UB slides to No. 93 in U.S News Best Colleges ranking

UB fell in the U.S. News and World Report Best Colleges ranking released Monday for the second consecutive year.

The university dropped five spots, from 88th in 2021 to 93rd in 2022. UB is still on an upward trajectory, though, climbing from 109th in 2014 and peaking at 79th in 2020.

“We are proud that UB continues to be recognized among the top universities in the nation and to positively impact the world through our research, scholarship, creative activities, education, clinical care and engagement activities,” Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs A. Scott Weber said in a news release.

Released annually since 1983, the U.S. News and World Report’s Best National University Rankings is arguably the most-read college rankings, appearing in major online publications like CNBC and The College Post.  

In compiling this year’s list, U.S. News used a variety of criteria to determine where each school ranks, with major weighted factors being graduation and retention rates, social mobility, graduation rate performance, undergraduate academic reputation, faculty resources for the 2020-2021 academic year, student selectivity for the fall 2020 entering class, financial resources per student, average alumni giving rate and graduate indebtedness.

Additionally, U.S. News releases specialized lists each year that highlight which colleges are the best for particular programs.

The university scored well on many of these focused lists, most notably coming in at No. 63 on the Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs list, No. 76 on the Best Undergraduate Nursing Programs list and No. 83 on the Undergraduate Computer Science list. 

UB came in as the second-ranked SUNY school, tied with Stony Brook. Only Binghamton, at No. 83, ranked higher.

Despite the school’s drop in the rankings, the 93rd spot still represents a solid showing on a list of 392 universities.

Alex Falter is the senior arts editor and can be reached at alex.falter@ubspectrum.com 

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