Average and Year by Year U.S. News Rankings for 123 National Universities, 2017–2024. Big Changes!

Posted on September 23, 2023 by Honorsadmin

This is our annual summary of US News rankings of national universities across the most recent eight-year period. We have other posts and pages on this site with US News statistics going back to 1983. In all the years we have surveyed the rankings, the 2024 has brought the most dramatic changes. The main reason is a much greater emphasis on metrics of social mobility and related outcomes versus traditional metrics of test scores, class sizes, and institutional wealth.

Some critics of the rankings, and they are legion, claim that US News changes its methodology so frequently that year to year comparisons are almost meaningless. And it is certainly striking that the flagship universities of Kentucky, Alabama, and Nebraska could have fallen 73, 63, and 48 places respectively between 2017 and 2024. Yet the new rankings are a boost to many public universities, whose rankings as a whole have risen an average of four places since 2021 and almost two places since 2017.

Indeed, when compared to rankings for 2017, eleven public universities have gained at least 20 places, led by UC Riverside with a gain of 42 places. Rutgers, NC State, Stony Brook, and Oregon all rose 30 or more places.

Most complaints have come from private universities–and with reason. The average 2024 rankings for the 62 private universities in our continuing survey declined by a whopping 14 points since 2017 and by 8 points since last year. Although the most dramatic declines have occurred for private universities ranked out of the top 50 in most years, even elite institutions such as Chicago, Dartmouth, and Columbia have dropped 9, 7, and 7 points respectively during that timeframe.

“With rankings, sometimes you’re the windshield and sometimes you’re the bug,” consultant Teresa Valerio Parrot pithily explained to the influential site Inside Higher Ed (IHE). “I feel like we got to see a number of institutions who in the past have either been silent or have praised where they are in the rankings, and with this year’s methodology change suddenly have objections and grievances … that’s not really a great look.”

In the same piece, Christopher Newfield, a higher education scholar and the research director of the Independent Social Research Foundation in London, said that now “the product that’s being sold is social mobility. That’s an improvement over status and prestige. But neither of those things are about the intellectual, nonpecuniary benefits of a college education.”

Nothing other than a dramatic shift in methodology can explain a one-year drop of 18 points for Wake Forest, 29 points for Tulane, 26 points for Brigham Young, and 33 points for American.

The view here is that the most successful universities overall are those who combine a commitment to social mobility and academic excellence with sufficient resources to achieve both goals. Many elite private universities fall into this category and will continue to receive high rankings. Some private universities that have done well in the past will have to adjust to the new metrics, a difficult task if the resources are lacking.

As for public universities, the UC system has for years operated according to these principles and still rises in the rankings. Florida and North Carolina are notable for providing excellent academics at low cost. UT Austin, UW Madison, UIUC, UW Seattle, Georgia, Maryland, and Ohio State have had some ups and downs in the rankings but now seem to be operating pursuant to goals that also align well with the new metrics. For years we have criticized US News for its over-emphasis on wealth metrics. Now we say congratulations for developing a methodology with much better balance.

Below is the table showing the ranking changes from 2017 to 2024. Universities are listed in order of their 2024 rank.

US News 2016--2023	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	Avg Rank	Dif 2017-2024


Princeton	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	0
MIT	7	5	3	3	4	2	2	2	3.5	5
Harvard	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	3	2.25	-1
Stanford	5	5	7	6	6	6	3	3	5.125	2
Yale	3	3	3	3	4	5	3	5	3.625	-2
Penn	8	8	8	6	8	8	7	6	7.375	2
Caltech	12	10	12	12	9	9	9	7	10	5
Duke	8	9	8	10	12	9	10	7	9.125	1
Johns Hopkins	10	11	10	10	9	9	7	9	9.375	1
Northwestern	12	11	10	9	9	9	10	9	9.875	3
Brown	14	14	14	14	14	14	13	9	13.25	5
Chicago	3	3	3	6	6	6	6	12	5.625	-9
Cornell	15	14	16	17	18	17	17	12	15.75	3
Columbia	5	5	3	3	3	2	18	12	6.375	-7
UCLA	24	21	19	20	20	20	20	15	19.875	9
UC Berkeley	20	21	22	22	22	21	20	15	20.375	5
Rice	15	14	16	17	16	17	15	17	15.875	-2
Dartmouth	11	11	12	12	13	13	12	18	12.75	-7
Vanderbilt	15	14	14	17	14	14	13	18	14.875	-3
Notre Dame	15	18	18	15	19	19	18	20	17.75	-5
Michigan	27	28	27	25	24	23	25	21	25	6
Georgetown	20	20	22	24	23	23	22	22	22	-2
North Carolina	30	30	30	29	28	28	29	22	28.25	8
Washington Univ	19	18	19	19	16	14	15	24	18	-5
Emory	20	21	22	21	21	20	22	24	21.375	-4
Carnegie Mellon	24	25	25	25	26	25	22	24	24.5	0
Virginia	24	25	25	28	26	25	25	24	25.25	0
USC	23	21	22	22	24	27	25	28	24	-5
Florida	50	42	35	34	30	28	29	28	34.5	22
UC San Diego	44	42	41	37	35	34	34	28	36.875	16
UC Davis	44	46	38	39	39	38	38	28	38.75	16
UT Austin	56	56	49	48	42	38	38	32	44.875	24
UC Irvine	39	42	33	36	35	36	34	33	36	6
Georgia Tech	34	34	35	29	35	38	44	33	35.25	1
NYU	36	30	30	29	30	28	25	35	30.375	1
UC Santa Barbara	37	37	30	34	30	28	32	35	32.875	2
UW Madison	44	46	49	46	42	42	38	35	42.75	9
Illinois	44	52	46	48	47	47	41	35	45	9
Boston College	31	32	38	37	35	36	36	39	35.5	-8
Tufts	27	29	27	29	30	28	32	40	30.25	-13
Washington	54	56	59	62	58	59	55	40	55.375	14
Rutgers	70	69	56	62	63	63	55	40	59.75	30
Boston Univ	39	37	42	40	42	42	41	43	40.75	-4
Ohio St	54	54	56	54	53	49	49	43	51.5	11
Purdue	60	56	56	57	53	49	51	43	53.125	17
Maryland	60	61	63	64	58	59	55	43	57.875	17
Wake Forest	27	27	27	27	28	28	29	47	30	-20
Rochester	32	34	33	29	34	34	36	47	34.875	-15
Georgia	56	54	46	50	47	48	49	47	49.625	9
Lehigh	44	46	53	50	49	49	51	47	48.625	-3
Virginia Tech	74	69	76	74	74	75	62	47	68.875	27
Texas A&M	74	69	66	70	66	68	67	47	65.875	27
William & Mary	32	32	38	40	39	38	41	53	39.125	-21
Case Western	37	37	42	40	42	42	44	53	42.125	-16
Northeastern	39	40	44	40	49	49	44	53	44.75	-14
Florida St	92	81	70	57	58	55	55	53	65.125	39
Minnesota	71	69	76	70	66	68	62	53	66.875	18
Connecticut	60	56	63	64	63	63	67	58	61.75	2
Stony Brook	96	97	80	91	88	93	77	58	85	38
Brandeis	34	34	35	40	42	42	44	60	41.375	-26
RPI	39	42	49	50	53	55	51	60	49.875	-21
NC State	92	81	80	84	80	79	72	60	78.5	32
Penn State	50	52	59	57	63	63	77	60	60.125	-10
Michigan St	82	81	85	84	80	83	77	60	79	22
U of Miami	44	46	53	57	49	55	55	67	53.25	-23
Syracuse	60	61	53	54	58	59	62	67	59.25	-7
Pitt	68	68	70	57	58	59	62	67	63.625	1
George Washington	56	56	63	70	66	63	62	67	62.875	-11
UMass Amherst	74	75	70	64	66	68	67	67	68.875	7
Tulane	39	40	44	40	41	42	44	73	45.375	-34
Indiana	86	90	89	79	76	68	72	73	79.125	13
Binghamton	86	87	80	79	88	83	83	73	82.375	13
Pepperdine	50	46	46	50	49	49	55	76	52.625	-26
Stevens Inst Tech	71	69	70	74	80	83	83	76	75.75	-5
UC Riverside	118	124	85	91	88	83	89	76	94.25	42
Col School of Mines	82	75	80	84	88	83	89	76	82.125	6
Univ at Buffalo	99	97	89	79	88	93	89	76	88.75	23
Delaware	79	81	89	91	97	93	89	76	86.875	3
WPI	60	61	59	64	66	63	67	82	65.25	-22
UC Santa Cruz	79	81	70	84	97	103	83	82	84.875	-3
Clemson	66	67	66	70	74	75	77	86	72.625	-20
Marquette	86	90	89	84	88	83	83	86	86.125	0
SMU	56	61	63	64	66	68	72	89	67.375	-33
Fordham	60	61	70	74	66	68	72	89	70	-29
Baylor	71	75	78	79	76	75	77	93	78	-22
Iowa	82	78	89	84	88	83	83	93	85	-11
Auburn	99	103	115	107	97	99	97	93	101.25	6
Drexel	111	97	124	132	133	127	105	93	115.25	18
TCU	82	78	80	97	80	83	89	98	85.875	-16
San Diego	86	90	85	91	88	93	97	98	91	-12
Oregon	129	115	115	117	103	117	105	98	112.375	31
Illinois Tech	111	120	129	139	124	122	127	98	121.25	13
Yeshiva	66	94	80	97	76	68	67	105	81.625	-39
American	71	69	78	77	76	79	72	105	78.375	-34
Colorado	96	94	106	97	103	103	97	105	100.125	-9
Saint Louis	103	103	102	104	103	99	105	105	103	-2
Tennessee	92	97	96	121	118	117	115	105	107.625	-13
Arizona St	99	103	89	104	112	103	121	105	104.5	-6
Brigham Young	68	61	63	77	80	79	89	115	79	-47
Howard	124	110	89	104	80	83	89	115	99.25	9	s
Arizona	124	124	106	117	97	103	105	115	111.375	9
Iowa St	103	103	96	117	124	122	127	115	113.375	-12
New Hampshire	124	120	129	139	143	127	137	115	129.25	9
Denver	86	87	96	97	80	93	105	124	96	-38
South Carolina	111	115	119	121	118	122	115	124	118.125	-13
Missouri	118	115	129	130	124	122	121	124	122.875	-6
Oklahoma	111	110	106	125	133	136	127	124	121.5	-13
Miami Oh	79	78	89	91	103	103	105	133	97.625	-54
Vermont	107	103	106	104	118	117	121	133	113.625	-26
Dayton	133	133	147	132	133	127	127	133	133.125	0
Clark	74	81	66	91	103	103	97	142	94.625	-68
Loyola Chicago	103	103	115	104	112	103	115	142	112.125	-39
Clarkson	96	94	102	97	133	103	127	142	111.75	-46
Pacific	111	124	129	139	133	136	151	142	133.125	-31
Kansas	129	124	102	117	124	127	121	151	124.375	-22
Michigan Tech	129	124	140	166	153	148	151	151	145.25	-22
Colorado St	135	133	147	153	160	148	151	151	147.25	-16
Kentucky	86	87	106	121	143	136	137	159	121.875	-73
Nebraska	111	124	127	132	133	127	151	159	133	-48
Alabama	107	103	106	125	143	148	137	170	129.875	-63
Catholic	118	124	136	147	153	148	176	178	147.5	-60
Arkansas	135	133	147	153	160	160	176	178	155.25	-43
Tulsa	103	110	129	153	143	148	137	195	139.75	-92
TOTAL AVG	62.5							68.7	65.06	-6.22

What Are the Differences Between an Honors and a Non-Honors Undergraduate Education?

Posted on August 3, 2019 by Honorsadmin

At last, there is a major study that goes a long way toward answering this important question.

Dr. Art Spisak

Making good use of the increasing data now available on honors programs and their parent institutions, two honors researchers have recently published a major paper that compares honors students and non-honors students from 19 public research universities. Out of 119,000 total students, a total of 15,200 were or had been participants in an honors program.

The study is extremely helpful to parents and prospective honors students who rightly ask how an honors education differs from a non-honors education: How will participation in an honors program shape and differentiate an honors student? Will an honors education be the equivalent of an education at a more prestigious private college?

The authors of the study are Dr. Andrew Cognard-Black of St. Mary’s College of Maryland and Dr. Art Spisak, Director of the University of Iowa Honors Program and former president of the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC).The title of their paper, published in the Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council, is Honors and Non-Honors Students in Public Research Universities in the United States.”

Dr. Andrew Cognard-Black

Here are the major findings:

Feelings about the undergraduate experience: “In their undergraduate experience, students in the honors group reported a more positive experience, on average, than those in the non-honors group.” Both groups attended classes with similar frequency, but honors students reported greater activity in the following areas:

finding coursework so interesting that they do more work than is required;
communicating with profs outside of class;
working with faculty in activities other than coursework;
increasing effort in response to higher standards;
completing assigned reading;
attending to self care, eating, and sleeping;
spending more time studying;
performing more community service and volunteer work;
participating in student organizations;
and, while spending about the same time in employment, finding on-campus employment more frequently than non-honors students.

Participation in “high-impact” activities: These experiences contribute to undergraduate success and satisfaction as well as to higher achievement after graduation. Some of these are restricted to upperclassmen, so the study concentrated on participation by seniors in high-impact activities, including undergraduate research, senior capstone or thesis, collaborating with a professor on a project or paper, studying abroad, or serving in a position of leadership.

“Those [students] in the honors student segment of the senior sample had markedly higher cumulative college grade point averages.” The cumulative GPA of the honors group was 3.65; for the non-honors group it was 3.31. “A grade point average of 3.31 is located at the 38th percentile in the overall distribution within the study sample, and a grade point average of 3.65 is at the 69th percentile.” The authors found that the very significant difference was “particularly impressive” given that the high school GPAs of honors and non-honors students did not vary so significantly. Honors students were also 14% more likely to have served as an officer in a campus organization.

Students in the honors group were 77% more likely to have assisted faculty in research projects, 85% percent more likely to have studied abroad, and 2.5 times more likely to have conducted undergraduate research under faculty guidance.

Intellectual curiosity: Honors students expressed a statistically significant but not dramatically greater degree of intellectual curiosity; however, their intellectual curiosity was aligned with the “prestige” of an academic major. The study did not measure whether this attachment to prestige reflected a desire for greater intellectual challenge or for higher salaries associated with many such majors. (Or both.) Both groups placed similar emphasis on the importance of high pay after graduation and on career fulfillment.

Diversity: The study found that African American students were only 52% as likely to be in an honors program as they are to be in the larger university sample. Latin American students were 58% as likely. These figures may be due in part to the fact that, as a group, the 19 research universities “are located in states that are somewhat more white than the nation as a whole, but most of the discrepancy can be attributed to the fact that Research 1 universities do not, in general, have enrollments that are especially representative of ethnic and racial minorities.” On the other hand, LGBQ, transgender, and gender-questioning students “appear to be slightly over-represented among honors students.”

Low-income and first generation participation: These students “are significantly and substantially under-represented in the honors group.” Pell Grant recipients are 30% less likely to be in honors than in the non-honors group; and 40% of first-generation students are less likely to be in the honors group.

Test scores and HSGPA: There was a difference between honors and non-honors students, but it was not dramatic. “Regardless of which test score was used, the honors group had scores that were about 10% higher, on average.” (In our ratings of honors programs, we have found that honors test scores were about 17% higher, based on actual honors scores and the mid-range of test scores in U.S. News rankings.) The average high school GPA for the honors group was .11 points higher than for the non-honors group.

The study used data from the 2018 Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) survey for 2018. Although the study only used data from Research 1 universities that comprise only 3% of all colleges and universities in the nation, R1 universities enroll 28.5% of all undergraduates pursuing four-year degrees.

Research centered on honors education is increasingly important: An estimated 300,000-400,000 honors students are enrolled in American colleges and universities today.

Are Apartment-Style Residences Really Better than Traditional Corridor Dorms?

Posted on July 22, 2019 by Honorsadmin

Although a recent study suggests that traditional dorms with hall baths might be better than new apartment-style residence halls in promoting strong connections and higher GPAs, the study does not take into account the positive impact that living/learning programs provide in the newer residences.

The study, summarized in an Inside Higher Ed article, found that the first-semester, first-year GPAs of African American students at an anonymous liberal arts college in the South were higher (2.3 vs 1.9) for students in traditional dorms. The same was true for white students but the improvement was minor (2.9 vs 2.8). The four-year study involved 5,538 students, including 800 African American students.

Accepting the premise that more social interaction enhances a sense of belonging and that this leads to improved academic performance, the study seems to favor traditional dorms that guarantee a high degree of social contact. But the idea that students in apartment-style (or suite-style) residence halls live in relative isolation does not fully consider that in newer honors living/learning residence halls, most of which are suite-style, students not only associate with a ready-made cohort of similar residents but they have a full range of honors programming available to them.

These include honors social activities within the dorm; faculty and outside speakers for honors students; access to in-depth research and faculty support; honors study-abroad programs; and smaller classes in the first year.

Non-honors living/learning communities such as those, notably, at Michigan State University, provide subject-area or cultural themes that bring students together in their residence community.

It is also true that traditional residence halls can offer living/learning programs. A better way to analyze the impact of traditional and suite-style dorms on student socialization and academic performance would be to compare GPAs between students in traditional living/learning dorms and students in suite-style dorms with living/learning programs.

A few honors colleges and programs have purposely built new residences that are traditional in design, based on the premise that they are more effective in promoting collegiality and a sense of belonging. For parents and prospective students, especially those looking at honors programs, it would be a good idea to consider the programming and the design and amenities of residence halls, in the order of importance to you.

The Inside Higher Ed article did not report on the types of programming in the residence halls involved in the study. The link to the actual study states that a $43 payment is required for access, so the full details are not reported here either

A Reader’s Testimonial

Posted on October 19, 2018 by Honorsadmin

Editor’s Note: The following is from a review of INSIDE HONORS 2018-2019 on Amazon. I have obtained permission from John Henahan, the reviewer, to publish his thoughts here.

A Unique Resource for High Achieving High School Students

October 19, 2018

Format: Paperback Verified Purchase

Two years ago, I began my journey to help my high achievement son find colleges that were a good fit for him and personal enough to challenge him and help him grow as a person. My initial efforts were deeply disappointing. Most elite colleges were far above our ability to pay, yet somehow the school calculators suggested that we could pay the full cost. Only a select few of the top schools offer merit aid, and in most cases it is very competitive. The options seemed to be middling schools (if we were lucky enough to receive a merit award) or our public in-state university system.

Then I stumbled across the website run by John Willingham, which led me to the previous edition of this book. That book was very helpful on our college search. Now my son is a senior in HS and we are in the application process. Soon we will be in the decision process, and some of the schools we discovered in his guide are on the short list. I bought the updated version of this book to help us in making final decisions. I am happy to say the new guide is even more helpful than the previous edition.

Read below for my review and see if this book might help you as much as it did me.

As college costs continue to skyrocket and elite universities eliminate merit scholarships, the opportunity for high achieving students to attend such universities is diminishing. If your family is not wealthy enough to spend $250,000 or more for 4 years of college, it may seem that a public, in-state university is the only choice.

But what if large classes and a focus on research over teaching are not the right fit for your high achieving child?

Thankfully this amazing book by John Willingham will give you mountains of data on a little known option known as the Public University Honors College or Program. These programs differ considerably in their structure and Mr. Willingham’s guide will help you find options that are the best fit for the type of learner and person your child is.

•Looking for a community of like-minded learners and enhanced access to research? This book will lead you to schools you may not have thought of.

•Looking for lots of seminars with a discussion based, interdisciplinary focus? There are options for that as well.

•What if I told you there was a community of less than 900 committed students in a university with over 25,000 undergrads. These lucky students share small classes, gain enhanced advising from the faculty and are groomed for prestigious awards such as Rhodes Scholarships?

Such programs exist. Often these programs offer generous merit awards to assist the nations brightest young minds to attend. Mr. Willingham does an excellent job of separating the best programs from the also rans. He also teaches the reader how to ask the right questions about other Honors programs that may not be reviewed in the book. That way we are empowered with the tools to evaluate any program.

Honors Programs / Colleges can be the best of both worlds; giving the more intimate learning experience of small school with the resources and experience of a large university. We have found schools that we never would have looked at for regular admission that are strong contenders for his decision next spring.

If you have a high achieving child and are unable to afford the elite private colleges, I strongly recommend this book. In fact, I will be donating my copy to our school guidance office when finish with it.

UT Austin Announces Significant Increase in Financial Aid

Posted on April 20, 2018 by Honorsadmin

UT Austin President Gregory Fenves notified alumni and contributors on April 20 that new, four-year financial aid awards will begin in the fall of 2018 and be distributed to new UT students to help them graduate on time and with less debt. The need-based funds are for in-state students and will benefit almost 3,000 additional UT students per year.

“The Texas Advance Commitment (TAC)ensures that Texas students with family incomes of up to $100,000 (Adjusted Gross Income), who have financial need, will receive guaranteed gift aid,” Fenves said. “Eligible students with family incomes up to $30,000 will receive, at a minimum, enough aid to completely cover their full tuition costs.”

In 2016, UT Austin implemented a $15 million increase in financial aid that benefited thousands of current UT students. “This year, we will make that funding permanent,” Fenves said.

According to the TAC website, the amount of funding a student will receive will depend on how much their family AGI is, as well as how much financial aid they have already received through grants and other scholarships.

“For Texas families with an AGI up to $30,000, awards range from $300 to more than $11,000 per year to ensure that tuition is completely covered.

“For Texas families with an AGI between $30,000 and $100,000, award amounts will range from $300 to $2,000 per year depending on the student’s financial need to cover tuition.”

These are four-year renewable awards. To renew the award and remain eligible, a student must:

Submit a FAFSA or TASFA every year
Continue to have a family adjusted gross income of up to $100,000
Continue to have financial need, as demonstrated on the FAFSA or TASFA
Maintain a 2.0 GPA and remain in good standing

The most prestigious merit award at UT Austin is the full-ride Forty Acres Scholarship, provided to 14-18 outstanding applicants each year from a list of more than 50 finalists. About 90 percent of the finalists are from the state of Texas. Students in the UT Plan II Honors Program are well-represented.

The extremely competitive Business Honors Program and the Engineering Honors Program also have Forty Acres Scholars, and Engineering Honors also awards more than $5 million in merit scholarships on its own each year. Most of the honors programs at UT can grant a very limited number of OOS tuition waivers.

Other recent aid initiatives include Completion Grants in varying amounts, awarded to students who are close to graduating but have unmet financial need that would keep them from finishing their degrees.

Impact Scholarships “recognize high potential students from across the state who are making an impact in their local community, who will make an impact on the Forty Acres, and who will make an impact in their communities when they graduate. More than 30 incoming 2018 freshmen were surprised with a $48,000 scholarship ($12,000 per year) to cover the cost of their tuition for the students’ four years at UT Austin.”

RaiseMe Collaboration

“UT Austin has collaborated with RaiseMe to encourage students to consider the university when they begin their college search. The RaiseMe UT Austin collaboration encourages students early in their high school careers to engage in activities to encourage college-going behaviors, while earning micro scholarships for college. This platform enables students to earn up to $2,000 ($500 per year) in scholarship dollars when they attend UT Austin.”

Changes in Dept Rankings 2014-2018

Posted on April 13, 2018 by Honorsadmin

In other posts and pages we compare the public and private university academic departmental rankings and list those along with U.S. News overall rankings for the universities. It is often the case that a university’s overall ranking is sharply at odds with its departmental rankings.

In this post we will list the changes in the aggregate academic department rankings for 61 public and private universities during the 2014–2018 time frame. In doing so we hope to give readers some idea whether a given university is trending up or down in the reputation of its academic offerings. A high aggregate ranking indicates that a student could have more options for a major or have the ability to change from one highly-ranked major to another that is also strong. Strong departments in public universities are especially important to honors students because they can take better advantage of the strong department via mentoring and smaller classes.

Academic departments are ranking by university academicians and administrators across the nation. Like any other rankings based on reputation, these are inherently subjective. On the other hand, few individuals are more keenly aware of the personnel changes in their professions or disciplines than members of the academy, whose careers often rely on their own recognized accomplishments, usually by means of publishing or patenting their work.

Our own approach is subjective in that we have chosen to rank only 15 academic disciplines, and most are ranked only at the graduate level. These are biology; business (undergrad); chemistry; computer science; earth sciences; economics; education; engineering (undergrad); English; history; mathematics; physics; political science; psychology; and sociology.

Not every university has ranked programs in all 15 disciplines. In such cases, we only count the ranked disciplines, and the average is based only on those; in other words, their is no penalty if a university does not offer, say, engineering.

In rare cases, a university did not have a ranked department in 2014 but did in 2018. In the list below, the rankings for Emory and Georgia Tech only include departments that were ranked in both years. For example, the history department at Georgia Tech broke into the rankings in 2018 at number 114; this was good in a sense, but the ranking, not present in 2014, had a negative impact.

There are four other special cases. We did not begin tracking Boston College and the University of Rochester until recently, so we do not have a 2014 aggregate ranking for their departments. But because their current aggregate ranking is among the top 60, we included them in the 2018 column. NYU, Carnegie Mellon, and Boston University have been tracked since 2016, so their rankings cover only a two-year period.

Although many universities below had meaningful changes in the aggregate departmental rankings (+2.0/-2.0) during the period, the mean change was only .414. Example: University A had an aggregate departmental ranking of 24.62 in 2018 (very high) but increased only .22 over the 2014 ranking of 24.40.

But University B had an aggregate ranking of 53.65 in 2014 but improved to 49.86 in 2018, a significant change.

The universities below are listed in order of their 2018 aggregate department ranking. Those with an improvement of 2.0 or greater are in bold; those with a decline of 2.0 or greater are in italics.

University	2013-14	2018-19	Chg + or –

Stanford	2.71	1.93	0.78
MIT	4.58	2.73	1.85
UC Berkeley	3.13	3.20	-0.07
Caltech	5.63	4.71	0.92
Princeton	5.77	5.38	0.39
Harvard	5.57	5.71	-0.14
Michigan	9.47	9.40	0.07
Columbia	10.85	10.23	0.62
UCLA	12.86	10.86	2.00
Yale	12.00	10.92	1.08
Chicago	11.92	11.67	0.25
Wisconsin	12.73	12.93	-0.20
Cornell	11.64	13.79	-2.15
UT-Austin	14.27	14.47	-0.20
Penn	18.53	16.73	1.80
Northwestern	19.00	17.86	1.14
Illinois	19.33	20.07	-0.74
Duke	22.38	20.23	2.15
Johns Hopkins	19.36	21.93	-2.57
Washington	21.67	22.20	-0.53
North Carolina	25.80	23.79	2.01
Minnesota	23.07	24.20	-1.13
NYU*	27.13	25.00	2.13
Georgia Tech	32.78	25.40	7.38
UCSD	23.29	25.93	-2.64
Ohio State	25.47	26.40	-0.93
Penn State	25.93	27.27	-1.34
Virginia	32.47	27.40	5.07
Brown	27.08	27.62	-0.54
Carnegie Mellon*	26.55	27.73	-1.18
UC Davis	30.57	28.14	2.43
Maryland	27.40	28.80	-1.40
Indiana	29.07	29.93	-0.86
Rice	33.83	31.92	1.91
WUSTL	29.08	32.29	-3.21
UC Irvine	34.31	32.53	1.78
Colorado	37.00	33.20	3.80
UCSB	35.64	35.21	0.43
USC	37.73	35.27	2.46
Vanderbilt	33.29	35.57	-2.28
Emory	33.00	38.86	-5.86
Purdue	40.33	40.27	0.06
Texas A&M	43.80	41.60	2.20
Michigan State	43.20	42.13	1.07
Arizona	38.20	43.00	-4.80
Rutgers New Bruns	43.87	43.87	0.00
Pitt	46.00	45.40	0.60
Notre Dame	52.23	45.43	6.80
Arizona State	47.27	45.67	1.60
Stony Brook SUNY	47.08	46.46	0.62
Massachusetts	52.14	48.67	3.47
Florida	44.00	48.57	-4.57
Boston University*	50.20	48.67	1.53
Boston College	no data	50.27
Iowa	46.93	50.27	-3.34
Oregon	49.36	51.21	-1.85
Dartmouth	48.86	51.38	-2.52
Rochester	no data	52.00
Virginia Tech	57.58	52.31	5.27
Georgetown	59.33	53.75	5.58
Illinois Chicago	58.07	59.80	-1.73

Will Florida Become the New Mecca for National Merit Scholars?

Posted on April 10, 2018 by Honorsadmin

A few flagship universities–Oklahoma and Alabama, for example– are well-known for the generous merit scholarships, most of which provide the largest awards to national merit scholars or students with very similar qualifications. Now there are several other major players in this game, and all are in the state of Florida, home to several colleges on the rise in national rankings.

In March, Gov. Rick Scott, who is often at odds with higher ed professionals, signed Senate Bill 4. The bill passed the senate with unanimous support in mid-January.

Florida State has risen from 101st in U.S. News rankings for 2011 to 81st in the 2018 rankings.

The bill expands the full-ride Benacquisto Scholarship to include not only in-state National Merit and National Achievement Scholars but also out-of-state winners of these awards.

For out-of-state National Merit Scholars, the award is “equal to the institutional cost of attendance for a resident of this state minus the student’s National Merit Scholarship. Such student is exempt from the payment of out-of-state fees.”

The value of the award for in-state students at the University of Florida is $21,210 per year. For out-of-state students, it is $43,448 per year.

The bill provides $124 million to fund these and other merit awards in 2018-2019 alone. Here is a summary:

Expands merit-based state gift aid for high-performing students:

Reinstates full funding of the Bright Futures Florida Academic Scholar award at 100 percent of tuition and fees, plus $300 in fall and spring semesters to cover instructional materials and other costs, beginning in this 2017-2018 academic year and guarantees funding for 2018 summer term tuition and fees for Bright Futures Florida Academic Scholar awards.
New provisions of the legislation this year reinstate funding for the Bright Futures Florida Medallion Scholar award at 75 percent of tuition and fees for fall and spring semesters, beginning in fall semester of the 2018-2019 academic year and guarantee funding for 2019 summer term tuition and fees for Bright Futures Florida Medallion Scholar awards.
Expands Benacquisto Scholarship awards (full cost of attendance) to recruit out-of-state National Merit Scholar award winners.

“Senate Bill 4 ensures universities remain accountable to Florida taxpayers by refining university performance expectations to incentivize and reward state university performance excellence and recognition in academics, instruction, research, and community accomplishments and achievements,” according to a press release from the Florida senate.

Florida lawmakers have also designated “preeminent” and “emerging preeminent” universities. These universities must meet targets for graduation, retention, and post-graduation employment. Florida and Florida State were the first preeminent universities, and the University of South Florida has now moved from emerging preeminent to preeminent. The University of Central Florida will be next.

According to USF, “The designation will bring not only more prestige but more funding for the university. UF and FSU each received $17.3 million as pre-eminent universities this year, while USF and the University of Central Florida each received $8.7 million as ’emerging’ pre-eminent schools.”

The extra funds are used to elevate the quality and recognition of the universities by hiring eminent faculty members, improving grad and retention rates, and funding STEM programs. The University of Florida, for example, has risen from 58th in the 2011 U.S. News rankings to 42nd in the 2018 rankings. Florida State, meanwhile, has moved from 101st to 81st in the same time frame.

Mississippi State Shackouls Honors College: A Major Presence in the Southeast

Posted on January 28, 2018 by Honorsadmin

Known for its dominant NCCA football teams, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) is also home to several prominent public university honors colleges and programs, and the Shackouls Honors College (SHC) at Mississippi State is certainly among them.

Presidential Scholars, Mississippi State

The SHC has all of the features that mark a strong honors college: solid curriculum and completion requirements; in-house coordination of undergraduate research and prestigious scholarship preparation; co-location of honors administrative offices and residence halls; exciting study-abroad programs; and–last but far from least–some of the best scholarships in the nation, offered specifically to SHC students.

Let’s start with the scholarships. Here’s what the university says about the extremely prestigious Presidential Scholarship:

“Selected from more than 500 qualified applicants, the 2017-18 group of 14 joins 39 others already participating in the program, which is part of MSU’s Judy and Bobby Shackouls Honors College. Recipients are expected to maintain an overall 3.4 GPA while in their respective academic majors.

“Presidential Scholars have opportunities to interact with members of the land-grant institution’s extensive research faculty and be part of the college’s Oxford University summer-study program in England, among other enhanced learning experiences.”

The essentially full-ride scholarship covers tuition, fees, room and board, research fellowships, and books for four years of undergraduate study. Non-resident students may also receive a scholarship to cover up to 100% of the out-of-state portion of tuition. While the minimum requirements are a 3.75 high school GPA and ACT of 30 (or SAT equivalent), many if not most successful applicants will have higher scores.

Griffis Hall

“We are a community of scholars who value the life of the mind and the pursuit of knowledge, but what makes our scholarship program special is the emphasis we place on effecting positive social change through research and social engagement,” said Dr. Donald Shaffer, associate professor of English and African American Studies. “We don’t just hope that our Presidential Scholars will change the world; we expect it.”

Almost as many students are awarded the Provost Scholarship each year, which includes four years of in-state tuition (and most or all of out-of-state tuition); a $4,000 scholarship for study abroad; a one-summer optional tuition credit of $1,000 ($2,400 for non-resident) and one summer of free housing in Griffis Hall, an honors residence; and an optional $750 travel grant to participate in one or more academic conferences.

The SHC also has rigorous honors graduation requirements.

“To be recognized as an Honors College Scholar at graduation, and to receive the Honors designation (Collegium Honorum) on transcripts, a student must complete at least 27 Honors credits with a 3.4 average in Honors courses and

complete the English composition requirement during the first year of full-time Honors coursework;
complete the transdisciplinary Honors sequence (6 credits);
complete two interdisciplinary Honors courses (6 credits);
complete three discipline-specific Honors courses or tutorials (9 credits);
complete a for-credit Study Abroad; and
successfully write and defend an Honors thesis (3-6 credits).”

The SHC not only coordinates preparation for prestigious scholarships (Rhodes, Marshall, Gates Cambridge, Truman, Goldwater) but also houses the Office of Undergraduate Research for the entire university.

The coordination of these functions is often critical to the success of talented students who hope to win a major scholarship or be accepted to outstanding graduate and professional schools.

The university reports that “over the last five years, Mississippi State has had a Rhodes Scholar, a Gates Cambridge Scholar, two Truman Scholars, two Fulbright Fellows, and three Goldwater Scholars. The University has been recognized by the Washington, D.C.-based Truman Scholarship Foundation for “sustained success” in helping students both to win the $30,000 competitive awards and to prepare for public service careers.

“And most recently, the Goldwater Foundation, which recognizes the most promising undergraduate researchers across the nation in science, math, or engineering, awarded the Goldwater Scholarship to a Shackouls Honors student in the Bagley College of Engineering.”

As for studying abroad, SHC students can currently participate in faculty-led trips to Belize, Columbia, Guatemala, Austria, Czech Republic, Chile, Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Spain, Iceland and Scandinavia, Italy, Russia, Thailand, and Uganda.

Perhaps best of all is the Shackouls Summer Study at the University of Oxford in England.

“Most study abroad programs emphasize the broadening of cultural horizons for American undergraduates, but often this comes more from the social than the academic. Furthermore, the academic curriculum is often simply American style courses offered in an international setting. The Shackouls Summer Study at the University of Oxford is a highly selective program that affords the most academically qualified students with a true Oxford experience and scholarship support. The program runs each year for six weeks, from mid-May to late June, and is limited to fifteen MSU honors students.”

The SHC has two honors residence halls, Griffis and Nunnelee.

“Griffis is home to the Honors College offices. Both halls are located in the Zacharias Village, convenient to…Mitchell Memorial Library, Colvard Student Union, dining and academic buildings. Rooms in both halls are modular (each has private baths). Special programming at both halls helps you to get to know your fellow students easily. Griffis and Nunnelee are both home to state-of-the-art classrooms.” Griffis is also a regular stop for the university’s S.M.A.R.T. Bus service.

The Village convenience cafe is located on the bottom floor of Griffis Hall. Students can grab a smoothie from Freshens or browse a Grab N’ Go selection food to go. Village Pizza at Griffis Hall has more recently added online ordering at least five days a week.

Kiplinger Best Value Publics 2018

Posted on December 22, 2017 by Honorsadmin

One thing the annual Kiplinger Best College Values report tells us with regularity is that UNC Chapel Hill, Florida, and Virginia are wonderful values for both in-state and out-of-state (OOS) students. The three schools rank 1,2, and 3 in both categories for 2018 and are no strangers to lofty value rankings.

Rounding out the top 10 for in-state value are Michigan, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Washington, UT Austin, NC State, and Maryland.

The top 10 for OOS students are the aforementioned UNC Chapel Hill, Florida, and Virginia, followed by Florida State, UC Berkeley, Binghamton, NC State, Truman State, William and Mary, and Minnesota.

Below is a list of the top 25 best value public universities for in-state students:

UNC Chapel Hill
Florida
Virginia
Michigan
UC Berkeley
UCLA
Washington
UT Austin
NC State
Maryland
William and Mary
Georgia
UW Madison
Florida State
Purdue
New College Florida
Georgia Tech
Binghamton
Truman State
UC San Diego
New Mexico Inst Mining and Tech
UC Santa Barbara
Minnesota
Texas A&M
Ohio State

Should Honors Colleges Charge Extra? If So, How Much?

Posted on September 23, 2017 by Honorsadmin

A recent, excellent piece in Inside Higher Ed, by Rick Seltzer, explores the pros and cons of public honors colleges’ charging extra fees (or differential tuition) in order to enroll and serve increasing numbers of honors students.

(Here we can pretty much confine the discussion to honors colleges because honors programs rarely charge significant fees for attendance.)

At the end of this post is a list of honors colleges that have significant honors fees, and the fee amounts.

Much of the piece involves Barrett Honors College at Arizona State, and Barrett Dean Mark Jacobs is a proselytizer for charging the extra fees and is proud that Barrett has been successful, telling Inside Higher Ed that “when you’re an educational institution, the best you can talk about in terms of the effect outside your own institution is hoping that good ideas you have might be copied and used by other people, or translated to fit their context.”

Ten years ago, Barrett enrollment cost each student $250 a semester. Now, the fee is $750 a semester, or $1,500 per academic year. With the cost of in-state attendance at ASU now at $28,491, the honors fee adds about 5% to the total cost.

One of Jacobs’ arguments mirrors those of almost all public university honors deans and directors: The “liberal arts college within a major research university” model is a bargain for students who would pay much more to attend a good liberal arts college or a strong private elite research university. So, even with the extra charge, public honors remains “a smoking deal” and “an absolute steal.”

Jacobs is in a position to know whereof he speaks; he has bachelors with high honors from Harvard, a Ph.D. from Stanford, and he had an endowed chair in biology at Swarthmore.

Another argument is that state funding cuts have put public universities in a bind, and the extra fees for honors help expand those and other programs at the universities. In addition, public honors colleges (and programs) give highly-talented students in-state options that are in great need given the increased selectivity and arbitrary admission standards of elite universities.

One thing not in doubt is whether the practice at Barrett has helped financially. “In 2017,” Seltzer writes, “the college draws 36 percent of its budget from general operations and 4 percent from endowment income. A whopping 60 percent of the budget comes from the fee.”

On the other hand, Bette Bottoms, dean emerita at the University of Illinois Honors College and a longtime leader in honors education, maintains that universities should value their honors colleges enough to put institutional money into them and not ask students to pay the costs.

“Now, if you tell me that Arizona [State] has some way of waiving the fee for lower-income students, that makes the model more palatable, but I still don’t agree with it,” she told Seltzer. “Do incoming students know this? We never charged a fee, and I found that prospective students and their families often expected it anyway — I’m sure this kept some students from even considering applying.”

“Arizona State must set aside 17 percent of its honors college fees for financial aid,” Seltzer writes, and, according to Jacobs, “Barrett students can receive need-based and non-need-based aid from the university’s central financial aid office. Students can also receive aid from the honors college in the event their financial aid packages are not enough to allow them to pay the fee for being honors students.”

The Barrett model has influenced at least a few other honors colleges. The new Lewis Honors College at the University of Kentucky will charge a $500 annual fee. The namesake of the LHC, Tom Lewis, donated $23 million to his alma mater to create the new honors college. He is also an Arizona resident and longtime supporter of Barrett, who likely believes the Barrett model is a good one to follow.

But not entirely. Dean Christian Brady, formerly dean of the well-known Schreyer Honors College at Penn State, recognizes the good work of Dean Jacobs at Barrett, but believes honors colleges should not be so physically separated as Barrett is on the ASU campus. He wrote at length about his philosophy on this site two years ago.

The issue of elitism at honors colleges (and programs) is also a factor. Even though Barrett goes out of its way to connect hundreds of ASU faculty, honors students, and non-honors students through the extensive use of honors contract courses, the physical separation of the honors campus can be a negative for some while it is a positive for others.

Our own view is that the extra fees can have an overall positive impact if they do not exceed, say, 5% of the in-state cost of university attendance and if the honors colleges have resources to assist students for whom the fee is a burden.

Another way to measure the impact of the extra fees is to analyze the extent to which they might discourage students from completing the full honors curriculum.

The honors college that charges the most in extra fees (actually differential tuition) is the Clark Honors College at the University of Oregon. There, students face an extra charge of $4,192 per year, which amounts to a 15.8% increase in tuition. Some scholarships to offset the very considerable charge are available after the first year.

It may be noteworthy that Barrett and Clark have similar student profile stats, though Clark students have somewhat higher test scores (new SAT 1410 to new SAT 1350). The six-year grad rate for Barrett honors entrants was 89% and for Clark entrants, 82%.

Oregon State Honors College has a differential charge of $1,353, not too much below the fee at Barrett. Oregon State honors entrants had a six-year grad rate of 87.6%, with a sizable portion of engineering students. The average (new) SAT at the OSU Honors College is about 1430.

While this is not definitive data, it only makes sense that the greater the differential cost, the more honors students will be forced to balance the value of their honors education against the cost or simply conclude that they cannot afford honors at all.

University	Annual Fee

Oregon	4192.00
Arizona St	1500.00
Oregon St	1353.00
South Carolina	1150.00
Colorado St	1000.00
Massachusetts	600.00
Kentucky	500.00
Arizona	500.00
Houston	500.00
Auburn	437.50
Clemson	437.50
Purdue	200.00
Utah	150.00
Virginia Commonwealth	100.00
Penn St	50.00

Public University Honors

The site for public university honors colleges and programs

Category Archives: Best Value and Finances

Average and Year by Year U.S. News Rankings for 123 National Universities, 2017–2024. Big Changes!

What Are the Differences Between an Honors and a Non-Honors Undergraduate Education?

Are Apartment-Style Residences Really Better than Traditional Corridor Dorms?

A Reader’s Testimonial

UT Austin Announces Significant Increase in Financial Aid

Changes in Dept Rankings 2014-2018

Will Florida Become the New Mecca for National Merit Scholars?

Mississippi State Shackouls Honors College: A Major Presence in the Southeast

Kiplinger Best Value Publics 2018

Should Honors Colleges Charge Extra? If So, How Much?

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