PROVIDENCE – Results from Tuesday’s U.S. News and World Report 2018 Best Colleges ranking show minimal improvement for Rhode Island-based schools.
University of Rhode Island gained three spots to tie for No. 156 on U.S. News’ Best National Universities list while Brown University (No. 14 among Best National Universities) and Providence College (No. 1 among regional northern universities) held steady from the prior year.
U.S. News findings are broken down into two categories: Best National Universities and Best National Liberal Arts Colleges. For the fifteenth consecutive year Williams College in Williamstown, Mass. was named the nation’s top liberal arts college and Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey placed first among the nation’s universities – its seventh year at the top of the list.
The report ranks 1,800 U.S.-based higher education institutions and focuses on figures including freshmen retention rate, graduation rates, class size and acceptance rate among other qualifiers.
Brown, the Providence-based Ivy League school, shared 14th place among top universities with Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., Rice University in Houston, Texas and Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. U.S. News reported Brown achieving a 98 percent freshmen retention rate, 96 percent graduation rate in 2016 and 68 percent of its classes totaling fewer than 20 students.
Brown also ranked No. 14 best value school among U.S. News’ nationally-ranked universities with 41 percent of 2016 students receiving need-based grants. In addition, U.S. News found 16 percent of the Ivy League school’s students receive federal Pell grants.
The Providence-based university’s engineering program tied for 40th place among schools with an engineering program whose highest degree offered is a doctorate.
Tied with Stillwater, Okla.-based Oklahoma State University and University of Massachusetts Lowell at 156th place among top universities, 83 percent of URI freshmen continue their studies at the state’s flagship research institute, the 2016 graduation rate was 63 percent and 42 percent of its classes have fewer than 20 students.
With an average 25th to 75th percentile SAT/ACT score of 990 to 1190 among 2016 students, URI was named to the U.S. News “A+ Schools for B Students” list.
Additionally, URI’s undergraduate business program tied for 151st place in the 2018 U.S. News Best Business Programs list.
Providence College remained No. 1 regional university in the North – a district stretching from Pennsylvania and Maryland north to Maine. Defined by U.S. News as universities with “few” doctoral programs, these schools are compared to others in their geographical location and are not ranked in the Best National Universities or Best National Colleges lists.
Ninety-percent of PC freshmen return to the schools after their first year, there was an 83 percent graduation rate in 2016 and more than half (54 percent) of its classes are smaller than 20 students.
PC was also named No.12 best value university among regional competitors, with 47 percent of 2016 students receiving need-based grants. According to U.S. News’ “A+ Schools for B Students” 2016 students at PC held an average 25th to 75th percentile SAT/ACT score of 1030 to 1240.
Rhode Island College, also in Providence, retains 77 percent of freshmen, graduated 47 percent of the Class of 2016 and 48 percent its classes are fewer than 20 students, and was listed between 146 and 187 in regional colleges. In 2016 it was ranked No. 137 in the regional list, tying with six other schools.
Roger Williams University in Bristol tied for No. 37 in the regional comparison, ranked No. 63 among best value schools and tied for No. 20 in the best schools for veterans list. The school’s undergraduate engineering program tied for 74th place among schools which do not offer doctorates.
Warwick-based New England Institute of Technology was listed between 38 and 48 in the top regional college list. Information other than its peer assessment score, a 2.5 out of 5, was not provided by the school.
The Providence campus of Johnson & Wales University tied for No. 64 in the regional comparison, tied for No. 36 in best colleges for veterans and ranked No. 65 among best value schools.
The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth tied for 207th place in the top universities list. Seventy-six percent of UMass Dartmouth freshmen students are retained, there was a 49 percent graduation rate in 2016 and 41 percent of classes have fewer than 20 students.
UMass Dartmouth’s undergraduate business program tied for 151st place and Providence College in U.S. News findings. The program at Smithfield’s Bryant University ranked 183rd.
Norton, Mass.-based Wheaton College tied for 76th place in the U.S. News Best National Colleges with an 85 percent freshmen retention rate, 79 percent 2016 graduation rate and 68 percent of its classes have fewer than 20 students.
Wheaton was also named to the “A+ Schools for B Students” list, reporting an average 25th to 75th percentile SAT/ACT score of 1050 to 1270 among 2016 students.
Stonehill College, in Easton, Mass., ranked 111th in the top national colleges list with a 90 percent freshmen retention rate, 80 percent 2016 graduation rate and half of its classes totaling fewer than 20 students.
Another “A+ Schools for B Students” institute was Stonehill College with an average 25th to 75th percentile SAT/ACT score of 1000 to 1210 among 2016 students.
Smithfield’s Bryant University and Newport’s Salve Regina University were also named to the “A+ Schools for B Students” list, reporting an average 25th to 75th percentile SAT/ACT score of 1085 to 1255 and 1020 to 1180 among 2016 students, respectively.
Emily Gowdey-Backus is a staff writer for PBN. You can follow her on Twitter @FlashGowdey or contact her via email, gowdey-backus@pbn.com.
