The state of New Jersey placed six schools in the Top 100 of the prestigious U.S. News and World Report college rankings – led, of course, by Princeton, which was ranked No. 1 overall for the 14th consecutive year.
The rankings, considered the gold standard in an industry that now has numerous lists, were released Tuesday morning. (see complete list here)
Rutgers-New Brunswick was again ranked the top public school (coming in at a tie for No. 41 overall) and Stevens Institute of Technology was again ranked as the top STEM school (coming in at a tie for No. 76).
Rutgers-Newark (tied at No. 80), New Jersey Institute of Technology (tied at No. 84) and Rutgers-Camden (tied at No. 98) also were in the Top 100 among national universities. Montclair State (tied at No. 152), Seton Hall (tied at No. 165) and Rowan (tied at No.171) also placed in the Top 200.
National universities (according to U.S. News) are those that offer a full range of undergraduate majors, as well as master’s and doctoral programs. National universities also emphasize faculty research or award professional practice doctorates.
U.S. news also ranks regional universities – schools that offer a full range of undergraduate programs and some master’s programs, but few doctoral programs. Regional universities are ranked in four geographical groups: North, South, Midwest and West.
The College of New Jersey was ranked No. 1 among regional universities in the North – one of 10 schools to make the Top 100 (full story here).
Drew University tied for No. 93 among national liberal arts universities.
U.S. News, the first major outlet to do college rankings, is considered the gold standard of what is now a cottage industry.
According to U.S. News, the methodology used this year had only minor changes, including the elimination of first-generation graduation rates as factors.
Unlike the prior edition, the annual U.S. News Best Colleges rankings underwent only slight methodological changes this year, so the top-ranked colleges stayed mostly steady from last year. Despite some opposition to the rankings, the vast majority of schools U.S. News surveyed continued to report data: 78.1% of the nearly 1,500 ranked institutions returned their statistical information in the spring and summer of 2024, compared to about 79.9% last year. This includes 99 of the top 100 ranked national universities.
A look at the Top Ten overall:
1: Princeton
2: M.I.T.
3: Harvard
4: Stanford
5: Yale
6 (tie): Cal Tech
6 (tie): Duke
6 (tie): Johns Hopkins
6 (tie): Northwestern
10: Penn
