How Akron, Kent and other Ohio colleges fare on U.S. News & World's Best Colleges 2025 list

It's that time of year again when millions of high school students across the country sift through various college options to find the one that's best for them. To help these future college students and their families, U.S. News and World Report released its annual college rankings on Tuesday.

Not only bachelor's degree programs are evaluated; the rankings also include master's programs and online degree programs, as well as K-12 schools and universities around the world.

Schools are also rated in several categories, including “best first-year experiences,” “learning communities,” “schools for veterans,” and “most innovative.”

Notable rankings in this year's edition include Princeton University as the best university in the country and Spelman College as the best historically black college/university.

Ohio State was the top-ranked school in Ohio in the national university rankings at 41st, closely followed by Case Western at 51st. Denison University was the top-ranked school in Ohio in the national liberal arts college rankings at 36th, with Kenyon College a few spots behind at 45th.

Here's an overview of the rankings of various schools in Northeast Ohio, which are the top five colleges in the country, and how US News determined their rankings.

What is the rank of the University of Akron?

• No. 377 at national universities

• No. 200 in top public schools

• No. 156 in the best bachelor's degree programs in engineering

• No. 130 in nursing

• No. 417 in top performers in social mobility

What is the rank of Kent State University?

• No. 231 at national universities

• No. 126 in top public schools

• No. 62 in the best bachelor's degree programs in engineering

• No. 96 in nursing

• No. 214 in Economics

• No. 274 in top performers in social mobility

How do other schools in Northeast Ohio rank?

• Case Western Reserve University Ranks No. 51 at national universities, No. 43 in the best bachelor’s degree programs in engineering, No. 9 in nursing and No. 102 in Economics

• Cleveland State University Ranks No. 342 at national universities, No. 183 in top public schools and No. 180 in the best bachelor's degree programs in engineering

• John Carroll University Ranks No. 3 at regional universities in the Midwest, No. 23 in Best Value Schools and No. 3 in Best Undergraduate Teaching

• Baldwin Wallace University Ranks No. 10 at regional universities in the Midwest, No. 20 in Best Value Schools and No. 2 in the best colleges for veterans

How do other public universities in Ohio perform?

• Ohio State is among the top 50 national universities and is ranked No. 41. OSU also ranks No. 15 in the best public schools, No. 20 in the best Bachelor engineering programs and No. 4 in nursing.

• Miami University-Oxford Ranks No. 136 at national universities, No. 69 at public universities and No. 10 in Best Undergraduate Teaching.

• University of Cincinnati Ranks No. 152 at national universities, No. 81 in top public schools and No. 5 in cooperations/internships.

• Ohio University Is No. 179 at national universities, No. 97 in top public schools and No. 97 in Best Value Schools.

• Bowling Green State University Is No. 273 at national universities, No. 94 in the best Bachelor engineering programs and No. 152 in the best public schools.

• University of Toledo Ranks No. 296 at national universities, No. 161 in top public schools and No. 254 in nursing.

The five best national universities

• No. 1 – Princeton University

• No. 2 – Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• No. 3 – Harvard University

• No. 4 – Stanford University

• No. 5 – Yale University

What methodology is behind these rankings?

U.S. News and Report evaluated nearly 1,500 academic institutions for this year's rankings and collected data from over 1,800 institutions that are used for both the rankings and the university profiles.

More than 15 factors were used to create the various university rankings, including:

Two evaluation factors have been removed from this year's rankings of the best national universities and HBCUs: first-generation graduation rate and first-generation graduation rate performance.

To be considered for this ranking, schools had to meet a number of criteria:

• You must be located in the United States

• Have regional accreditation

• Be designated in the Carnegie Basic Classification as an institution of higher education that awards bachelor’s degrees, but not as a “highly specialized” institution of higher education

• Enroll at least 100 students

• Data on financial expenditures are available in the U.S. Department of Education's Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) data center.

• Have a six-year bachelor's degree completion rate of full-time first-year bachelor's students

• Active acceptance of new applications for first-year students

Some schools that were not eligible still received profiles on the US News website.

Reporter Anthony Thompson can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @athompsonABJ

This article originally appeared in the Akron Beacon Journal: Where U.S. News ranks Akron, Kent State and other Ohio schools in 2025