5 AREA COLLEGES RANK HIGH IN LATEST U.S. NEWS SURVEY
Ohio State, at No. 56, is top school in region; Miami comes in at No. 96, while Dayton ranked No. 127.
Several of the states oldest and largest colleges received high marks in U.S. News & World Report’s rankings, while smaller and less storied institutions did not garner a lot of praise from the annual listing.
U.S. News’ overall ranking of national universities included five area schools. Ohio State University ranked the highest by tying for the No. 56 spot with its Big 10 rivals Purdue University and Rutgers University.
Miami University was ranked 96th with five other schools and the University of Dayton tied for No. 127, with San Diego State University.
“The latest U.S. News rankings continue to demonstrate that UD is an affordable, top-tier Catholic institution that provides a ‘best value’ educational experience to position our graduates for impact and success,” said Jason Reinoehl, vice president for enrollment management at UD.
The University of Cincinnati came in at No. 147, tying with four other colleges including its neighbor to the south, the University of Kentucky. Wright State did not receive an official ranking but was named as being in the bottom 72 of 301 schools considered for the ranking.
Cedarville University and Wittenberg University were not included in the overall national ranking. But, Wittenberg was ranked a top national liberal arts college at No. 168, tying with two other schools among 229 liberal
arts colleges.
Central State University, one of Ohio’s two historically black colleges, was ranked the No. 40 HBCU in a four-way tie. Wilberforce University, the oldest private historically black university in the country, was not given a specific ranking by U.S. News but fell in the range of No. 58 to No. 76.
Miami took one of U.S. News’ top honors, coming in at No. 3 behind only Princeton University and Georgia State University for undergraduate teaching for its “unusually” strong teaching, according to U.S. News.
“We’re pleased to continue to be among the top schools in the “unusually strong commitment to undergraduate teaching” list for 10 years in a row,” Miami spokeswoman Claire Wagner said.
Area business programs showed strength in the annual college rankings.
Ohio State’s Fisher College of Business ranked No. 15 alongside Emory University in Georgia and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., according to the list. Miami’s Farmer School of Business tied 17 others for the No. 62 spot among business schools.
Ohio Northern University tied for the No. 312 business program with 37 other schools. Wright State’s Soin College of Business ranked more highly, tying with 38 other schools for the No. 274 spot out of 50.
Rankings have” become a shorthand way for people to evaluate the quality of a school,” said Tom Traynor, interim dean of Wright State’s Soin College of Business. While the rankings — including U.S. News’ — aren’t always very comprehensive, Traynor said they can help bolster programs and get them some much desired noteriety.
“It matters,” he said. “Lots of parents and families look at U.S. News & World Report.”