UVA Re-enters the Nation’s Top 25 in Fresh U.S. News Rankings

September 13, 2021
Side of the Rotunda seen through trees

Photo by Sanjay Suchak, University Communications

The University of Virginia remains the fourth-best public university in the United States for the third year in a row in the 2022 rankings by U.S. News and World Report.

The school also continued its move up in the overall rankings from 26 to 25, tied with Carnegie Mellon University, continuing an upward trend; last year, UVA moved up two spots.

U.S. News ranked UVA the third-best-value public national university and 31st overall, moving up one spot in that category.

In the last two years, UVA has moved up three spots in the overall rankings to 25, tied with Carnegie Mellon.

The University continues to be among the best schools in the nation for veterans, moving up one spot to ninth overall and No. 4 among public universities. In a fresh move to support veterans, UVA formally opened a new Student Veterans Center in Newcomb Hall on Thursday.

U.S. News and World Report’s Best Colleges report also issued new sub-rankings for 2022, and found UVA has the No. 10 public undergraduate nursing program in the country.

U.S News also ranked UVA’s undergraduate business program fifth in the nation, a ranking that is unchanged from last year.

Thanks, It's vintage, Shop
Thanks, It's vintage, Shop

U.S News uses six primary factors to determine a school’s overall rank. One, “outcomes,” includes things like graduation and retention rates and how well schools graduate students who received federal Pell Grants. This factor receives the most weight in the ranking. Another factor, “faculty resources,” assesses a school’s commitment to instruction by looking at things such as class size and faculty salary.

UVA is ranked the 4th best public university for veterans.

UVA’s average first-year student retention rate is 97%. Its predicted six-year graduation rate is 95%. The rankings also show that UVA graduates 90% of its recipients of Pell Grants, who typically come from households with family incomes of less than $50,000 annually.

For this ranking cycle, UVA’s composite score, incorporating all six factors, improved from 79 to 80.

The information presented in the 2022 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings and directory was collected during the spring and early summer using the U.S. News annual statistical survey of colleges, which was conducted online.

Readers can get a better feel for this year’s incoming class by reading the class profile, “Driven to Serve: UVA’s Class of 2025 Brings a Love of Giving, Compassion to Grounds.”

Media Contacts

Jane Kelly

University News Senior Associate Office of University Communications

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