Boston College ranked 31st among best national universities
Boston College placed 31st in U.S. News & World Report’s 2027 survey of national universities, a five-point improvement over last year’s ranking. BC shared the placement in a three-way tie with Tufts and New York universities.
In addition, the University placed 24th out of 190 private universities in the new Top Private Colleges category, the first time that U.S. News has separately ranked public and private institutions. It also placed 12th nationally in the new “Earnings by Major” metric, reflecting the value of a BC degree.
Boston College also continued to perform well in several specialty rankings, including “Commitment to Undergraduate Teaching” (sixth), which reflects BC’s national reputation for teaching excellence, “First Year Experience” and “Service Learning” (seventh), “Best Learning Communities” (16th), “Best Senior Capstone Program” (17th), and “Best Study Abroad Program” (19th).
In addition, the University was ranked 56th in the “Best Value” listing, reflecting its commitment to meeting the full demonstrated need of all domestic undergraduate students.
David Quigley, Robert L. and Judith T. Winston Provost and Dean of Faculties, said BC’s performance in the rankings reflects the high esteem in which it is held on the national stage.
“This year's national university ranking offers encouraging evidence of the growing recognition of Boston College among our peers in higher education,” said Quigley. “In particular, I'm heartened by our colleagues' assessment of our faculty's increasingly excellent work in teaching and research.”
While improving in the overall national university ranking for the third straight year, BC continues to be negatively affected by the 2019 change in U.S. News’ methodology that rewards public universities with a high volume of Pell Grant-eligible students. Prior to the change, BC was ranked 30th or 31st among national universities each year between 2011 and 2018.
Among BC undergraduate schools and colleges this year, the Connell School of Nursing was ranked 12th out of 671 nursing schools in the “Best Undergraduate Nursing Programs” survey.
The Carroll School of Management improved to 24th among 535 schools in the “Best Undergraduate Business Programs,” and placed seventh overall in Finance, eighth in Analytics, ninth in Marketing, 10th in Management, 11th in Accounting, and 14th in Entrepreneurship.
Among Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences academic programs, BC was ranked 37th in the “Best Undergraduate Psychology” survey, 43rd in “Best Undergraduate Economics,” and 88th in “Best Undergraduate Computer Science.”
Overall, Massachusetts Institute of Technology ranked first this year in the U.S. News rankings, ousting Princeton University, which had occupied the top slot since 2012. Princeton was ranked second, followed by Harvard and Yale. California Institute of Technology and Stanford were tied for fifth.
Among Massachusetts schools, the top-ranked national universities following MIT, Harvard, BC, and Tufts, were Boston University, which moved up in an eight-way tie for 34th, Northeastern University, which placed 42nd, and University of Massachusetts-Amherst and Brandeis University, which tied at 59th.
The U.S. News rankings of all colleges and universities can be accessed at the .