University of Chicago is having a good week in rankings.
This week US News and World Report ranked University of Chicago the 3rd best college nationwide in its 2017 Best Colleges ranking, a slight bump up from 4th overall last year. This comes on the heels of UChicago ranking 10th in the world on QS World University Rankings ranking.
Despite the positive news for UChicago, only one other local school--Illinois Institute of Technology--rose in the rankings this year. Here's a look at how other local schools fared on the 2017 US News Best Colleges national universities ranking:
- Northwestern University ranked 12 (same as 2016).
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign ranked 44 (down from 41 in 2016)
- Loyola University of Chicago ranked 99 (same as 2016)
- Illinois Institute of Technology ranked 103 (up from 108 in 2016)
- DePaul University ranked 124th (a slight drop from 123 in 2016)
- University of Illinois at Chicago ranked 152 (down from 129 in 2016)
- Illinois State University ranked 152 (down from 149 in 2016)
The annual rankings are based on outcomes, faculty resources, financial resources, expert opinion, student opinion and alumni giving. Outcomes, which include retention and graduation rates, get the most weight, accounting for 30 percent of a school's ranking.
“In addition to considering factors like location and cost, families should pay close attention to graduation and retention rates," said Brian Kelly, editor and chief content officer of U.S. News in a release. "These are important indicators of how well a school supports its students both academically and financially. Getting into a good school means nothing if you cannot graduate.”
Here's a look at the top 15 schools on US News Best Colleges list:
1. Princeton University
2. Harvard University
3. University of Chicago (tie)
3. Yale University (tie)
5. Columbia University
5. Stanford University
7. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
8. Duke University
8. University of Pennsylvania
10. John Hopkins University
11. Dartmouth College
12. California Institute of Technology (tie)
12. Northwestern University (tie)
14. Brown University
15. Cornell University
15. Rice University
15. University of Notre Dame
15. Vanderbilt University
