Kent State University touted Tuesday that it is the only public university in Northeast Ohio to be ranked in the top tier of the new 2017 edition of Best Colleges by U.S. News & World Report.
The annual ranking of public and private universities nationwide was released Tuesday as part of this year’s Best Colleges report by the magazine.
Kent State was ranked 188 on the first-tier list.
It is one of six public universities in the state to make the top-tier Best National Universities list.
The other five Ohio public universities to make the Best National Universities list are: Ohio State University, which ranked 54; Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, which ranked 79; University of Cincinnati, which ranked 135; Ohio University, which ranked 146 and Bowling Green, which ranked 194.
The University of Akron is not among the 310 schools ranked in the top tier of Best National Universities. UA is ranked 151st nationwide in doctorate engineering programs and 248th in business.
Kent State said in a news release that its ranking is recognition of continued growth in academic reputation and student retention.
To arrive at the rankings, U.S. News said it gathers data from each college on indicators of “academic excellence,” including graduation and retention rates, undergraduate academic reputation, student retention and student selectivity. Each factor is assigned a weight that reflects U.S. News’ judgment about how much that measure matters, U.S. News said. “Finally, the colleges and universities in each category are ranked against their peers, based on their composite weighted score,” U.S. News said.
Princeton University remains No. 1 in the Best National Universities category.
A complete searchable list is available online at http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges