Hunter
09/18/23
While still in the top 100 among the 2024 Best Colleges study by US News & World Report, the University of Iowa received their lowest ranking in at least a decade.
The latest report ranks Iowa at 93rd, a drop of five positions from last year. Among the subset of solely public universities, the U of I dropped from 35th to 47th.
In specific categories, the university ranked fourth in undergraduate nursing programs and 5th in writing disciplines.
This year’s study reportedly made significant changes to the metrics and methodology used to rank the schools. The Gazette reports among its biggest methodology changes this year is U.S. News’ heightened emphasis on graduation rates and social mobility — a metric that assesses how well schools serve economically disadvantaged students by calculating graduation rates of Pell-awarded and first-generation students.
Some of the factors that are no longer included in calculating the rankings are class size, alumni giving and the percentage of graduates who took out federal loans to complete their education.