11 Virginia Public Colleges Ranked Among Best In The U.S.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA — In a state with renowned higher education institutions, it can be a challenge to sort through the college options best for your student. That's where rankings from various publication can help, giving you an idea of the strengths universities have and their costs.

The University of Virginia in Charlottesville is the best public college in the Commonwealth, according to new national rankings published by Business First. Business First released its 2019 rankings Monday after analyzing data for more than 500 public colleges across the country.

Here are the colleges and overall rankings for the schools in Virginia:

• University of Virginia, No. 3
• College of William and Mary, No. 8
• Virginia Tech, No. 32
• Virginia Military Institute, No. 38
• George Mason University, No. 55
• James Madison University, No. 60
• University of Mary Washington, No. 106
• Christopher Newport University, No. 116
• Virginia Commonwealth University, No. 147
• Radford University, No. 174
• Old Dominion University, No. 213

The best public university in America is the University of Michigan, according to the rankings. The university has earned the top spot in four of the last five annual rankings released by Business First. The authors praised Michigan for its selectivity in admissions — just 26.5 percent of applicants are accepted — high retention and graduation rates, and strong surrounding job market.

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Here are the 10 best public colleges:

1. University of Michigan
2. University of North Carolina
3. University of Virginia
4. University of California-Berkeley
5. University of California-Los Angeles
6. University of Washington
7. University of Texas
8. College of William and Mary (Virginia)
9. University of Illinois
10. University of Florida

All five of the top ranked colleges are extremely selective, the authors noted. Each has an admission rate below 28 percent and retention rates above 96 percent. Moreover, they all have four-year graduation rates higher than 74 percent.

The top 250 schools are ranked numerically while the lower echelon of schools are listed alphabetically. Every college had to meet certain criteria to be ranked. Among the eligibility requirements: They had to have at least 1,000 enrollees and more than half the degrees they granted in the last academic year had to be a bachelor's degree or higher. Military academies were excluded and they had to be classified as baccalaureate, master's or research institutions by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Business First then rated qualified universities based on 22 metrics across eight categories: selectivity, advancement, prospects, resources, costs, diversity, community and past. Some of the metrics include admission rate and test scores, retention and graduation rates, and future earnings.

Click here to see the complete methodology.

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.