NYU is the 25th best college in the country, according to U.S. News & World Report’s rankings released yesterday — a jump from No. 28 last year. Since 2016, when the university dropped by four spots in the U.S. News ranking, NYU’s rank has steadily increased over time. This year, the university is tied with the University of Michigan, the University of Southern California and the University of Virginia for No. 25.

“NYU’s leadership is committed to sustaining the academic trajectory which has so improved the University over the last generation or so,” NYU spokesperson John Beckman said. “If our efforts to advance our research enterprise, our teaching and learning, the student experience, affordability, diversity, our role as an engine of economic mobility, and sustainability, among other priorities, all contribute to a rise in one or more rankings, then that’s a good thing.”

On Friday, Columbia University confirmed allegations that the university had reported outdated and incorrect information on class sizes and the number of faculty with their academic field’s highest degrees to the organization in 2021. In response, U.S. News ranked the university No. 18 — a dramatic fall from its second place title last year.

Michael Thaddeus, a mathematics professor at Columbia, analyzed the data that the university had submitted to U.S. News between 2019 and 2021. He conducted the investigation independently to discover why Columbia had climbed so quickly in the organization’s rankings and whether the system was an accurate indicator of student life at Columbia. Soon after, he found that the university’s administration had incorrectly reported data on categories considered for rankings, including class size, faculty degrees and post-graduation plans.

Columbia provost Mary Boyce confessed on Sept. 9 that the university’s 2021 ranking was based on incorrect information. For the first time, she also publicly shared the statistics that are part of the Common Data Set, which is used by the College Board, Peterson’s and U.S. News & World Report for their rankings — joining the rest of the Ivy League schools.

“That says something about Ivy schools,” Tisch senior Nic Dantes said. “You’ve gotta check all of them now. Don’t get a big head, just because you’re an Ivy. That’s all I gotta say.”

The ranking leaves Columbia in the lowest position it has been since 1988. The university is now ranked lower than all other seven Ivy League schools, with Cornell University as the second lowest at No. 17.

Contact Abby Wilson at [email protected].