After much anticipation, the U.S. News 2019 Best Colleges rankings that students and parents have been eagerly awaiting were finally released on September 10. Students already studying in the U.S. and those planning to study there should not miss this!
Let’s first take a look at the changes in this year’s ranking methodology:
Graduation and Retention Rates: 22%, down 0.5% from last year.
Social Mobility: 5%, new ranking indicator this year.
Graduation Rate Performance: 8%, up 0.5% from last year.
Undergraduate Academic Reputation: 20%, down 2.5% from last year.
Faculty Resources: 20%, unchanged from last year.
Student Selectivity: 10%, down 2.5% from last year.
Financial Resources: 10%, unchanged from last year.
Alumni Giving Rate: 5%, unchanged from last year.
National universities in the U.S. (National University) offer comprehensive programs and large student bodies, emphasize research, and grant a variety of degrees; they are the primary focus for most students and parents.
CheersYou（清柚教育） is here to present the new U.S. News 2019 National University rankings data and analyze the changes.
Top 50 U.S. National Universities (with ranking changes and last year’s rankings)
#1 Princeton University (-)
#2 Harvard University (-)
#3 Columbia University (↑#5)
#3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (↑#5)
#3 University of Chicago (-)
#3 Yale University (-)
#7 Stanford University (↓#5)
#8 Duke University (↑#9)
#8 University of Pennsylvania (-)
#10 Johns Hopkins University (↑#11)
#10 Northwestern University (↑#11)
#12 California Institute of Technology (↓#10)
#12 Dartmouth College (↓#11)
#14 Brown University (-)
#14 Vanderbilt University (-)
#16 Cornell University (↓#14)
#16 Rice University (↓#14)
#18 University of Notre Dame (-)
#19 University of California--Los Angeles (↑#21)
#19 Washington University in St. Louis (↓#18)
#21 Emory University (-)
#22 Georgetown University (↓#20)
#22 University of California--Berkeley (↓#21)
#22 University of Southern California (↓#21)
#25 Carnegie Mellon University (-)
#25 University of Virginia (-)
#27 Tufts University (↑#29)
#27 University of Michigan--Ann Arbor (↑#28)
#27 Wake Forest University (-)
#30 New York University (-)
#30 University of California--Santa Barbara (↑#37)
#30 University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill (-)
#33 University of California--Irvine (↑#42)
#33 University of Rochester (↑#34)
#35 Brandeis University (↓#34)
#35 Georgia Institute of Technology (↓#34)
#35 University of Florida (↑#42)
#38 Boston College (↓#32)
#38 College of William and Mary (↓#32)
#38 University of California--Davis (↑#46)
#41 University of California--San Diego (↑#42)
#42 Boston University (↓#37)
#42 Case Western Reserve University (↓#37)
#44 Northeastern University (↓#40)
#44 Tulane University (↓#40)
#46 Pepperdine University (-)
#46 University of Georgia (↑#54)
#46 University of Illinois--Urbana-Champaign (↑#52)
#49 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (↓#42)
#49 University of Texas--Austin (↑#56)
#49 University of Wisconsin--Madison (↓#46)
#49 Villanova University (↓#46)
For the complete list, please click the link below:
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities
Looking at the top 50 list, the most impressive performance belongs to the University of California system. UCLA, UCSB, UCI, and UC Davis all staged remarkable comebacks with significant rises in their rankings.
UCI’s ranking jump (from #42 to #33) sent shockwaves through many students; UCLA edged out UCB to enter the top 20 for the first time in history, while its archrival USC is probably crying in the corner. This comeback by the UC system is bound to spark a war of words, not to mention that students at various UC campuses themselves are a bit confused.
UC System
Among other institutions with strong performances, Columbia University and MIT both surged into the top 3; Northwestern University and Johns Hopkins University joined the top 10 together; the University of Florida rose 7 spots for the second consecutive year; the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign returned to the top 50; and Rutgers University–New Brunswick soared 13 places from #69 to #56.
Northwestern University
Of course, while some celebrate, others mourn. Many universities saw their rankings decline, and some fell so far that their alumni are in tears. Among the top 50, Boston College, College of William & Mary, Boston University, Case Western Reserve University, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute all dropped by more than 5 spots; established names like the University of Miami fell out of the top 50; and students at Penn State (PSU) can only wryly "congratulate" their school on plummeting from a top-40 contender to a top-60 gatekeeper.
Boston College
Alright, now that you’ve seen the 2019 rankings, let’s stop arguing and first listen to CheersYou（清柚教育）’s in-depth analysis of why the rankings changed so much this year.
Because the scoring methodology changed this year, the U.S. News rankings for U.S. universities, especially the top 50, saw relatively large shifts.
In the ranking methodology, the newly introduced social mobility indicator took federal Pell Grants into account (Pell Grants are typically awarded to undergraduates with family incomes below $20,000).
As everyone knows, students at top universities are mostly from affluent backgrounds, and including grant data is mainly to measure the economic diversity of a university’s student body.
This indicator had already been adopted by the Forbes America’s Top Colleges ranking, while U.S. News introduced it for the first time this year.
Due to the introduction of the social mobility indicator, graduation and retention rates are now based on four new sub-indicators: the average six-year graduation rate for undergraduates, the average freshman retention rate, the graduation rate of Pell Grant recipients, and the graduation rate of Pell Grant recipients compared to other students, rather than only the first two sub-indicators as in the past.
As a result, U.S. News adjusted the average six-year graduation rate and average freshman retention rate down by 0.4% and 0.1%, respectively, leading to an overall 0.5% drop in the graduation and retention rates category from last year. At the same time, the graduation rate performance weight was raised from 7.5% to 8%.
The introduction of the new indicator also had a significant impact on the weights of undergraduate academic reputation and student selectivity, both of which dropped by 2.5% compared to last year.
In terms of undergraduate academic reputation, the peer assessment survey remained at 15%, while the high school counselor assessment dropped from 7.5% to 5%.
For student selectivity, standardized test scores were reduced from 8.125% to 7.75%; high school class rank fell from 3.125% to 2.25%; and the acceptance rate indicator, which accounted for 1.25% last year, was completely removed this year.
It can be seen that U.S. News’s increased focus on the proportion of low-income students at universities has, to some extent, reduced the weight of academic reputation and student selectivity. Therefore, the reason some prestigious schools saw large ranking changes this year may be mainly due to their enrollment of low-income students. So, students need not worry too much about academic or student body quality issues at their schools, since the weights for those factors have gone down this year.
Additionally, a quick announcement: U.S. News has reached an official strategic partnership with CheersYou（清柚教育）. We also aim to interpret the most authoritative rankings with the utmost professionalism. For details, please click the image below.
Finally, CheersYou（清柚教育） would also like to remind everyone that no matter how authoritative the U.S. News rankings are, they are ultimately just one reference point. Education itself varies according to individual circumstances, and cannot be simply summarized by a set of data. Whether the study-abroad experience is satisfactory ultimately depends on the students themselves. So, after looking at the rankings, let’s gather our thoughts and quickly embrace the new semester!
