Harvard University ousted Yale University from the top of the annual collegiate rankings published by U.S. News and World Report, and Rutgers University in New Jersey edged by the University of Connecticut as the top public school in the Northeast.
If publicly downplayed by college admissions staff, the U.S. News and World Report rankings are nevertheless eagerly awaited each fall by college administrators and applicants.
Year-to-year comparisons are muddied by the magazine”™s tinkering with its criteria, which this year includes a heavier emphasis on graduation rates than in previous years; and which gives high-school guidance counselors a say in this year”™s rankings. Other criteria include academic reputation among administrators; student retention; faculty resources; admissions selectivity; financial resources; and alumni giving.
UConn ranked 27th among national universities, three spots behind Rutgers; and ranked 69th among all colleges and universities in the United States. UConn”™s Stamford campus was not rated separately.
Fairfield University tied for fourth among its peer regional universities on the eastern seaboard north of Maryland, while Quinnipiac University in Hamden ranked ninth in the category and Sacred Heart University in Fairfield 33rd.
The magazine did not publish rankings for the University of Bridgeport and Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, placing them in the second tier of peer schools.
Along with Yale, Wesleyan University in Middletown also received a high score, ranking 12th among liberal arts colleges nationally. Trinity College in Hartford was 36th in the category, and Connecticut College in New London 41st.
With Harvard and Princeton University leapfrogging Yale, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London became the lone Connecticut school to secure a top ranking among U.S. News and World Report”™s myriad categories, leading the list of regional colleges in the north ahead of Cooper Union and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in New York.
