Yale University named top college in US

Memphis colleges and universities grabbed several spots on the 2016 U.S. News and World Report rankings, released at midnight Wednesday, for the best schools in various categories across the country.

“We take great pride in being nationally recognized as one of the best universities in Florida and for being recognized as delivering an exceptional education at an exceptional value”, said UNF President John Delaney.

The U.S. News & World Report rankings were based on seven categories ranked in importance. Nazareth College also made the guide’s list for A+ Schools for B Students, where top quality institutions look for more than just grades on applications, and 2016 Best Colleges for Veterans where Nazareth is ranked 23rd in the regional universities-North category.

Vanderbilt was also on the list of economically diverse schools, with U.S. News & World Report noting that 14 percent of its undergraduates received Pell grants. They selected Vanderbilt No. 14, tied with California Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern, the University of California-Berkeley, the University of Chicago and Notre Dame. University of Pennsylvania finished first a year ago. The most heavily weighted factors are reputation among academic leaders, student retention and faculty resources.

In May, the School of Law was tied for eighth, the School of Nursing was tied for sixth and the School of Medicine was tied for eighth among their respective peers.

College Factual ranked 1,394 colleges and used a number of outcome-based factors to determine the ranking, which includes both research universities and liberal arts colleges. The College Factual rankings rely on a set of statistics such as number of full-time teachers and freshman retention rates rather than industry opinions.

North Carolina’s Duke University came in third.