U.S. News & World Report announced on Tuesday the 2018 Best Online Programs rankings— and Massachusetts-based schools are well represented, with UMass Amherst and Boston University among the recurrent names in the higher positions.
This year’s edition includes nearly 1,500 distance education programs for bachelor’s degrees as well as graduate programs in engineering, business, nursing and more.
“The Best Online Programs rankings offer adults the information needed to identify programs that best suit their life and career goals,” Anita Narayan, managing editor of Education at U.S. News, said in a statement. “The top programs not only demonstrate strong academics but also create learning environments that are particularly well-suited to remote students.”
Here's a breakdown of how local colleges and universities performed in each ranking (we included only the schools that, in each ranking, placed above the position number 260). The complete rankings are available here.
2018 Best Online Bachelor’s Programs:
In this list, University of Massachusetts--Amherst ranked No. 16 and University of Massachusetts--Lowell placed at the 22nd spot. Below, there is Westfield State University (#81), University of Massachusetts Boston (#60), New England College of Business and Finance (#88), University of Massachusetts--Dartmouth (#143), Fitchburg State University (#208) and Berklee College of Music (#254).
2018 Best Online MBA Programs:
The first Massachusetts-based school that appears in this ranking is, again, University of Massachusetts--Amherst at No. 16, followed by Worcester Polytechnic Institute (#25), University of Massachusetts--Lowell (#47), Northeastern University (#76), University of Massachusetts--Dartmouth (#93), Babson College (#100), Fitchburg State University (#128), New England College of Business and Finance (#128, tie) and Suffolk University (#164).
2018 Best Online Business Programs (non-MBA)
Boston University cracks the top 10 of this list, by placing at ninth place. Bentley University (#28), University of Massachusetts--Lowell (#30), University of Massachusetts--Amherst (#36), New England College of Business and Finance (#51), Northeastern University (#51, tie), University of Massachusetts--Boston (#70), and Newton-based Lasell College (#108) also earned a spot.
2018 Best Online Information Technology Programs (including information systems, computer science, computer engineering and software engineering)
Again, Boston University placed first among the local universities at sixth place. The only other Massachusetts school in this list is University of Massachusetts Lowell (#13).
2018 Best Online Criminal Justice/Criminology Programs (Graduate)
Similarly to the previous list, Boston University came in the second position, followed by University of Massachusetts--Lowell (#14).
2018 Best Online Education Programs (Graduate)
This time, University of Massachusetts--Lowell cracks the top ten at No. 8, with University of Massachusetts--Amherst and University of Massachusetts--Boston far behind (respectively, at No. 70 and 80).
2018 Best Online Engineering Programs (Graduate)
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (#42) is the first Massachusetts school in this list, which includes both University of Massachusetts--Lowell and Western New England University in the range between 69 and 90.
2018 Best Online Nursing Programs (Graduate)
One more time, University of Massachusetts--Amherst is the first among local schools to earn a spot, this time No. 39. Simmons College follows at No. 72.
Image: The northeast dormitories at University of Massachusetts Amherst. Photo courtesy of Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism, Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)
