UW News

September 9, 1996

UW ranked 10th among public universities by national magazine

News and Information

The University of Washington was ranked 10th among all public universities in the United States in the quality of undergraduate education in the issue of U.S. News & World Report on news stands today (Sept. 9).
The 10th annual “America’s Best Colleges” issue ranks colleges and universities based upon: student selectivity, faculty resources, financial resources, retention rate, value added and alumni giving, in addition to its reputation among 2,730 college presidents, deans and admissions directors. The “value added” measure is an attempt to determine how effective an institution is in helping students to graduate.

The magazine’s “best colleges” survey does not distinguish between smaller, private institutions and larger, public research universities in its rankings of quality. Thus, the UW was 42 overall in the magazine’s rankings, but most of the institutions ranked ahead of the UW were private universities and colleges. All of the top 10 universities in the rankings were private; the highest ranking public institution was the University of Virginia at 21.

The UW was ranked 3rd as a “best value” based upon what it charges for out-of- state tuition and the value of its education. However, in its “discount price” rankings, which take into consideration the amount of financial aid available to out-of-state students, the magazine did not rank the UW in the top 50 best values.

The Business School was ranked 17 and the College of Engineering 16th, based upon the quality of their underdergraduate programs.