YU Rises To 76th in 2021 U.S. News and World Report College Rankings
U.S. News & World Report’s latest report on colleges across the nation ranked Yeshiva University at 76th place among national universities. Released on Sept. 14 in U.S. News’ “2021 Best National University Rankings” report, this year’s ranking marks a significant increase from last year’s 97th place.
Following six consecutive years of decline from 45th place in 2012 to 94th in 2018, a slight rise in 2019 and a 24-year low in 2020, YU’s placement in the 2021 report marks a major improvement in its annual rankings. This year, YU tied with three other universities –– American University, Baylor University and Indiana University Bloomington –– in 76th place.
U.S. News also published a ranking of “Best Value Schools,” in which YU scored 54th place, and “Top Performers on Social Mobility,” in which YU was 265th. Both scores are increases from last year, when YU was ranked 61st and 285th, respectively.
The report also details other data about universities across the U.S. YU’s student to faculty ratio is 7:1, the four-year graduation rate is 71% and the most popular major in 2019 was biology. The overall median starting salary of YU alumni is $54,600; the U.S. colleges’ national average of alumni starting salaries is $52,201. The average need-based self-help aid awarded to first-year students in 2021 was 51%. According to the report, “Yeshiva University met 90% of its students’ financial aid need.”
In order of priority, YU’s overall score was determined based on “Outcomes,” which primarily include graduation rates, “Expert Opinion,” which is a peer-reviewed assessment (YU scored 2.9 out of 5), “Faculty Resources,” which consider class sizes and the student-to-faculty ratio (YU ranked 26th), “Financial Resources,”(YU ranked 100th) “Student Excellence” (YU ranked 134th) and “Alumni Giving” (YU’s rate is 14%).
U.S. News & World Report has published annual college rankings since 1983. YU consistently ranked within the top 100 colleges 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, YU’s ranking did not vary much, reaching a high of 40 in 2003 and 2004 and dropping to a low of 52 in 2008, 2010 and 2016. In 2018, however, YU dramatically fell to 94th place, before rising to 80th in 2019 and dropping again to 97th in the 2020 report.
YU’s significant increase in the U.S. News report was not reflected in other prominent college rankings; on Sept. 17, the Wall Street Journal released its annual “Best Colleges 2021” report in which YU ranked 143rd, three places lower than last year.
U.S. News’ “2021 Best National University Rankings” report provides data on more than 1,800 colleges and universities. The data used to determine the rankings predates the COVID-19 pandemic, and thus the impact of coronavirus on higher education is not reflected in the report.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include details on YU’s overall score in the U.S. News ranking, as well as the Wall Street Journal ranking, which was released three days after this article was originally published.
Photo Caption: Yeshiva University U.S. News & World Report college rankings (2006 - 2020)
Photo Credit: The Commentator
