Best Colleges In Rhode Island: U.S. News Rankings 2020

You probably already know Brown University is the highest-ranked national university in Rhode Island, but what about the rest of the schools? Nine Ocean State colleges and universities made the U.S. News & World Report’s 2020 best colleges list, released Monday.

Two Rhode Island colleges were featured on the national list with the highest-ranking college — Brown — coming in at No. 14.

Rhode Island also landed some of the top schools in the north regional universities rankings, including Providence at the No. 1 spot.

The 2020 rankings include the overall best national universities rankings, as well as rankings for the best liberal-arts colleges, the top public schools, the best value schools and more. See the rankings below:

National Universities

14. Brown University, Providence

166. URI, Kingston

Regional Colleges North

36-46. New England Institute of Tech., East Greenwich

Regional Universities North

1. Providence College

7. Bryant University, Smithfield

23. Salve Regina University, Newport

28. Roger Williams University, Bristol

80. Johnson & Wales University, Providence

116. RI College, Providence

A total of 1,400 colleges are included in the 2020 rankings.The publication says that 90 percent of those reading the best-colleges list are looking for schools outside the top 10. (You can read the full methodology here)

“For more than three decades, we’ve collected and analyzed data on thousands of colleges and
universities across the country and helped put schools on the map,” Kim Castro, editor and chief content officer of U.S. News, said in a news release. “We’ve found the best institutions to be ones committed to academically and financially supporting their students through graduation. They draw in high-quality professors and set students up for postgraduate success.”

Below are the top 5 national universities:

1. Princeton University (NJ)
2. Harvard University (MA)
3. Columbia University (NY) (tie)
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (tie)
3. Yale University (CT) (tie)

Below are the top 3 liberal arts colleges:

1. Williams College (MA)
2. Amherst College (MA)
3. Swarthmore College (PA) (tie)
3. Wellesley College (MA) (tie)

Below are the top 3 public universities:

1. University of California—Los Angeles
2. University of California—Berkeley
3. University of Michigan—Ann Arbor