U.S. News ranks U. of C., NU in top 10, UIUC 47th
UIC makes leap to tie Loyola; Lake Forest College among leaders for social mobility
The University of Chicago remained firmly among the top 10 colleges in the nation in the latest rankings released by U.S. News & World Report. (Facebook/University of Chicago)
By Ted Cox
The University of Chicago and Northwestern returned to the top 10, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign remained in the top 50 in the latest 2021 U.S. News & World Report college rankings released Monday.
But beyond the top 100 nationally there was considerable movement among Illinois colleges, with the University of Illinois at Chicago leaping 20 spots to tie its city rival Loyola University at 112. And Lake Forest College placed among the top three liberal-arts schools nationally for social mobility.
The U. of C. remained tied for sixth nationally, while Northwestern tied for ninth after placing ninth all alone in last year’s rankings. UIUC moved up a notch to tie for 47th, splitting the difference between its 48th ranking last year and placing 46th two years ago. It was as high as 44th in the 2016 rankings, before former Gov. Rauner’s two-year budget impasse wreaked havoc with the state’s public universities.
Coronavirus or not, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign remained in the top 50 nationally and ranked 15th among public universities. (Twitter/Illini Housing)
UIC led their comeback this year, leaping from 132nd last year to tie Loyola at 112. In something of a curiosity among Chicago colleges, DePaul also tied the Illinois Institute of Technology at 124. But Loyola and IIT both made the top 100 just two years ago. Illinois State dropped out of the top 200 to 206, and Southern Illinois University Carbondale dropped slightly to 258th.
Just last week, the University of Illinois System set a record for enrollment, rising above 90,000 for the first time, with UIUC registering more than 50,000 for the second straight year, while UIC enjoyed its sixth straight fall with record enrollment at 33,518.
Among top state liberal-arts schools, Wheaton College returned to 61st nationally after placing 58th last year, and Knox College in Galesburg dropped back to 72nd after placing in the 60s the last two years. Illinois Wesleyan held steady at 80, but Lake Forest rose to 84th. Principia in Elsah and Augustana in Rock Island both retained spots in the top 100 liberal-arts schools at 93 and 96.
Lake Forest, though, distinguished itself in social mobility, based largely on the acceptance of low-income students on Pell Grants and the school’s performance in graduating them. Among liberal-arts schools nationally, it placed second behind only the College of Idaho. According to U.S. News: “Not only are these schools succeeding at enrolling and graduating low-income students, but they are doing so with larger proportions of low-income students than most of their peers.” UIC made the top 10 among national universities.
While rising a notch overall, UIUC dropped a spot to tie for 15th among top public universities. UIC jumped there too, rising to 52nd after placing 60th a year ago. ISU dropped out of the top 100 in that category to tie for 105th.
Private-school tuition or not, Northwestern and Chicago remained in the top 20 for what U.S. News considers “best value,” at 15 and 19. IIT placed 39th in that category.
UIUC placed in a six-way tie for fifth among top engineering schools, and also tied for fifth among top undergraduate computer-science programs, a new category added this year in which Northwestern and Chicago tied for 25th.
Nationally overall, Princeton retained the top spot, followed by Harvard, Columbia, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Yale. Stanford tied Chicago for sixth, followed by Penn, with the California Institute of Technology and Johns Hopkins tying NU for ninth.