Ranking of the best universities in the U.S.

Backgroundintroduction

Theoriginofuniversityrankingscanbetracedbackto1870.TheannualreportoftheFederalBureauofEducationranksuniversitiesbasedonthedatatheyhave.Themodernuniversityrankingswerepublishedin1983by"U.S.NewsandWorldReport"(U.S.NewsandWorldReport).Theoriginalintentofuniversityrankingsistoevaluatethequalityofcollegesanduniversitiesandtodemonstratetheinfluenceofcollegesanduniversities.

TheBestNationalUniversityRankingsintheUnitedStates(BestNationalUniversityRankings)isoneoftherankingsundertheCollegessectionofU.S.News.

Rankingindicators

Newindicators

RankingFactor

NationalUniversitiesandNationalLiberalArtsCollegesIndicatorWeight

RegionalUniversitiesandRegionalCollegesIndicatorWeight

GraduationandRetentionRates

22%

22%

-Averagesix-yeargraduationrate

17.6%

17.6%

-Averagefirst-yearstudentretentionrate

4.4%

4.4%

SocialMobility

5%

5%

-PellGrantgraduationrates

2.5%

2.5%

-PellGrantGraduationRatePerformance

2.5%

2.5%

GraduationRatePerformance

8%

8%

UndergraduateAcademicReputation

20%

20%

-Peerassessmentsurvey

20%

20%

FacultyResources

20%

20%

-Classsizeindex

8%

8%

-Facultycompensation

7%

7%

-Percentfacultywithterminaldegreeintheirfield

3%

3%

-Percentfacultythatisfulltime

1%

1%

-Student-facultyratio

1%

1%

StudentSelectivityfortheFallEnteringClass

7%

7%

-Mathandevidence-basedreadingandwritingportionsoftheSATandthecompositeACTscores

5%

5%

-Highschoolclassstandingintop10%

2%

0%

-Highschoolclassstandingintop25%

0%

2%

-Acceptancerate

0%

0%

FinancialResourcesperStudent

10%

10%

AverageAlumniGivingRate

3%

3%

GraduateIndebtedness

5%

5%

-Graduateindebtednesstotal

3%

3%

-Graduateindebtednessproportionwithdebt

2%

2%

Total

100%

100%

Referencematerials:(2020)

Oldmetrics

Referencematerials:(2019)

Relatedevents

July2019,UniversityofCalifornia,BerkeleyUniversityofCalifornia-Berkeley,ScrippsCollege,MarsHillUniversity,UniversityofNorthCarolina-PembrokeandJohnsonandWalesTheactualrankingoftheuniversity(Johnson&WalesUniversity)washigherthantheoriginalrankingduetoincorrectdatasubmitted.Itwasremovedfromthe2019NationalBestUniversityRankingsbyUSNEWS.Therankingofallotherschoolsonthelistremainsunchanged.Amongthem,thedataonalumnidonationssubmittedbyMarshillUniversityandScrippsCollegeareincorrect;therankingsofhighschoolssubmittedbytheUniversityofNorthCarolinaatPembrokeareincorrect;JohnsonandtheUniversityofWaleshaveoverstatedtheirbudgetsforfinancialresources.

In2012,GeorgeWashingtonUniversitywasremovedfromthecorrespondinglistbyU.S.NewsduetoincorrecthighschoolrankingdatasubmittedbyGeorgeWashingtonUniversity.