Schools
CT Colleges Among Nation’s Best in U.S. News & World Report’s 2017 Rankings
The much-anticipated annual college rankings were released Tuesday. The list reveals some good news for local schools.
U.S. News & World Report revealed its 2017 rankings Tuesday of the best colleges in America, and it’s a list that parents and kids will want to pay attention to.
Deciding where to attend college is often the biggest decision a high school student will have to make, and it’s one that is typically just as nerve-wracking for the parents.
The process of college-hunting can lead to information overload, but U.S. News’ rankings are considered an important resource for many. The news organization spends months compiling data from hundreds of schools around the country. While U.S. News & World Report ended its print magazine in 2010, it still publishes online and a print version of its college rankings.
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U.S. News & World Report has several different rankings including best universities, best liberal arts colleges, best regional universities and even best colleges for value. Connecticut colleges made all of the above mentioned lists.
According to U.S. News & World Report, Yale University is considered the third-best national university in the country for the second straight year. Princeton was No. 1 and Harvard was No. 2. In 2016, Yale had No. 3 all to itself, but this year it’s sharing the honor with the University of Chicago.
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Yale scored a 97 out of 100 and was tied for No. 1 for its graduation and retention rank, according to the report. Yale is also considered the third-best value among national universities with an average tuition of $18,485 once grants are factored in.
The University of Connecticut ranked among the top national public universities, but slipped one spot from No. 19 to No. 20 in the 2017 report. Overall, among all national universities UConn ranked No. 60.
The University of Hartford ranked No. 188 among the top national universities in the country.
In the top national liberal arts college rankings, Wesleyan University came in No. 21, Trinity College No. 38, and Connecticut College No. 50. In 2016, Wesleyan ranked No. 14, Trinity No. 43, and Connecticut College No. 48.
Wesleyan was also considered the 28th best value in the national liberal arts category, with an average tuition of $24,349 once grants are factored in, and Trinity was No. 33 with an average tuition of $23,451 once grants are included.
In a separate ranking of 653 regional universities by U.S. News & World Report, Fairfield University ranks No. 2 in the north out of 137 colleges.
According to U.S. World & News Report, a regional university is a lot like a national university in that it offers a full range of undergraduate majors and master’s programs, but the major difference is that they offer very few, if any, doctoral programs.
Several Connecticut colleges besides Fairfield University scored well, including: Quinnipiac University No. 11, Sacred Heart University No. 44, Eastern Connecticut State University No. 85, University of St. Joseph No. 91, University of New Haven No. 95, Albertus Magnus No. 108, Central Connecticut State University No. 110,and Southern Connecticut State University No. 122.
In the regional liberal arts category, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut ranked No. 2 in the north out of 33 colleges.
See related: U.S. News & World Report Releases 2017 College Rankings
So, how are the rankings compiled?
U.S. News uses five categories of data that are all weighted differently.
- Outcomes (30 percent): Hard student performance data such as retention, graduation rate performance and graduation rate.
- Expert opinion (22.5 percent): More subjective data that includes opinions of presidents, provosts, high school counselors and admissions deans.
- Faculty resources (20 percent): Class size, student-to-faculty ratio, proportion of full-time faculty, proportion of professors with the highest degrees in their field and faculty salary.
- Student excellence (12.5 percent): How incoming students are performing on measures such as ACT/SAT scores, proportion of first-year students in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class and acceptance rate.
- Financial resources (10 percent): How much money the school spends on things such as instruction, research and student services. (Spending on dorms, food and sports don’t count.)
- Alumni giving (5 percent): What percentage of living alumni with a bachelor’s degree have given to their school that year.
U.S. News Chief Data Strategist Robert Morse told Patch that the publication considers objective factors such as graduation and retention rates.
“College is expensive,” Morse told Patch in an email. “In addition to considering factors like location, cost, course offerings and activities, families should pay close attention to graduation and retention rates.
“These are important indicators of how well a school supports its students academically and financially. The Best Colleges rankings measure academic excellence, and we believe that students and their families should strongly consider academic quality when choosing a college.”
Typically, the prestigious Ivy League schools have a stronghold on the top of U.S. News’s lists. Last year, for instance, Princeton University, Harvard University and Yale University took the first three slots on the national rankings.
That’s all well and good for the best of the best high school students, but what about the rest?
The rankings are broken out by state and by category. Students and parents can also look at the publication’s rankings of best value schools and best public schools and the best schools by discipline such as engineering and business.
They can also drill down and see how specific schools perform across several metrics.
“U.S. News believes that the more information that is available to students, the better,” Morse told Patch. “Rankings, done right, are a useful source of information for students. U.S. News rankings focus specifically on assessing academic quality of schools. If academic quality is a top priority, our rankings are an ideal place to start.”
Written by Marc Torrence and Brian McCready, Patch National Staff
Image via Shutterstock
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