NYU Drops in US News and World Report's 2017 College Rankings

GREENWICH VILLAGE, NY — New York University took a slight tumble in the annual U.S. News and World Report National rankings released Tuesday.

NYU, which ranked No. 32 on the 2016 list, fell four spots to No. 36 in the new 2017 rankings released today.

It was a rough year for New York City schools in general — six made the list and all of them dropped in the rankings.

Columbia took top honors in the city, finishing tied for fifth overall, but dropping one spot from last year after being leapt over by University of Chicago. Yeshiva University was ranked at No. 66, falling from No. 52 last year. The New School, which ranked No. 127 last year, dropped two spots to 129. St. John's University fell from No. 153 to 164, and Pace University came in at No. 188 after finishing No. 180 in 2016.

Here are the top 10 schools in the country:

1. Princeton University
2. Harvard University
3. University of Chicago
4. Yale University
5. Columbia University
5. Stanford University
7. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
8. Duke University
8. University of Pennsylvania
10. Johns Hopkins University

A total of 21 New York state schools made the list, with Columbia, Cornell University, University of Rochester, NYU and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute taking the top 5 spots.

U.S. News will release its full methodology Wednesday. But U.S. News Chief Data Strategist Robert Morse told Patch that the publication considers objective factors such as graduation and retention rates.

“College is expensive,” Morse told Patch in an email. “In addition to considering factors like location, cost, course offerings and activities, families should pay close attention to graduation and retention rates.

“These are important indicators of how well a school supports its students academically and financially. The Best Colleges rankings measure academic excellence, and we believe that students and their families should strongly consider academic quality when choosing a college.”

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