U.S. News & World Report Releases 2024 College Rankings

The University of Denver is ranked among the top colleges in the country by U.S. News & World Report. Today, the publication released its 2024 list of the nation’s Best Colleges, with DU ranking 124th on the National Universities list.

U.S. News & World Report evaluated 439 National Universities on as many as 19 measures. The publication surveyed schools in the spring and summer of 2023. The 2024 rankings are a snapshot of data collected from the recent past, 2018 through 2022.

The University of Denver received an overall score of 61, which is one point higher than last year. The University once again received a peer assessment score of 3.1. This is a measure of how the school is regarded by top administrators at other institutions from across the country. DU ranks 90th in financial resources, which examines the spending that is associated directly with academics. DU also ranks 73rd in faculty resources, which includes the percent of faculty who are full-time, faculty salaries, the student-to-faculty ratio and faculty research.

This year, U.S. News made significant changes to the formula used for the rankings by eliminating several factors, modifying the emphasis placed on others, and adding several new criteria. The modified ranking model places less emphasis on resources going into the student and faculty educational process and instead places a larger emphasis on output measures, which look at the results of the educational process. The changes made in the 2024 rankings tend to benefit larger state schools or those with significant endowments because of the addition of first-generation student graduation rates and the weights for social mobility and the elimination of class size and percentage of faculty with a terminal degree.

The University of Denver ranks 38th in the category of Most Innovative Schools. This ranking is based on the peer assessment survey of other college presidents, provosts and admissions deans who were asked to nominate up to 15 colleges or universities who were making the most innovative improvements around curriculum, faculty, students, campus life, technology or facilities. DU also ranks 72nd for Best Value Schools. This category is based on four ranking indicators: Academic quality relative to the average discount price after receiving need-based grants; percentage of undergraduate students receiving need-based scholarships or grants; undergraduates who received need-based aid; and the average discount from a school’s total price for undergraduate students.

New this year, U.S. News provided a ranking for the Best Undergraduate Psychology Programs. The University of Denver’s Department of Psychology ranks 80th in the country. This ranking is based solely on the judgments of department chairs and senior faculty members at psychology departments who participated in the peer assessment survey. The Daniels College of Business ranks 103rd for Best Undergraduate Business Program. This ranking is based on survey results by deans and senior faculty members at each of the 523 undergraduate business programs accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.

To view the complete rankings by U.S. News & World Report, please click here.