NYU rose five spots in the annual U.S. News & World Report’s national university rankings, placing it at No. 30 among nearly 436 four-year institutions.
The increase comes after the university fell 10 spots last year — its first decline in the rankings since 2020. Since then, the organization has revised its methodology to weigh factors based on whether a school has usable data from ACT and SAT tests. The rankings for schools without usable test data now place greater emphasis on graduation rates, and U.S. News no longer considers graduation rates for first-generation students at any schools.
This year, NYU tied with the University of Florida and the University of Texas at Austin — which saw a drop and rise in their rankings, respectively. Cornell University also rose in the general rankings, while other New York private schools such as Columbia University and The New School fell.
NYU ranked 68th in the “Best Value” category, dropping two spots from last year. The value rankings combine standard methodologies with evaluations of each university’s financial aid availability and overall expected costs. Other New York schools — such as Cornell, The New School and Fordham University — rank higher in value than they do overall, while Columbia is no longer included in the category.
The university’s individual program rankings have largely remained the same, continuing its streak as the top school for study away opportunities since at least 2021 and fifth-best school for business since at least 2016. This year, NYU also ranked as No. 62 — a 78-spot climb since 2023 — in the “Top Performers on Social Mobility” section, which is evaluated based on graduation rates and performances of Pell Grant recipients and accounted for 3.5% of overall rankings this year.
Last year, U.S. News updated its methodology, removing five metrics that accounted for 18% of a school’s ranking while introducing factors such as the number of graduates earning more than a high school graduate’s salary and graduation rates for first-generation students. This year, 78.1% of institutions submitted data for the report, a slight decline from 79.9% for the 2024 rankings.
In April, the NYU School of Law ranked No. 9 in the country, marking its second year of refusing to provide data for the rankings due to concerns about methodology related to student discouragement. Administrators at the law school have criticized the U.S. News rankings for failing to consider factors that include student debt and employment at graduation. The NYU Grossman School of Medicine is currently unranked in the U.S. News ranking for medical schools in the nation.
A university spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Correction, Sept. 26: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the number of universities included in the U.S. News rankings. The article has been updated and WSN regrets the error.
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