YU Rises to 80th Among U.S. Colleges in U.S. News Ranking

Yeshiva University tied for 80th place in this year’s U.S. News & World Report ranking of colleges across the nation, rising slightly from last year’s 94th place. In the Best Value Schools category, YU was ranked 52nd, up from last year’s 65th, although still below the 49th place attained in 2017.

2019 will mark the first improvement in the annual ranking after six years of consecutive downgrades, from a high of 45th in 2012 to a low of 94th in 2018.

U.S. News & World Report has published annual college rankings since 1985. Yeshiva University consistently ranked “third tier”—no higher than 100th—in most of the first few annual reports before leaping to “first tier university” status (top 50) in the 1997 report with a ranking of 45th best among national universities. From 1997 through 2016, Yeshiva University’s ranking did not vary much, from a high of 40th in 2003 and 2004 to a low of 52nd in 2008, 2010 and 2016.

YU this year scored 54 out of 100 total possible points. Graduation and retention rates, undergraduate academic reputation and faculty resources constitute the largest factors in a school’s rank. The undergraduate data presented in the report is based on the 2017-2018 school year.

Yeshiva University scored particularly low in “student excellence,” ranking 122nd among national universities. According to U.S. News, the student excellence ranking, which weighs 10 percent of a university’s overall ranking, is based on students’ standardized test scores and high school class standing. The report stated that the 75th percentile for Yeshiva SAT scores is 1420, and the 25th percentile is 1160. The SAT is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. The test is scored out of 1600 with national percentiles typically numbering around 1200, 1050 and 910 for the 75th, 50th and 25th percentiles, respectively.

The report highlighted several aspects of Yeshiva University, including the Center for the Jewish Future, its undergraduate newspapers The Observer and The Commentator, the intercampus shuttle transportation system, the Yeshiva University Gruss Institute in Jerusalem, the Yeshiva Maccabees sports teams and the “hundreds of student organizations on campus.”

The report also mentioned that YU “earns accolades for its highly ranked research opportunities” at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Yeshiva sold the medical school to Montefiore Medical Center in 2015. Additionally, the report mentioned YU’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and several “graduate offerings specific to the Jewish faith” offered by the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration and the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies.

Other data was included as well in the report. It presented a student-faculty ratio of 7:1. Of full-time faculty, 65.9 percent are male and 34.1 percent are female, whereas the part-time faculty gender distribution is 56.1 percent male and 43.9 percent female. The report cited that 58.6 percent of classes have fewer than 20 students. YU’s average freshman retention rate, which the report noted as “an indicator of student satisfaction,” is 90 percent. YU’s average six-year graduation rate is 84 percent. The report also stated that 33 percent of students live off campus.

Regarding cost and financial aid, the report stated that “56 percent of full-time undergraduates receive some kind of need-based financial aid, and the average need-based scholarship or grant award is $28,227.” The median starting salary of Yeshiva University alumni is $53,400. By major, the highest median starting salary for Yeshiva University alumni is among Mathematics majors at $72,400. Of the eleven majors presented, the lowest median starting salary for alumni is among Biology majors at $37,900.

College rankings are a popular means of helping prospective students decide among undergraduate programs. The U.S. News & World Report is among the most widely consulted ranking services. The Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education annual report, released last week, ranked Yeshiva at 148th among U.S. colleges and universities, down from last year’s ranking of 119th. Kiplinger, another popular ranking report, pegged Yeshiva at 25th in December 2017 for the best value in private colleges and 67th among all colleges.