The University of Rochester has moved up to rank 34th for undergraduate programs among the nation's best 248 national universities in the U.S. News & World Report rankings released today. Last year the University was 37th on the magazine's annual listing of "America's Best Colleges." Among universities in New York State, Rochester is ranked third, behind Columbia and Cornell.
"The University of Rochester consistently and strongly competes among the leading research universities of the nation," said President Joel Seligman. "The new ranking recognizes our increasingly strong programs, our great faculty, and our wonderful students."
Other University of Rochester programs also have recently improved their rankings in U.S. News. In 2005, for example, the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration rose to 23rd, up from 36th. Several other University of Rochester programs rank are listed among the top 20 in the nation, including the Department of Political Science, ranked 13th, with its methodology specialty fourth in the nation. The School of Medicine and Dentistry's program in Primary Care and its specialty in Geriatrics are each ranked 17th. The Department of Economics is ranked 19th and its specialties of international economics and macroeconomics ranked 16th and 14th, respectively. Further, in the last U.S. News ranking of music schools, the Eastman School of Music was ranked first.
In another recently released ranking, the Princeton Review, an education services company, also names the University of Rochester as one of the nation's best institutions for undergraduate education. The University is featured in the 2006 edition of The Best 361 Colleges. Only about 15 percent of four-year colleges in America and two Canadian colleges are in the book.
The University of Rochester enrolls 4,340 full-time undergraduates and offers more than 175 degree programs in its undergraduate and graduate divisions. Its distinctive "Rochester Curriculum" allows undergraduates to get deeply involved in fields of their own choosing within the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences including math and engineering. The University consistently ranks among the top 30 colleges and universities nationwide in federally financed science, engineering, medical, and other research.
A complete list of the U.S. News rankings is posted at www.usnews.com.