The University of Georgia is ranked a top 20 public university for the sixth consecutive year, according to the 2006 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Colleges” guide. UGA ranked 19th among public universities and 58th out of 124 institutions overall.
“This is very exciting news,” says UGA President Michael F. Adams. “Given the financial challenges of the past two years, the fact that UGA remains in the top 20 is a strong testament to the quality and efforts of our faculty, staff and students. I am grateful for their efforts and pleased that UGA continues to be counted among America’s very best.”
UGA moved up one position in the “Great Schools, Great Prices” list, ranking sixth among seven public universities; that list includes UNC-Chapel Hill, University of Virginia, Texas A&M, University of Texas-Austin, North Carolina State University-Raleigh and State University of New York College of Environment, Science and Forestry. UGA placed 41st out of 50 ranked institutions in that listing.
“This list considers both price and quality, so for UGA to be listed among these particularly outstanding institutions places us in great company,” Adams says.
In a review of students graduating with the least average amount of debt, the “Debt Load, Class of 2004” category ranks UGA 12th among public institutions and 16th among 25 national universities.
The Terry College of Business is ranked 19th among undergraduate programs at public business schools and is tied for 30th overall, based on a survey of more than 500 accredited business schools that are eligible for the ranking. Terry’s real estate program is ranked third in its specialty category; the insurance program at the Terry College is tied for third in its category with the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“Our consistent recognition as a top public program is due to the hard work of our faculty and staff, the rising quality of our students and the performance of our graduates as leaders in the business community,” says P. George Benson, dean of the Terry College. “The undergraduate experience and the opportunities for leadership development that we offer our students are better than they’ve ever been.”
The 2006 rankings are available online at www.usnews.com and will be in the Aug. 29 edition of the magazine, which hit newsstands (along with the newsstand book America’s Best Colleges) on Aug. 22.
U.S. News considers several factors in producing the annual ranking. Among those are academic reputation, student retention, graduation rates, class sizes, faculty resources, student quality and alumni giving rate.