-6	Western Washington University
42	35	-7	Johnson County Community College
43	35	-8	Emporia State University
44	32	-12	McKendree University
45	30	-15	United States Naval Academy
46	UNR	UNR	University of California - San Diego
47	UNR	UNR	Point Loma Nazarene University
48	UNR	UNR	Whitman
49	40	-9	Wellesley College
50	40	-10	New York University

Honorable mentions just outside of the top 50 include (with last year's rankings): Michigan State University (49), the College of William and Mary (UNR), the University of Kentucky (40), Binghamton University (40), University of Utah (22), University of Houston (40), University of Texas - San Antonio (49), Boston College (49), California State University - Long Beach (UNR), and Boston University (UNR)