Scranton Hits Quarter Century Mark in Top 10

U.S. News ranked Scranton No. 6 among ‘Best Regional Universities in North’ in the 2019 edition of its ‘Best Colleges’ guidebook.
U.S. News has ranked The University of Scranton among the top 10 “Best Regional Universities in the North” for 25 consecutive years.
U.S. News has ranked The University of Scranton among the top 10 “Best Regional Universities in the North” for 25 consecutive years.

For the 25th consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report has ranked The University of Scranton among the top 10 “Best Regional Universities in the North.” Scranton ranked No. 6 in the 2019 edition of the “Best Colleges” guidebook, which became available online today. U.S. News also ranked Scranton No. 3 in its category in a listing of the top 168 colleges in the nation expressing “A Strong Commitment to Undergraduate Teaching” and No. 11 in its category in a ranking of the “Most Innovative Schools” that recognized just 159 colleges in America.

“We are honored to have been counted among the top ten universities in the north by U.S. News for a quarter of a century,” said Rev. Scott R. Pilarz, S.J., president of The University of Scranton. “The consistent recognition we have received through national rankings from U.S. News and others acknowledges the significant work done by our faculty and staff at this Catholic and Jesuit university that is centered on student learning and outcomes. That is why I am most proud that U.S. News has also selected Scranton once again for its short list of colleges with ‘A Strong Commitment to Undergraduate Teaching.’”

U.S. News rankings of “Strong Commitment to Undergraduate Teaching” colleges and “Most Innovative Schools” are based on the highest scores received through peer assessment surveys. The lists respectively recognize the nation’s top schools “where faculty have an usually strong commitment to undergraduate teaching” and schools that “are making the most innovative improvements in terms of curriculum, faculty, students, campus life, technology or facilities,” according to U.S. News.

In national rankings, as opposed to listings by category, U.S. News included Scranton among America’s “Best Undergraduate Business Programs,” ranking Scranton at No. 199 in the U.S., and among the nation’s “Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs,” ranking Scranton No. 134 among schools where a doctorate is not offered. Also, in national rankings of all business programs in America, U.S. News ranked several of Scranton’s entrepreneurship program at No. 31, its finance program at No. 36 and its accounting program at No. 37 in the country.

In addition, Scranton was also ranked No. 27 as a “Best Value Regional University in the North,” which compares academic quality of programs to cost of attendance. This is the sixth consecutive year U.S. News has recognized Scranton as a “Best Value” school. Scranton was also listed among the “top ranked” colleges where students do well based on “spirit and hard work.”

U.S. News changed the methodology used in its rankings this year, increasing the weight given data used to assess “outcomes” to 35 percent of the overall score. U.S. News added a “social mobility assessment” (5 percent) to the outcomes data this year, based on graduation rate of Pell Grant recipients and other factors. In addition, U.S. News considers a range of quality indicators for its ranking that includes peer assessment of academic excellence (20 percent); graduation and freshman retention (22 percent); faculty resources (20 percent); student selectivity (10 percent); financial resources (10 percent); alumni giving (5 percent); and graduation performance rates (8 percent), which compares a school’s actual graduation rates with predicted graduation rates based on characteristics of the incoming class. U.S. News categorizes colleges for their rankings based on the official Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching classification of universities.

The 2019 U.S. News “Best Colleges” rankings became available online Sept. 10.

  • alt placeholder
  • alt placeholder
  • alt placeholder
  • alt placeholder
  • alt placeholder
  • alt placeholder

U.S. News ranked Scranton No. 6 in its category in its 2019 “Best Colleges” guide. U.S. News also ranked Scranton No. 3 in its category in a listing of the top 168 colleges in the nation expressing “A Strong Commitment to Undergraduate Teaching” and No. 11 in its category in a ranking of the “Most Innovative Schools” that recognized just 159 colleges in America.

Back to Top