U.S. News Best Colleges report boosts overall Rowan rank 30 places in one year

The widely anticipated U.S. News & World Report college rankings moved Rowan University’s overall ranking up a full 30 places in a study released Sept. 18.

In fact, the U.S. News & World Report 2024 Best Colleges issue, which many parents and prospective students follow to inform college decisions, boosted Rowan’s rankings in numerous categories including:

• Overall – National Universities, a 30-place change to 163 from 193 last year;
• Top Public Schools – National Universities, an 11-spot change to 88 from 99 last year;
• Best Value Schools – National Universities, an 18-spot gain to 104 from 122 last year;
• Best Colleges for Veterans – National Universities, a 18-place change, to 113 from 131 last year;
• Social Mobility - National Universities, a 116-place change, to 91 from 207 last year.

In addition, this year’s Best Colleges study ranked Rowan’s Rohrer College of Business #244 among business programs nationally; Computer Science #229; and Economics #268. It also ranked the Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering #105, a 32-place jump since last year, among schools whose highest degree is a doctorate.

U.S. News editors noted that, for its 39^th Best Colleges report, they reviewed nearly 1,500 colleges and universities.

“Schools are ranked according to their performance across a set of widely accepted indicators of excellence,” editors wrote. “National Universities (like Rowan) offer a range of undergraduate majors, plus master's and doctoral programs, and emphasize faculty research or award professional practice doctorates.”

As the magazine often does, this year U.S. News altered its methodology, dropping five long-standing criteria and placing a greater emphasis on others, including student graduation rate and social mobility. Those changes affected how many institutions ranked for 2024.

“We increased the emphasis on how often schools' students from all socioeconomic backgrounds earned degrees and took advantage of information on graduate outcomes that was not available until recently,” editors wrote.

In an earlier report, U.S. News for 2023-24 ranked Cooper Medical School of Rowan University #50 for Best Medical Schools: Primary Care; #110 for Best Medical Schools: Research; and #100 in Most Diverse Medical Schools. The magazine ranked Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine #108 in Best Medical Schools: Primary Care; #115 in Best Medical Schools: Research; and #95 in Most Diverse Medical Schools.

The latest U.S. News report follows a study from The New York Times, which in a college-access survey Sept. 7 ranked Rowan #35 in the nation for economic diversity.

In addition, the Chronicle of Higher Education has ranked Rowan the nation’s 4th fastest-growing research university among public doctoral institutions.