Scranton Among U.S. News ‘Best Colleges’ Again

For the 24th consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report has ranked The University of Scranton among the top 10 “Best Regional Universities in the North” in its well known “Best Colleges” guidebook. Scranton ranked No. 6 in the 2018 edition of the guidebook, which became available online today. U.S. News also included Scranton (No. 183) in a national ranking of all the business schools in country, as well as in a listing of “top ranked” colleges where students do well based on “spirit and hard work.”

In additional 2018 rankings appearing on the  US News website, Scranton was also ranked No. 18 as a “Best Value Regional University in the North,” in a ranking that compares academic quality of programs to cost of attendance. This is the fifth consecutive year U.S. News has recognized Scranton as a “Best Value” school.

In national rankings of all business programs in the United States, U.S. News ranked several of Scranton’s programs among the best in the country. US News ranked Scranton’s accounting and finance programs each at No. 17 in the country, and its entrepreneurship program at No. 22 in the nation. In addition, Scranton ranked No. 134 in the “Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs” where a doctorate is not offered.

U.S. News bases their rankings on a range of quality indicators that includes peer assessment of academic excellence (22.5 percent); graduation and freshman retention (22.5 percent); faculty resources (20 percent); student selectivity (12.5 percent); financial resources (10 percent); and alumni giving (5 percent); and graduation performance rates (7.5 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.

In addition to U.S. News, The Princeton Review listed Scranton in its 2018 edition of “The Best 381 Colleges,” ranking Scranton among the nation’s “Best Science Labs” (No. 9), “Best Campus Food” (No. 15), “Everyone Plays Intramural Sports” (No. 18) and “Most Religious Students” (No. 20). Scranton was also ranked No. 69 in the nation among master’s universities in a listing, published by Washington Monthly, that seeks to rate colleges based on their contribution to “social mobility, research and service

The 2018 U.S. News “Best Colleges” rankings became available online Sept. 12.