TCNJ News
For Immediate Release
August 22, 2008
TCNJ tops U.S. News List of Best Colleges for 17th consecutive year; receives new rank as a top Up-and-Coming School
EWING, NJ…The College of New Jersey once again is the top public college in U.S. News and World Report's list of Best Universities-Master's category for the northern region of the country. For the 2009 edition, the College is ranked as the number one public school and sixth overall in the standings among both public and private institutions in the Best Universities-Master's category for the north.
New in this year’s rankings is the listing of Up-and-Coming Schools, on which TCNJ has also secured a place. While the College has been ranked as the best public college in its region since 1993, this new list shows 70 schools that, according to their peer assessments, have recently made striking improvements or innovations. TCNJ is the only New Jersey school – public or private – to make this inaugural list.
TCNJ President R. Barbara Gitenstein said, “The College of New Jersey has maintained a consistent place at the top of the U.S. News rankings for many years, but TCNJ’s inclusion on the new, Up and Coming list is indicative of our refusal to be satisfied with the status quo. By developing innovative programs that enhance undergraduate research, community engagement, and depth of learning, we are continuously improving the experience provided to our students.”
According to U.S. News, the 572 schools that make up the universities-master's category offer a full range of undergraduate degree programs and some master's degree programs, but few, if any, doctoral programs. TCNJ has the highest average freshman retention rate, 95 percent, of the 572 institutions in the master’s category and the third highest graduation rate, 83 percent, among schools in the northern region. The College also has the highest percentage (87 percent) in the region of incoming freshmen who ranked in the top 25 percent of their high school class.
U.S. News categorizes SAT scores based on the percent of students scoring in the middle 50th percentile, where TCNJ is second to Villanova University within the region.
The College has ranked as the best public college in its region in the U.S. News survey since 1993.
The rankings, which were posted on usnews.com on Friday, August 22 at 12:01 am, use seven indicators to capture academic quality. The most heavily weighted indicators are assessment of a school's academic quality by administrators at peer institutions and retention rate. A complete list of the 2009 rankings as well as the methodology can be found on the U.S. News and World Report Web site at www.usnews.com.
About The College of New Jersey
TCNJ currently is ranked as one of the 75 "Most Competitive" schools in the nation by Barron's Profiles of American Colleges, is rated the No. 1 public institution in the northern region of the country by U.S. News & World Report, and is one of Kiplinger's Personal Finance's top educational values in the country. In 2006, the College joined an elite group of institutions when it was awarded a Phi Beta Kappa chapter. Fewer than 10 percent of the nation's colleges and universities share this honor.
