USNews 2027 Rankings Dropped

[bigmatt718]

Rutgers dropped 2 spots nationally to #44 but are tied for #14th nationally amongst publics with OSU and UC-Santa Barbara and are still #1 public in the Northeast just ahead of Maryland. Tied for 7th in the B1G behind NW, UCLA, Michigan, USC, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Our peers are mostly B1G schools as we are basically in the same group as Illinois, Wisconsin, OSU, Maryland, Purdue, Washington, and PSU.

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/search?_sort=rank&_sortDirection=asc

 

[mdk02]

What I found interesting is ..that Rutgers (and NJIT as well) had OOS tuition a little lower than the average for similar schools and in state tuition is higher.

Rutgers dropped 2 spots nationally to #44 but are tied for #14th nationally amongst publics with OSU and UC-Santa Barbara and are still #1 public in the Northeast just ahead of Maryland. Tied for 7th in the B1G behind NW, UCLA, Michigan, USC, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Our peers are mostly B1G schools as we are basically in the same group as Illinois, Wisconsin, OSU, Maryland, Purdue, Washington, and PSU.

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/search?_sort=rank&_sortDirection=asc

 

[Fat Koko]

Rutgers dropped 2 spots nationally to #44 but are tied for #14th nationally amongst publics with OSU and UC-Santa Barbara and are still #1 public in the Northeast just ahead of Maryland. Tied for 7th in the B1G behind NW, UCLA, Michigan, USC, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Our peers are mostly B1G schools as we are basically in the same group as Illinois, Wisconsin, OSU, Maryland, Purdue, Washington, and PSU.

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/search?_sort=rank&_sortDirection=asc

Super post. Thank you for sharing. Confirms the positive trend of Rutgers being higher than it had been.

LSU and WVU did not make the top 200, and the Rutgers Board of Governors must fight hard to prevent Keli and Tate - who are hell bent on sports teams - to reduce Rutgers academics to the low levels they achieved at previous schools because of sports winning.

 

[RU_03]

How is Lehigh and Villanova ahead of us (all be it slightly)?

 

[bigmatt718]

How is Lehigh and Villanova ahead of us (all be it slightly)?

We're tied with Lehigh and slightly behind Nova. Annoying as we were ahead of both last year. Guessing new criteria? As long as we're Top Dog amongst publics in the Northeast which we still are, I'm good.

 

[bigmatt718]

The one thing that put a smile on my face was seeing RU-Newark, our 2nd tier satellite, tied with UConn lol. Guess they're losing it academically up there in Storrs.

 

[RUbot]

What I found interesting is ..that Rutgers (and NJIT as well) had OOS tuition a little lower than the average for similar schools and in state tuition is higher.

Supply & Demand ....trending for a while now, more kids trying to leave NJ for college those looking to come here. Little interest in RU from classmates of my kids

 

[bigmatt718]

Supply & Demand ....trending for a while now, more kids trying to leave NJ for college those looking to come here. Little interest in RU from classmates of my kids

Yeah. Might as well try to target kids from Long Island, Westchester County, Philly suburbs in PA, etc.

 

[Leonard23]

We're tied with Lehigh and slightly behind Nova. Annoying as we were ahead of both last year. Guessing new criteria? As long as we're Top Dog amongst publics in the Northeast which we still are, I'm good.

Some methodology changes:

https://www.usnews.com/education/behind-the-numbers/articles/2026-08-25/coming-soon-2027-best-colleges-with-new-earnings-metric

Stevens had a big jump to 59 from 80.

NJ National University Rankings:

• Princeton - #2
• Rutgers -New Brunswick - #44
• Stevens - #59
• Rutgers -Newark - #73
• NJIT - #85
• Rutgers -Camden - #95
• Montclair State - #156
• Seton Hall - #156
• Monmouth - #169
• Rowan - #191
• Kean - #317

 

[RUChet]

Super post. Thank you for sharing. Confirms the positive trend of Rutgers being higher than it had been.

LSU and WVU did not make the top 200, and the Rutgers Board of Governors must fight hard to prevent Keli and Tate - who are hell bent on sports teams - to reduce Rutgers academics to the low levels they achieved at previous schools because of sports winning.

Well I would rather we win games than rise in the academic rankings. Sorry but I just want to win games.

 

[-RUFAN4LIFE-]

Super post. Thank you for sharing. Confirms the positive trend of Rutgers being higher than it had been.

LSU and WVU did not make the top 200, and the Rutgers Board of Governors must fight hard to prevent Keli and Tate - who are hell bent on sports teams - to reduce Rutgers academics to the low levels they achieved at previous schools because of sports winning.

Once a Masshole always a Masshole

 

[bigmatt718]

Well I would rather we win games than rise in the academic rankings. Sorry but I just want to win games.

That cretin cant calculate the fact that it's possible to be both good in sports and not dogshit academically, like Texas or Michigan or Wisconsin.

 

[bigmatt718]

Some methodology changes:

https://www.usnews.com/education/behind-the-numbers/articles/2026-08-25/coming-soon-2027-best-colleges-with-new-earnings-metric

Stevens had a big jump to 59 from 80.

NJ National University Rankings:

• Princeton - #2
• Rutgers -New Brunswick - #44
• Stevens - #59
• Rutgers -Newark - #73
• NJIT - #85
• Rutgers -Camden - #95
• Montclair State - #156
• Seton Hall - #156
• Monmouth - #169
• Rowan - #191
• Kean - #317

SHU tied with Montclair State? Lmaoooo. What a clown college. And Rowan 100% has become the official in state safety school for NJ kids.

 

[Leonard23]

SHU tied with Montclair State? Lmaoooo. What a clown college. And Rowan 100% has become the official in state safety school for NJ kids.

SHU tied with Montclair St and Stockton last year at 159, but Stockton reclassified to Regional while Monmouth reclassified the opposite way.

For NJ Regional Universities North:

TCNJ #5
Stockton #19
Ramapo #25
FDU Florham Park #32
St. Peter's #37
Rider #45
FDU Metro #62
Caldwell #81
William Patterson #89
Saint Elizabeth #98
Felician #116
Berkeley College #141-155
Thomas Edison? unranked

 

[T2Kplus20]

Rutgers dropped 2 spots nationally to #44 but are tied for #14th nationally amongst publics with OSU and UC-Santa Barbara and are still #1 public in the Northeast just ahead of Maryland. Tied for 7th in the B1G behind NW, UCLA, Michigan, USC, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Our peers are mostly B1G schools as we are basically in the same group as Illinois, Wisconsin, OSU, Maryland, Purdue, Washington, and PSU.

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/search?_sort=rank&_sortDirection=asc

These ranking are pretty sketchy, but they matter a great deal.

 

[T2Kplus20]

How is Lehigh and Villanova ahead of us (all be it slightly)?

Honestly, I understand Villanova being slightly ahead of us in general, but not in terms of value (Nova is crazy expensive).

 

[-RUFAN4LIFE-]

Honestly, I understand Villanova being slightly ahead of us in general, but not in terms of value (Nova is crazy expensive).

$90k crazy expensive

 

[RUTGERS95]

Honestly, I understand Villanova being slightly ahead of us in general, but not in terms of value (Nova is crazy expensive).

neither should be close to us. we have almost 50 programs in under and grad in the top 25.

rankings are bs

 

[cRURah]

Retired after 50 years in higher education leadership. Rankings are easily manipulated. Good profit center for the publisher.

 

[Furrari360]

Academic rankings

https://cwur.org/2026.php

 

[RAC93]

Super post. Thank you for sharing. Confirms the positive trend of Rutgers being higher than it had been.

LSU and WVU did not make the top 200, and the Rutgers Board of Governors must fight hard to prevent Keli and Tate - who are hell bent on sports teams - to reduce Rutgers academics to the low levels they achieved at previous schools because of sports winning.

You are a real hoot sometimes!

 

[BLewis1968]

How is Lehigh and Villanova ahead of us (all be it slightly)?

Lehigh isn't. Unless I'm mistaken, there is a five-way tie for 44th.

 

[bigmatt718]

Lehigh isn't. Unless I'm mistaken, there is a five-way tie for 44th.

You are correct. Rutgers-NB is tied with Lehigh this year at #44.

 

[RUnTeX]

You are correct. Rutgers is tied with Lehigh this year at #44.

They'll list schools that are tied in alphabetical order which is why Case Western was shown first among the 5 schools at #44.

Surprised to see W&M drop as far as they have such that they are tied with VPI&SU.

 

[bigmatt718]

They'll list schools that are tied in alphabetical order which is why Case Western was shown first among the 5 schools at #44.

Surprised to see W&M drop as far as they have such that they are tied with VPI&SU.

I think W&M got a bit hurt by their in state price tag. $27K in state is wild, more expensive than UVA which is $24K for a Top 5 public nationally. At that price point VT looks like the smarter move unless W&M is very generous with financial aid that doesnt involve student loans. UGA at 52 lowkey became a very good public school. Pretty much established themselves in that 2nd tier with A&M just below Vandy/Texas/Florida in terms of schools in the SEC that take academics seriously.

 

[bigmatt718]

SHU tied with Montclair St and Stockton last year at 159, but Stockton reclassified to Regional while Monmouth reclassified the opposite way.

For NJ Regional Universities North:

TCNJ #5
Stockton #19
Ramapo #25
FDU Florham Park #32
St. Peter's #37
Rider #45
FDU Metro #62
Caldwell #81
William Patterson #89
Saint Elizabeth #98
Felician #116
Berkeley College #141-155
Thomas Edison? unranked

Rider at #45 regionally is brutally bad in terms of academics with their price tag. Theyre charging top tier prices on the level of top liberal arts schools for a very mediocre degree. No wonder they're constantly in danger of closing.

 

[Leonard23]

"Notably, U.S. News introduced a new Earnings by Major ranking factor. The metric evaluates graduate earnings four years post-graduation based on data from the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard.

According to editors, the new benchmark evaluates the “true value” of a college degree and minimizes the influence of a student’s current family financial advantages.

Overall, the rankings’ “methodology heavily emphasizes student outcomes – which make up more than half of a school’s total score.” Nearly 1,700 institutions were evaluated. "

 

[Knight Shift]

"Notably, U.S. News introduced a new Earnings by Major ranking factor. The metric evaluates graduate earnings four years post-graduation based on data from the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard.

According to editors, the new benchmark evaluates the “true value” of a college degree and minimizes the influence of a student’s current family financial advantages.

Overall, the rankings’ “methodology heavily emphasizes student outcomes – which make up more than half of a school’s total score.” Nearly 1,700 institutions were evaluated. "

From that link:
Rowan very far head of Rutgers. So is Stevens Tech, which sells itself as very good for return on investment. And NJIT-Woo hoo. STEM rules, and so does finance and business. Rutgers NB down there with Monmouth- Woof.

Best Value Schools​

• No. 1: Princeton University
• No. 64: Rowan University
• No. 65: Stevens Institute of Technology
• No. 114: New Jersey Institute of Technology
• No. 116: Rutgers University–Camden
• No. 152: Rutgers University–Newark
• No. 166: Montclair State University
• No. 172: Monmouth University
• No. 182: Rutgers University–New Brunswick

Just noticed a second category, first one is misleading--not sure how Newark and Camden above NJIT, a solid STEM choice if did not get into Rutgers COE or Stevens Tech:

Best Value Schools for In-state Students​

• No. 49: Rutgers University–New Brunswick
• No. 60: Rutgers University–Newark
• No. 76: Rutgers University–Camden
• No. 90: New Jersey Institute of Technology
• No. 98: Montclair State University
• No. 100: Rowan University

 

[mdk02]

Academic rankings

https://cwur.org/2026.php

Just be aware that this places a greater weight on grad programs than the other surveys.

 

[bigmatt718]

"Notably, U.S. News introduced a new Earnings by Major ranking factor. The metric evaluates graduate earnings four years post-graduation based on data from the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard.

According to editors, the new benchmark evaluates the “true value” of a college degree and minimizes the influence of a student’s current family financial advantages.

Overall, the rankings’ “methodology heavily emphasizes student outcomes – which make up more than half of a school’s total score.” Nearly 1,700 institutions were evaluated. "

That may explain why Nova and Wake jumped us from last year.

 

[Caliknight]

Good step to getting rid of bs majors like “women’s studies”.

 

[bigmatt718]

Good step to getting rid of bs majors like “women’s studies”.

Rutgers staying mostly steady in the rankings has to be because they excel in business and the STEM majors aka the majors that result in good paying careers post graduation.

 

[bigmatt718]

From that link:
Rowan very far head of Rutgers. So is Stevens Tech, which sells itself as very good for return on investment. And NJIT-Woo hoo. STEM rules, and so does finance and business. Rutgers NB down there with Monmouth- Woof.

Best Value Schools​

• No. 1: Princeton University
• No. 64: Rowan University
• No. 65: Stevens Institute of Technology
• No. 114: New Jersey Institute of Technology
• No. 116: Rutgers University–Camden
• No. 152: Rutgers University–Newark
• No. 166: Montclair State University
• No. 172: Monmouth University
• No. 182: Rutgers University–New Brunswick

Just noticed a second category, first one is misleading--not sure how Newark and Camden above NJIT, a solid STEM choice if did not get into Rutgers COE or Stevens Tech:

Best Value Schools for In-state Students​

• No. 49: Rutgers University–New Brunswick
• No. 60: Rutgers University–Newark
• No. 76: Rutgers University–Camden
• No. 90: New Jersey Institute of Technology
• No. 98: Montclair State University
• No. 100: Rowan University

Stevens and NJIT getting love in the rankings due to their STEM programs. Not surprising to me at all.

 

[RUChet]

SHU tied with Montclair State? Lmaoooo. What a clown college. And Rowan 100% has become the official in state safety school for NJ kids.

Why would RU ever become bad academically? Not sure what your point is.

even if we went in hard core on sports and focus less on academics, we’d only slip a little.

There are so many examples of great academic schools with way better athletics than us across the board…

all the ones you listed but add UVA, FL, GA, TAM, UNC, Duke, and more and more

 

[RUChet]

Retired after 50 years in higher education leadership. Rankings are easily manipulated. Good profit center for the publisher.

100% this

 

[bigmatt718]

Why would RU ever become bad academically? Not sure what your point is.

even if we went in hard core on sports and focus less on academics, we’d only slip a little.

There are so many examples of great academic schools with way better athletics than us across the board…

all the ones you listed but add UVA, FL, GA, TAM, UNC, Duke, and more and more

I think you quoted the wrong person. It's the numbnuts who thinks we would become a crap college like WVU or Louisville if we go all in on sports. I countered his argument with the schools I did and you subsequently agreed with me that it is possible to be good at both sports and academics. I'm an alum so being Top Dog Publicly in the Northeast is bragging rights to me. As long as we are ahead of UMD, PSU, Pitt, UConn, etc., then I'm good.

 

[RUChet]

I think you quoted the wrong person. It's the numbnuts who thinks we would become a crap college like WVU or Louisville if we go all in on sports. I countered his argument with the schools I did and you subsequently agreed with me that it is possible to be good at both sports and academics. I'm an alum so being Top Dog Publicly in the Northeast is bragging rights to me.

Got it! Agree! You had some typos so I misread it!

 

[Knight Shift]

SHU tied with Montclair State? Lmaoooo. What a clown college. And Rowan 100% has become the official in state safety school for NJ kids.

Why the need to throw shade at schools like SHU, Rider and even Rowan?

Each has their place and solid programs. And not everyone wants a gigantic, bureaucratic mess of a state university that flushes money down the toilet on a terrible football team and coach. There, I said it.

 

[bigmatt718]

Why the need to throw shade at schools like SHU, Rider and even Rowan?

Each has their place and solid programs. And not everyone wants a gigantic, bureaucratic mess of a state university that flushes money down the toilet on a terrible football team and coach. There, I said it.

Honest question. Why are you here? You clearly are no RU fan or at best a self loathing RU alum so go latch onto someone else. I am an alum so having some semblance of pride is far better than being self loathing. As for your first question, SHU and Rider are rival schools of ours in other sports like basketball and wrestling. Rowan I'll concede as they help the South Jersey economy.

 

[RUTGERS95]

Honest question. Why are you here? You clearly are no RU fan or at best a self loathing RU alum so go latch onto someone else. I am an alum so having some semblance of pride is far better than being self loathing. As for your first question, SHU and Rider are rival schools of ours in other sports like basketball and wrestling. Rowan I'll concede as they help the South Jersey economy.

Unfair
Knight is an avid RU fans. Don't agree with his take on rider, shu, etc but he's a great ru supporter

That said, RU in state price is ridiculous