U.S. News Best Colleges: See Missouri Schools On 2019 List

MISSOURI — U.S. News & World Report is out with the latest edition of its best colleges list. The rankings released Monday reveal the top colleges in the country for 2019, including the best public schools, the best value schools and the top regional colleges and universities.

On the publication’s overall list of best national universities, Princeton University ranked No.1 (for the eighth year in a row) and Harvard University ranked No.2, while Columbia University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University and the University of Chicago tied for No.3.

In Missouri, six schools made the overall list of best national universities, including Washington University in St. Louis, which came in at No. 19 nationally. St. Louis University was next (No. 106), followed by the University of Missouri (No. 129), the Missouri University of Science & Technology (No. 157), Maryville University of St. Louis (No. 177) and the University of Missouri-St. Louis (No. 226).

When it comes to public universities, we did even better. Seven Missouri public schools made the list, including No. 1-ranked Truman State University, the best public school in the Midwest, according to U.S. News. Other schools included the Missouri University of Science & Technology (No. 80 nationally), the University of Missouri-St. Louis (No. 129 nationally), the University of Central Missouri (No. 17 in the Midwest), Northwest Missouri State University (No. 19 in the Midwest), Southeast Missouri State University (No. 20 in the Midwest) and Missouri State University (No. 32 in the Midwest).

“A university is not successful if it does not graduate its students, which is why the Best Colleges rankings place the greatest value on outcomes, including graduation and retention rates,” Robert Morse, chief data strategist at U.S. News, said in a press release. “By including social mobility indicators, U.S. News is further recognizing colleges that serve all of their students, regardless of economic status.”

U.S. News explains that its rankings are calculated based on 16 measures of academic quality. The publication groups schools by their academic missions into 10 categories that are then used to determine 10 distinct rankings. The distinct rankings include best national universities, best public schools and so on. The publication also made some notable changes to its methodology, including adding social mobility indicators, eliminating acceptance rate as a factor and reducing the weight it gives to measures like SAT/ACT scores. (You can read more about the methodology here.)

Below are the top five schools in the following categories:

Best National Universities

• Princeton University (1)
• Harvard University (2)
• Columbia University (3)
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (3)
• University of Chicago (3)
• Yale University (3)

Best National Liberal Arts Colleges

• Williams College (1)
• Amherst College (2)
• Swarthmore College (3)
• Wellesley College (3)
• Bowdoin College (5)
• Carleton College (5)
• Middlebury College (5)
• Pomona College (5)

Top Public Schools

• University of California-Los Angeles (1)
• University of California-Berkeley (2)
• University of Virginia (3)
• University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (4)
• University of California-Santa Barbara (5)
• University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (5)

Top Public National Liberal Arts Colleges

• United States Military Academy (1)
• United States Naval Academy (2)
• United States Air Force Academy (3)
• Virginia Military Institute (4)
• New College of Florida (5)

Best Value Schools (National Universities)

• Princeton University (1)
• Harvard University (2)
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (3)
• Yale University (4)
• Stanford University (5)

Best Value Schools (National Liberal Arts Colleges)

• Williams College (1)
• Pomona College (2)
• Amherst College (3)
• Swarthmore College (4)
• Principia College (5)

See the full rankings here.

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