UGA continues to rank well in the U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges 2014 edition, landing at No. 20 among the nation’s top public universities and No. 60 among best national universities this year. The university moved up in both categories, from 21st and 63rd on the 2013 list, respectively.
In U.S. News & World Report’s highlights of the best undergraduate business programs offered nationwide, the Terry College of Business topped the competition with a first-place ranking for its insurance and risk management specialty. Its real estate program tied for third with the University of California, Berkeley, and the college rose to 27th overall, up from 31st, for best business programs.
“The university is pleased with the continued positive trend in our rankings as reflected in a variety of publications,” said UGA President Jere W. Morehead. “As evidenced by the fall enrollment of the best first-year class in our history, we remain focused on enrolling great students and providing them with a quality educational experience.”
U.S. News & World Report surveyed 1,376 colleges and universities in 2013. To decide its top national universities, it measured an institution’s graduation and retention rates, assessment by peers and counselors, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, graduation rate performance (the difference between actual and predicted graduation rates) and alumni giving. To be considered a national university, an institution must offer a full range of undergraduate majors, plus master’s and doctoral programs, and emphasize faculty research.
Helping UGA in its national ranking was its average freshman retention rate of 94 percent in 2012, the year selected for the 2014 edition’s survey. The university’s graduation rate was predicted to be 76 percent but was actually higher at 82 percent. In the same year, 39 percent of UGA classes had fewer than 20 students while only 11 percent had more than 50.
In 2012, the university’s acceptance rate was 56 percent; 48 percent of its freshmen graduated high school in the top 10 percent of their class.
The 2014 college rankings are available online at www.usnews.com/colleges. They will be published in the U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges 2014 edition, available Sept. 24.