Villanova University climbed 15 spots to No. 42 in the 2027 U.S. News & World Report national university rankings, its highest placement in at least a decade.
The rankings, released Tuesday, Sept. 22, placed Villanova tied with Northeastern University. The university jumped from No. 57 last year under a revamped methodology that swapped graduate-debt data for a new metric tracking graduates' earnings by major.
"We're happy to see the recognition," Provost Patrick G. Maggitti told The Villanovan. "Especially [since] there's over 3,000 colleges and universities in the country and to be anywhere near the top 100, let alone the top 50, is a pretty nice thing to do."
Villanova also ranked 28th for lowest acceptance rates and reported a 9:1 student-faculty ratio, according to Patch. The university placed No. 29 among top private schools and No. 63 on the Best Value Schools list.
Several Villanova programs earned their own rankings. The School of Business placed No. 14 in real estate and No. 29 in international business. The M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing ranked No. 27 among nursing schools.
What changed in the formula
U.S. News evaluated more than 1,700 schools using up to 17 measures of academic quality and graduate success. The formula changed significantly. Student outcomes accounted for 52 percent of the score, including graduation rates, performance against predicted graduation rates and post-college earnings.
The biggest change involved a new metric comparing graduates' four-year earnings within their specific fields of study, using U.S. Department of Education data. It replaced graduate indebtedness, which U.S. News dropped because of outdated debt figures. Peer assessment and student outcomes together carried more than 70 percent of the overall weight, according to U.S. News's published methodology.
About one-fifth of evaluated institutions also moved into different categories under an updated Carnegie Foundation classification system. U.S. News cautioned that a school's shift between lists may reflect its new category, not a change in academic quality.
How other Pennsylvania schools fared
The University of Pennsylvania led the state at No. 7. Carnegie Mellon University ranked 14th, Lehigh University 44th, Penn State University 55th, the University of Pittsburgh 59th and Drexel University 80th.
Maggitti cautioned against reading too much into any single ranking, noting that U.S. News has repeatedly changed what it measures. He pointed to the publication's earlier decision to drop class-size data, a metric Villanova valued whether or not it counted toward the score.
