Maryland Schools Ranked Among U.S. News’ 2022-23 Best Colleges

MARYLAND — Twenty-four colleges and universities in Maryland are among higher education institutions included in the 2022-2023 Best Colleges rankings released Monday by U.S. News & World Report.

U.S. News has been publishing the respected guide for prospective students and families for nearly 40 years. Methodology has changed over the years to reflect changes in higher education, Kim Castro, editor and chief content officer at U.S. News, said in a news release.

U.S. News touts its ranking for providing millions of parents with “useful data and information to help with one of life’s biggest decisions,” Castro said.

U.S. News ranked 1,500 colleges and universities across 17 academic measures. To rank colleges, U.S. News first places each school into a category based on its mission and, in some cases, its geographic location.

National universities, which focus on research and offer several doctoral programs, are ranked separately from liberal arts colleges.

Maryland schools that made the ranking include:

National Universities

• Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, ranked No. 7
• University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, ranked No. 55
• University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, ranked No. 137
• Morgan State University, Baltimore, No. 317

National Liberal Arts Colleges

• United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, ranked No. 6
• St. John's College (MD), Annapolis, ranked No. 61
• Washington College, Chestertown, ranked No. 85
• St. Mary's College of Maryland, St. Marys City, ranked No. 89
• Goucher College, Baltimore, ranked No. 111

Regional Universities (North)

• Loyola University Maryland, Baltimore, ranked No. 4
• Towson University, Towson, ranked No. 33
• Hood College, Frederick, ranked No. 40
• McDaniel College, Westminster, ranked No. 40
• Mount St. Mary's University, Emmitsburg, No. 48

Top Performers on Social Mobility

• Morgan State University, Baltimore, tie for No. 82
• University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, ranked No. 115
• University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore ranked No. 242
• Capitol Technology University, Laurel, ranked No. 313
• Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, ranked No. 326

Overall, the top three schools in each category are:

National Universities

1. Princeton University (New Jersey)
2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
3. Tie: Harvard University (Massachusetts), Stanford University (California) and Yale University (Connecticut)

National Liberal Arts Colleges

1. Williams College (Massachusetts)
2. Amherst College (Massachusetts)
3. Pomona College (California)

National Universities (Public)

1. Tie: University of California, Berkeley, and University of California, Los Angeles

3. Tie: University of Michigan – Ann Arbor and University of Virginia

National Liberal Arts Colleges (Public)

1. United States Naval Academy
2. United States Military Academy at West Point
3. United States Air Force Academy

Top Performers on Social Mobility — National Universities

1. Keiser University (Florida)
2. University of California, Riverside
3. California State University – Long Beach

Top Performers on Social Mobility — National Liberal Arts Colleges

1. Salem College (North Carolina)
2. Lake Forest College (Illinois)
3. Tougaloo College (Mississippi)

To compile the rankings, U.S. News focuses on academic quality and places emphasis on outcome measures, including graduation rates, retention rates, graduate indebtedness and social mobility. Graduation rates and other outcomes represent 40 percent of each school’s overall score.

U.S. News said it changed how it weights SAT and ACT scores because demand for the college entrance exams plummeted due to the pandemic, especially among students living in low-income households.

Part-time faculty members were considered in measures on faculty resources, reflecting a trend for more part-time instructors, U.S. News said. Previously, only full-time instructors were considered.

Read more about the methodology.