Fordham University has again been listed as one of the top national universities in the latest edition of U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” rankings.
The special issue of the magazine, which will be on newsstands on Monday, Aug. 20, ranks Fordham at No. 67 among the 262 top-tier national universities, moving up three places from a year ago. In the last four years, Fordham has moved up 17 places, from 84th. In all, the magazine lists four tiers in the national universities category.
“We are, of course, pleased that Fordham’s reputation is catching up with its accomplishments,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “The U.S. News and World Report designation as one of the nation’s best colleges is a recognition of all the University offers its students: intellectual rigor; unparalleled learning and career opportunities in New York City; and the Jesuit concern for the whole person. We’ve known for some time now that students who want to be the best and do the best come to Fordham.”
The U.S. News rankings come just a week after Kaplan/Newsweek’s annual How to Get Into College Guide listed Fordham as one of the “25 Hottest Schools in America.” The guide’s editors picked Fordham as the “Hottest Catholic School.” Over the years, Fordham has fared well in the various rankings. Last year, Washington Monthly’s survey of 245 national universities ranked Fordham 41st, ahead of Princeton University, Boston College, Carnegie Mellon University and New York University.
In the U.S. News rankings, Fordham tied with Clemson University and Miami University of Ohio for the 67th spot. Among the data for Fordham was an 89 percent retention rate for freshmen. In addition, 49 percent of the University’s classes had 20 students or fewer, and Fordham had the distinction of being one of just two schools in the top tier that had no more than 1 percent of its classes larger than 50 students.
U.S. News began publishing rankings in 1983 and they have emerged as among the most influential such listings in what has become an increasingly crowded publishing niche. In the spring, the magazine publishes a ranking of graduate school programs.
The magazine defines national universities as those that offer a wide range of undergraduate majors as well as master’s and doctoral degrees. The category, which includes 164 public institutions and 98 private ones, is based on those developed by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
U.S. News uses a proprietary methodology that ranks schools based on a set of 15 indicators of excellence. Among the key measures of quality the magazine factors are peer assessments, graduation and retention rates, faculty resources and student selectivity. The magazine compiles the data from more than 1,400 accredited four-year schools.
