This story was updated because an earlier version included inaccuracies.
It's that time of the year again where millions of high school students peruse through different college offerings nationwide to determine the best fit for them. To assist these future collegiate scholars and their families, the U.S. News and World Report released their annual college rankings Tuesday.
Undergraduate programs aren't the only ones ranked, as graduate and online programs, K-12 schools and universities across the globe are also included in the rankings.
Schools are also ranked under a variety of categories including best first-year experience, learning communities, schools for veterans and most innovative.
Some notable rankings for this year's edition include Princeton University as the top university in the nation and Spelman College as the best historically Black college/university.
Ohio State was the best-ranked Ohio school under the national universities ranking, coming in at No. 41, while Case Western followed closely behind at No. 51. Denison University was the highest-ranked Ohio school for national liberal arts colleges at No. 36 with Kenyon College a few spots behind at No. 45.
Here's a look at where different schools across Northeast Ohio rank and the list of top five colleges in the nation, as well as how U.S News determined its rankings.
Where does the University of Akron rank?
- No. 377 in National Universities
- No. 200 in Top Public Schools
- No. 156 in Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs (at schools whose highest degree is a doctorate)
- No. 130 in Nursing
- No. 417 in Top Performers in Social Mobility
Where does Kent State University rank?
- No. 231 in National Universities
- No. 126 in Top Public Schools
- No. 62 in Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs (at schools where a doctorate is not offered)
- No. 96 in Nursing
- No. 214 in Economics
- No. 274 in Top Performers in Social Mobility
Where do other Northeast Ohio schools rank?
- Case Western Reserve University ranks No. 51 in National Universities, No. 43 in Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs (at schools where the highest degree is a doctorate), No. 9 in Nursing and No. 102 in Economics
- Cleveland State University ranks No. 342 in National Universities, No. 183 in Top Public Schools and No. 180 in Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs (at schools where the highest degree is a doctorate)
- John Carroll University ranks No. 3 in Regional Universities Midwest, No. 23 in Best Value Schools and No. 3 in Best Undergraduate Teaching
- Baldwin Wallace University ranks No. 10 in Regional Universities Midwest, No. 20 in Best Value Schools and No. 2 in Best Colleges for Veterans
How did other state colleges in Ohio rank?
- Ohio State ranks in the Top 50 in the National Universities, coming in at No. 41 . OSU also ranks No. 15 in Top Public Schools, No. 20 in Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs (at schools where a doctorate degree is the highest offered) and No. 4 in Nursing.
- Miami University-Oxford ranks No. 136 in National Universities, No. 69 in Top Public Universities and No. 10 in Best Undergraduate Teaching.
- University of Cincinnati ranks No. 152 in National Universities, No. 81 in Top Public Schools and No. 5 in Co-ops/Internships.
- Ohio University is No. 179 in National Universities, No. 97 in Top Public Schools and No. 97 in Best Value Schools.
- Bowling Green State University is No. 273 in National Universities, No. 94 in Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs (at schools where no doctorate degree is offered) and No. 152 in Top Public Schools.
- University of Toledo ranks No. 296 in National Universities, No. 161 in Top Public Schools and No. 254 in Nursing.
Top Five National Universities
- No. 1 - Princeton University
- No. 2 - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- No. 3 - Harvard University
- No. 4 - Stanford University
- No. 5 - Yale University
What is the methodology behind these rankings?
U.S. News and Report ranked almost 1,500 academic institutions to use for this year's rankings, collecting data from over 1,800 to be used for both rankings and college profiles.
Over 15 factors were used to compile the various college rankings, including :
- Graduation rates
- First-year retention rates
- Graduation rate performance
- Student-faculty ratio
- Peer assessment
- Standardized tests
Two rating factors were removed from this year's rankings for top national universities and HBCUs: first-generation graduation rate and first-generation graduation rate performance.
To be eligible for these rankings, schools had to meet a number of criteria:
- Be located in the U. S.
- Have regional accreditation
- Be designated as a bachelor's degree-granting institution in Carnegie's Basic Classification but not designated as a "highly specialized" school
- Enroll at least 100 undergraduate students
- Have financial expenditure figures available in the U.S. Department of Education's Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Data Center
- Have a six-year bachelor's degree graduation rate of full-time, first-year bachelor’s degree-seeking students
- Actively accepting new applicants for first-year, first-time students
Some schools that were ineligible still received profiles on U.S. News' website.
Reporter Anthony Thompson can be reached at ajthompson@gannett.com, or on Twitter @athompsonABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Where Akron, Kent, other Ohio colleges rank on U.S. News & World's 2025 best colleges list
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