Boston College jumped two spots to No. 37 in the U.S. News and World Report’s 2025 rankings of the best national universities in a tie with Tufts University.
In this year’s rankings, U.S. News assessed nearly 1500 universities on 17 criteria, including academic quality, graduate outcomes, campus culture, strength in individual majors, and financial aid distribution, according to its website.
This year’s ranking saw a significant change to its methodology, removing the six-year graduation rates of first-generation students and reallocating the metric’s weight to Pell Grant–recipient graduation rates.
For the second consecutive year, the rankings placed a heavy emphasis on social mobility and postgraduate success.
Over 50 percent of the universities’ scores were based on measures related to the number of students from underrepresented backgrounds they enrolled, the support provided to help these students graduate with manageable debt, and graduate salaries, according to a press release.
“By considering factors such as social mobility and post-graduate success, we aim to help students choose schools that not only provide a quality education but also prepare them for a successful and fulfilling future,” Lamont Jones Jr., managing editor for Education at U.S. News, said in the press release.
Last year’s changes resulted in a dramatic shift in the list as many private universities fell steeply on the ranking—Tulane University and Brandeis University plummeted 29 and 16 spots, respectively.
By contrast, this year’s rankings were marked by significantly less turnover among the top 50 universities.
Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and Latinx-serving universities, however, saw a major climb in the rankings. North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and the University of Texas at San Antonio each rose 49 spots.
Among Boston-area universities, BC placed third behind the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (No. 2) and Harvard University (No. 3) while continuing to outperform Boston University (No. 41), Northeastern University (No. 54), and Brandeis University (No. 63).
BC remains the third highest-ranked Catholic university as the University of Notre Dame climbed two places to No. 18. And Georgetown University fell two spots to No. 24.
According to U.S. News, BC ranked No. 6 in “Best Undergraduate Teaching,” an increase of two spots from the previous year; No. 7 in “Service Learning,” a drop of two spots; and No. 9 in “First-Year Experience,” also a decrease of two spots. It remained at No. 17 in “Learning Communities,” rose five spots to No. 36 in “Undergraduate Research/Creative Projects,” and dropped one spot to No. 52 in “Best Value Schools.”
The Carroll School of Management ranked seventh in finance, ninth in analytics, 10th in entrepreneurship and marketing, and 11th in accounting and management. The Connell School of Nursing ranked ninth among other nursing schools—its highest ever placement on the ranking.
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