U.S. News & World Report College Rankings 2017: Georgia's Top Schools

ATLANTA, GA — Emory University has climbed into the top 20 universities nationally in the U.S. News & World Report's new 2017 college rankings. The school is now ranked No. 20 in the popular list, released early Tuesday, moving up one spot from last year's list.

In all, 11 Georgia schools are on the U.S. News list of national universities for 2017, including Georgia Institute of Technology, which maintained its spot at No. 34 on the list, again. And the University of Georgia, which moved up from No. 61 last year to No. 56 on the 2017 list.

Nationally, Princeton was ranked No. 1 and Harvard was ranked No. 2.

Deciding where to attend college is often the biggest decision a high school student will have to make, and it’s one that is typically just as nerve-wracking for the parents.

The process of college-hunting can lead to information overload, but U.S. News’ rankings are considered an important resource for many. The news organization spends months compiling data from hundreds of schools around the country. While U.S. News & World Report ended its print magazine in 2010, it still publishes online and a print version of its college rankings.

The list of Georgia schools among national universities inlcudes:

• Emory University, Atlanta, #20 in National Universities (tie)
• Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, #34 in National Universities (tie)
• University of Georgia, Athens, #56 in National Universities (tie)
• Mercer University, Macon, #135 in National Universities (tie)

Several schools in the state were recognized among the second tier, but were not ranked, including Augusta University, Clark Atlanta, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Kennesaw State, University of West Georgia and Valdosta State University.

Decatur's Agnes Scott College was the top National Liberal Arts College in the state, at No. 70. Berry College was ranked 7th among Regional Universities. Atlanta's Spelman College was the top-ranked Historically Black College or University, with Morehouse College at No. 4 on the list.

See the complete list of 2017 college rankings.

So, how are the rankings compiled?

But U.S. News Chief Data Strategist Robert Morse told Patch that the publication considers objective factors such as graduation and retention rates.

“College is expensive,” Morse told Patch in an email. “In addition to considering factors like location, cost, course offerings and activities, families should pay close attention to graduation and retention rates.

“These are important indicators of how well a school supports its students academically and financially. The Best Colleges rankings measure academic excellence, and we believe that students and their families should strongly consider academic quality when choosing a college.”

U.S. News uses five categories of data that are all weighted differently.

• Outcomes (30 percent): Hard student performance data such as retention, graduation rate performance and graduation rate.
• Expert opinion (22.5 percent): More subjective data that includes opinions of presidents, provosts, high school counselors and admissions deans.
• Faculty resources (20 percent): Class size, student-to-faculty ratio, proportion of full-time faculty, proportion of professors with the highest degrees in their field and faculty salary.
• Student excellence (12.5 percent): How incoming students are performing on measures such as ACT/SAT scores, proportion of first-year students in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class and acceptance rate.
• Financial resources (10 percent): How much money the school spends on things such as instruction, research and student services. (Spending on dorms, food and sports don’t count.)
• Alumni giving (5 percent): What percentage of living alumni with a bachelor’s degree have given to their school that year.

Typically, the prestigious Ivy League schools have a stronghold on the top of U.S. News’s lists. Last year, for instance, Princeton University, Harvard University and Yale University took the first three slots on the national rankings.

That’s all well and good for the best of the best high school students, but what about the rest?

The rankings are broken out by state and by category. Students and parents can also look at the publication’s rankings of best value schools and best public schools and the best schools by discipline such as engineering and business.

They can also drill down and see how specific schools perform across several metrics.

“U.S. News believes that the more information that is available to students, the better,” Morse told Patch. “Rankings, done right, are a useful source of information for students. U.S. News rankings focus specifically on assessing academic quality of schools. If academic quality is a top priority, our rankings are an ideal place to start.”

Includes reporting by Marc Torrence. Image via Shutterstock