U.S. News and World Report has tallied up the data on nearly 1,800 colleges and universities around the country and issued its 2015 Best College Rankings. While there's little movement at the top, schools in the Sunshine State are seeing some changes.
USF climbed from a tie for 170th last year to a tie with five other schools for 161st in the overall National Universities ranking. Those other schools include Louisville, Rhode Island, Wyoming and Biola University in La Mirada, California.
USF is the fourth highest ranked university in Florida, trailing the University of Florida and University of Miami (tied for 48th) and Florida State (tied for 95th). The University of Central Florida, which was tied with USF last year, fell to 173rd this year.
Ivy League schools again dominate the top of the list with Princeton, Harvard and Yale again taking the top three spots, with Columbia, Stanford and the University of Chicago tied at fourth. MIT, Penn and the California Institute of Technology round out the top 10. The same schools made up last year's top 10, with Dartmouth, which was tied for 10th last year, falling to 11th this year.
In addition, USF moved up nine spots to 88th among the top public schools in the nation and came in 51st in the Best Universities for Veterans category. USF's performance in other categories can be seen here.
As a smaller school, USF St. Petersburg was ranked among "Regional Universities," coming in tied at 92nd among Southern Universities, down from 80th last year. Rollins College in Winter Park placed second on that list, trailing only Elon (NC) University. Stetson (tied for 6th) and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical(10th) also placed in the top ten, while the University of Tampa came in at 24th.
According to U.S. News and World Report, "eligible schools are ranked on up to 16 measures of academic excellence, including graduation rates, selectivity and freshmen retention, to help families compare schools, narrow their searches and make informed decisions."
