Sept. 10, 2013—In the latest issue of U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” rankings of undergraduate programs, the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business leaped 25 spots to number 47, and the College of Engineering moved up five spots to number 59 in the nation.
“Our rise in the latest rankings is a reflection of the effort we’ve put in to enhancing the student experience for our undergraduates,” says Dean Taylor Randall of the David Eccles School of Business. “We’ve improved our students’ physical learning environment through the just-completed Spencer Fox Eccles Business Building. Our dedicated faculty has improved our academic offerings in the classroom, and we’ve increased the experiential learning opportunities that give our students real-world work experience through programs like the Lassonde Entrepreneur Center and the Sorenson Global Impact Investing Center. And we’ve created a new Undergraduate Career Management Center to guide our students into their careers. These rankings show that our students are responding to the work our faculty, staff and leadership have put into making our undergraduate program the best in the country.”
“Undergraduate engineering degrees are offered by a total of 368 colleges, and the College of Engineering is pleased to have moved up in the rankings of undergraduate programs to 59th among Ph.D.-granting institutions,” says Dean Richard B. Brown of the College of Engineering. “Engineering and Computer Science graduates are the lifeblood of Utah’s growing technology-driven economy. The state’s investments through the Engineering Initiative and USTAR have enabled both the improvement in quality that is recognized in this ranking, and more than doubling of the number of graduates from 366 in 1999 to 777 in the past year.”
U.S. News continues to rank the University of Utah’s undergraduate programs at number 60 among all public universities, and in the top tier of all national universities at 121, up four spots from 2013.
The publication normally ranks the U’s graduate programs more favorably than it does its undergraduate offerings, in large part to what U.S. News calls “student selectivity” or offering admission to many deserving freshman who are not in the top ten percent of their high school classes. As a result, the U was again noted on the list of “A-plus Schools for B Students,” which reflects the U’s “holistic” review process that gives all students the best opportunity to present a complete picture of their qualifications. Information on how to apply to the U is available online at http://admissions.utah.edu/.
The 2014 edition of the “Best Colleges” guidebook is available online. For a complete listing of the U.S. News & World Report rankings of America’s Best Colleges, visit http://www.usnews.com.