University of Scranton Receives an ‘A’ for ‘Academic Standards and Quality of Life’ and a Ranking in the Top 10 Percent of the ‘Best Colleges’ in America

A national ranking of the “academic standards and quality of life” of America’s “2017 Best Colleges” gave The University of Scranton an “A” as its grade and a ranking of No. 165 of the 1,647 four-year colleges assessed by Niche.com, placing the Jesuit college in the top 10 percent of colleges in the country.  Scranton was also ranked No. 39 among the 1,384 colleges included in the “2017 Best College Food in America” ranking; No. 45 among the 1,423 colleges included in the “2017 Best College Campuses in America” ranking; and No. 45 among the 1,398 colleges included in the “2017 Best College Dorms in America” ranking. These three rankings place Scranton among the top 3 percent of schools in the nation for dining, campuses and residence halls.

In Pennsylvania, Scranton ranked No. 14, alongside other colleges in the Commonwealth receiving a grade of an “A,” which are Villanova University, Gettysburg College, the University of Pittsburgh and Dickinson College.

Scranton was the sixth highest-ranked Jesuit college, following Georgetown University (No. 27), the College of the Holy Cross (No. 67), Boston College (No. 80), Santa Clara University (No. 96) and Marquette (No. 148). All 28 U.S. Jesuit colleges were ranked.

The national ranking is based on an analysis of academic, admissions, financial and student life data reported by the U.S. Department of Education and reviews of academic and campus life by students and alumni. A college’s grade and rank is based on the overall score received for: academics (35 percent), which includes acceptance rates and an assessment of the quality of faculty; value (25 percent), which includes average loan debt and alumni earnings; and professors (10 percent), which includes student/faculty ratio and awards won by faculty members; as well as weighted scores for student life, student satisfaction surveys, diversity, campus safety, food and residence halls; and an assessment of the crime, rent and amenities of the local area of the college.

Rankings for the “2017 Best College Food in America,” the “2017 Best College Campuses in America” and the “2017 Best College Dorms in America” apply different weights to this data.

The 2017 rankings by Niche.com were published on its website in October.

Earlier this year, The Princeton Review ranked Scranton among the nation’s “Best Science Labs” (No. 4), “Best Campus Food” (No. 11), “Best College Dorms” (No. 17) and “Students Most Engaged in Community Service” (No. 20) in its 2017 edition of “The Best 381 Colleges.” U.S. News & World Report ranked Scranton No. 6 among the “Best Regional Universities in the North” and No. 22 in the “Best Value Regional Universities in the North.” U.S. News also ranked Scranton’s programs in entrepreneurship No. 13, finance No. 16 and accounting No. 20 in the country, and the publication ranked Scranton’s business school No. 184 in the nation.

The University of Scranton ranked in the top 10 percent of America’s “2017 Best Colleges” and received an “A” as its grade in publication by Niche.com that sought to measure the “academic standards and quality of life” of U.S. colleges. Scranton also ranked in the top 3 percent of schools in the nation ranked by Niche.com for dining, campuses and residence halls.