Emerson Rises to #6 in U.S. News Rankings

Emerson continues its steady climb up the U.S. News & World Report rankings for the seventh straight year, coming in tied at #6 on the 2019 Best Regional Universities in the North list.

Last year, for the 2018 rankings, Emerson came in seventh; the College came in eighth in 2016 for the 2017 list. Seven years ago, Emerson was ranked #14. Emerson shares the #6 spot this year with the University of Scranton.

“We are proud to once again be included among the top 10 in the U.S. News & World Report’s regional rankings,” President Lee Pelton said. “It’s gratifying to be recognized for our hard work to make Emerson a global leader in arts and communication and liberal arts education.”

2019 Best Northern Regional Universities

U.S. News weights a variety of criteria in calculating the rankings: outcomes, including graduation and retention rates, social mobility, etc. (35 percent), faculty resources (20 percent), assessments of academic excellence by leadership at peer institutions (20 percent), financial resources (10 percent), student excellence (10 percent), and alumni giving (5 percent). The majority of data used in the evaluations is reported directly by the institutions.

Emerson also landed in the top 10 of U.S. News’ Most Innovative list (Regional Universities North), a web-exclusive feature created by asking presidents, provosts, and deans at peer schools to nominate up to 15 colleges or universities in their category that are “making the most innovative improvements in terms of curriculum, faculty, students, campus life, technology, or facilities.”

Emerson is ranked #10 on the Most Innovative list. The information for the list is derived from the peer leadership questionnaires used in the overall rankings, but not all institutions ranked highly on both lists.

The College also was included on U.S. News’ list of colleges and universities with the most international undergraduate students enrolled. Nine percent of Emerson’s undergrads come from outside the U.S. Only 11 schools the Regional Universities North category have a higher percentage.

“In a global culture, befriending and learning to collaborate with students from other countries can be rewarding personally and professionally,” U.S. News writes in its introduction to the list.

Emerson has landed at the top of a number of rankings over the past year.

Last month, The Hollywood Reporter put Emerson in the top 10 of its list of “The Top 25 American Film Schools”. The publication has ranked the College at #9 or #10 for the past several years.

In its write-up of Emerson, The Hollywood Reporter cites students’ ability to spend a month at FAMU in Prague or a semester at Emerson Los Angeles, and asked alumnus Henry Winkler ’68 about his alma mater.

“Emerson can stand on its own against any large university,” said the Emmy nominee.

The Princeton Review, in its 2019 rankings, moved Emerson up a spot from last year in Best College Radio Station (#3 to #2), and pulled the College up to #11 from #16 for Best College Theater. And after placing third in 2018, Emerson is now ranked the #1 most LGBTQ-Friendly college in the U.S. Princeton Review’s rankings are based on student survey responses.

In addition, ranking and college search company College Factual currently ranks Emerson #1 in the nation for Journalism; #4 for Radio, Television, and Digital Communications; #7 for Film, Video, and Photographic Arts; #8 for Communication and Media Studies; and #15 for Marketing.

Note: This article has been edited to reflect the 2019 College Factual rankings.