See The MA Colleges Ranked Among Best In Nation By U.S. News

MASSACHUSETTS — Twelve Massachusetts colleges and universities were among the top 200 best national universities included in the 2022-2023 Best Colleges rankings released Monday by U.S. News & World Report.

As usual, marquee universities like Harvard, Amherst, Tufts and Williams were ranked among the best in the country, although New Jersey's Princeton University was ranked No. 1 in 2022-23.

U.S. News has been publishing the respected guide for prospective students and families for nearly 40 years. Methodology has changed over the years to reflect changes in higher education, Kim Castro, editor and chief content officer at U.S. News, said in a news release.

U.S. News touts its ranking for providing millions of parents with “useful data and information to help with one of life’s biggest decisions,” Castro said.

U.S. News ranked 1,500 colleges and universities across 17 academic measures. To rank colleges, U.S. News first places each school into a category based on its mission and, in some cases, its geographic location.

National universities, which focus on research and offer several doctoral programs, are ranked separately from liberal arts colleges.

Massachusetts schools that made the top 200 ranking across the national universities, liberal arts universities and public universities include:

National Universities

• MIT, No. 2
• Harvard University, No. 3
• Tufts University, No. 32
• Boston College, No. 36
• Boston University, No. 41
• Brandeis University, No. 44 (tie)
• Northeastern University, No. 44 (tie)
• UMass Amherst, No. 67 (tie)
• Worcester Polytechnic Institute, No. 67 (tie)
• Clark University, No. 97
• Simmons University, No. 151
• UMass Lowell, No. 176

National Liberal Arts Colleges

• Williams College, No. 1
• Amherst College, No. 2
• Wellesley College, No. 5
• Smith College, No. 13
• College of the Holy Cross, No. 33
• Mount Holyoke College, No. 36
• Stonehill College, No. 89 (tie)
• Wheaton College, No. 89 (tie)
• Hampshire College, No. 120
• Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, No. 130
• Emanuel College, No. 151 (tie)
• Gordon College, No. 151 (tie)

Regional Universities Northeast

• Bentley University, No. 2
• Emerson College, No. 7
• Berklee College of Music, No. 12
• Massachusetts Maritime Academy, No. 22
• Endicott College, No. 28
• Merrimack College, No. 37
• Assumption University, No. 40 (tie)
• Wentworth Institute of Technology, No. 40 (tie)
• Fitchburg State University, No. 85 (tie)
• Regis College, No. 85 (tie)
• Bridgewater State University, No. 93 (tie)
• Elms College, No. 93 (tie)
• Framingham State University, No. 93 (tie)

You can view all the Massachusetts college and university rankings here.

To compile the rankings, U.S. News focuses on academic quality and places emphasis on outcome measures, including graduation rates, retention rates, graduate indebtedness and social mobility. Graduation rates and other outcomes represent 40 percent of each school’s overall score.

U.S. News said it changed how it weights SAT and ACT scores because demand for the college entrance exams plummeted due to the pandemic, especially among students living in low-income households.

Part-time faculty members were considered in measures on faculty resources, reflecting a trend for more part-time instructors, U.S. News said. Previously, only full-time instructors were considered.

Read more about the methodology.