Emerson Continues Climb Up U.S. News List for 2018

Emerson College has once again risen in the rankings of U.S. News & World Report’s annual Best Regional Universities in the North, climbing to #7 from #8 over last year, and continuing a steady upward trajectory that began six years ago, when the College was ranked #14.

In releasing its 2018 rankings on September 12, U.S. News cited Emerson’s 88 percent retention rate; low average class size, with 67 percent of classes having 20 students or fewer; and the fact that 70 percent of the first-year class were in the top 25 percent of their high school classes.

“Emerson is proud to appear on the U.S. News & World Report top 10 rankings list again this year,” President Lee Pelton said. “We are pleased that our continued work toward becoming the world leader in higher education in communication and the arts has been recognized.”

In evaluating the various factors that go into their rankings, U.S. News gives two criteria the most weight: graduation and retention rates, and assessments of academic excellence by presidents, provosts, and deans of admissions at peer institutions. Each of those categories make 22.5 percent of the rankings. Other criteria include faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, graduation rate performance and alumni giving.

Emerson has risen to the top of a number of lists, according to various publications and websites.

In recent weeks, College Factual, a company that ranks various programs and facets of colleges and universities, said Emerson had the third-best communications and media studies program in the nation, the fifth-best marketing program, and, once again, named Emerson’s journalism program the best in the nation. The College's Visual and Media Arts program ranked third in the nation in that category, according to College Factual. 

The new rankings follow last month’s release of the Hollywood Reporter’s List of Top 25 American Film Schools, which put Emerson’s Visual and Media Arts program at #9, up from its #10 spot the previous two years.

This summer, the Princeton Review, which bases its rankings entirely on student responses to a survey administered by the company, said Emerson had the #3 Best College Radio Station and LGBTQ-Friendly Campus. Last year, Emerson ranked seventh on both lists. And the College debuted at #4 this year on the Best Career Services list and came in at #16 for Best College Theater in the country.