U.A. High is the most important location in My Hero Academia—the school's job is to teach youngsters how to manipulate, wield, and, most importantly, regulate their Quirks. As such, those who graduate from this prestigious school go on to become some of the best Pro Heroes in Japan.
The current batch of U.A. students is far more impressive than any that came before, capable of feats that impress their peers, teachers, and the general public. When selecting for the strongest, however, it is important to take into consideration factors like imagination, alertness, sensitivity, and compassion in addition to Quirk power. Warning: manga spoilers below.
Mei Hatsume
Mei Hatsume studies under the Support Department, meaning that she doesn't have the features U.A. looks for in a hero. Regardless, the My Hero Academia's character's intelligence and engineering talents are off the charts, seeing as she develops dozens of support items to improve her schoolmates' battle experience.
Hatsume's Quirk, Zoom, converts her eyes into a pair of strong binoculars, but she doesn't even use it half the time. During her fight with Tenya, she basically uses him to showcase her various products; he wins the match only because she willingly withdraws.
Fumikage Tokoyami
Tokoyami is quite the powerhouse when his Dark Shadow reaches its max strength, but that causes an entirely different set of problems. While he still has a long way to go in gaining total control over his Quirk, he's not an opponent that should be taken lightly.
Tokoyami takes on Dabi's terrifying flames in his bid to rescue Hawks, ultimately succeeding with a combination of skill, muscle, and a dash of luck. With more practice, he's likely to obtain a top ten Pro Hero ranking.
Hitoshi Shinso
Hitoshi Shinso belongs to the General Department at U.A. despite having a Quirk that can brainwash literally anyone (as long as they respond to a question he asks).
He first shows off his expertise at the Sports Festival when he takes control of Deku's body movements, an unnerving move that would have worked had his opponent been anyone else. Shinso has since become significantly stronger, adapting Eraser Head's Binding Cloth and Artificial Vocal Cords into his battle tactics.
Tamaki Amajiki
Tamaki Amajiki is one of U.A. High's Big 3, and for good reason. His Manifest Quirk is bizarre and rather awkward, which makes his mastery over it nothing short of extraordinary. His strategic thinking is best displayed in the fight against Yu Hojo, Toya Setsuno, and Soramitsu Tabe, taking on three of the Shie Hassaikai's Eight Bullets simultaneously.
What sets Tamaki apart from most of his peers is his borderline supernatural sense of composure, allowing him to dissect and analyze his opponents' techniques in the middle of battle.
Itsuka Kendo
Itsuka Kendo's Big Fist is not nearly as unwieldy as it appears. In fact, her Quirk is quite versatile—she uses her enlarged hands as blunt force weapons, as durable shields, or to ferry or trap others. She even dissipates a cloud of noxious fumes created by Mustard by rotating her arms rapidly.
Itsuka occasionally misses seeing the forest for the trees, but few of her decisions have been proven inaccurate or imprecise. Her systematic trains of thought are rarely derailed, almost always having the exact outcome she plans for. Itsuka cannot be stopped without a medley of countermeasures, as Class 1-A learns during the Joint Training arc. The only thing her character needs on My Hero Academia is more screen time.
Nejire Hado
Nejire Hado's Quirk, Wave Motion, generates coils of golden energy capable of taking out opponents far bigger than her. Further, she has fine-tuned the quantity, direction, and range of her shockwaves to an incredible degree, explaining why she's able to perform feats such as self-levitation as well as increase her overall agility.
As a Big 3 member, Nejire is undoubtedly among the most powerful characters in My Hero Academia, let alone U.A. Unfortunately, she's yet to take on villains who can push her Quirk and her combat skills to the limit.
Katsuki Bakugo
The potential in Bakugo's Explosion Quirk is exceeded only by his intimidating presence, making him a highly troublesome opponent in any fight. He despises the concept of defense, instead choosing to unleash his explosions in frontal attacks whenever he gets the chance.
However, this doesn't mean that Bakugo is (always) reckless, with several scenes illustrating an uncharacteristic level of subtlety and finesse in his judgment. Fortunately, he's gradually growing out of his arrogant bully phase, having realized that redemption is the best pathway to becoming the #1 hero.
Shoto Todoroki
Shoto's Quirk, Half-Hot Half-Cold, is overwhelming whether he uses his ice or his fire, implying that his power is going to shoot through the roof when he eventually learns how to employ both aspects at the same time.
His rigorous training under his father, Endeavor, is largely responsible for his combat prowess, as shown when Shoto instantly and heroically defeats a number of villains in the U.S.J. incident. Until recently, his greatest move was his Heaven-Piercing Ice Wall, but Shoto can now use techniques like Flashfire Fist and Jet Kindling, vastly improving his standing.
Mirio Togata
Mirio Togata's talent is unmistakable, as are the depth and proficiency with which he maneuvers his Permeation Quirk. In fact, Sir Nighteye once expected him to inherit One For All from All Might—a glowing recommendation of his strength and competence.
Mirio of the Big 3 is practically untouchable in a fight, demonstrating his superiority over Class 1-A by singlehandedly defeating all of them. He isn't just powerful, he's a hero, through and through.
Deku
Adult Deku is the narrator of My Hero Academia, where he regularly mentions that it's "the story of how [he] became the greatest hero." As such, it's not difficult to imagine how much potential he currently possesses, especially since he develops his powers at a rapid pace.
Deku is also beginning to master five Quirks—each belonging to previous holders of One For All—combining them at different concentrations to produce devastating results. At this point, it's safe to say that there are very few Pro Heroes, let alone U.A. students, who stand a chance against Deku.