The University of Chicago Ranked Third Best University in Nation

CHICAGO, IL — The University of Chicago was ranked the No. 3 National University on the 2017 U.S. News & World Report rankings released today.

The list ranks nearly 1,800 U.S.-based public and private schools in different categories every year. The University of Chicago tied at No. 3 with Yale. Princeton was ranked No. 1, followed by Harvard.

The report touches on various aspects of The University of Chicago they find significant — a rich campus life in a big city, more than 50 percent of students choosing to live on campus, more than 15 NCAA Division III teams, strong academics in both undergraduate and graduate programs, and over 400 student organizations.

U.S. News uses a precise method to calculate the ranking of each school, and weighs components such as how many majors are offered, the faculty research that's conducted, the number of freshmen who return to campus for their sophomore year, graduation rates, class size, student-to-teacher ratio, and scores on tests like the ACT and SAT.

"In addition to considering factors like location and cost, families should pay close attention to graduation and retention rates. These are important indicators of how well a school supports its students both academically and financially. Getting into a good school means nothing if you cannot graduate," Brian Kelly, editor and chief content officer of U.S. News, said in a news release.

Last year, the University of Chicago was ranked No. 4 on the list, in a three-way tie with Columbia University and Stanford University.

Other Illinois schools on the 2017 list include:

• Northwestern ranked No. 12, tied with the California Institute of Technology.
• The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in a six-way tie for 44th place with the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, University of California at Davis, University of California at San Diego and University of Miami.
• Loyola University Chicago tied at No. 99 with Auburn University, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and the University of Buffalo-SUNY.
• The Illinois Institute of Technology in Bronzeville tied at No. 103 with the University of Alabama, University of Tennessee, and University of Oregon
• DePaul University tied at No. 124 with the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., Duquesne University in Pennsylvania, Howard University in Washington, D.C., and University of Arizona
• The University of Illinois at Chicago at No. 152 with Illinois State University in Normal, Immaculata University in Pennsylvania, Oklahoma State University, University of California at Merced, University of La Verne in California and the University of Massachusetts at Lowell
• Northern Illinois University in Dekalb and Southern Illinois University in Carbondale both in a six-way tie at No. 214

Photo via Oleg/Flickr