International Education News

Just in! The 2027 U.S. News Best National Universities rankings have been officially released.

As one of the most influential and credible rankings, the U.S. News Best National Universities ranking has long been a core reference for Chinese students and parents when choosing American universities.

Let's take a look below: which institution broke into the Top 20 in this year's list? Which institution suffered a significant drop? And who is this year's dark horse?

Ranking Indicators

In this year's rankings, U.S. News made three major adjustments:

Replacing Old Indicators with New Ones

U.S. News completely eliminated the "graduate debt" indicator that had been used for many years and introduced a brand-new "earnings by field of study" indicator.

The relevant data comes from the Department of Education's College Scorecard, measuring the salary levels of employed students who received federal financial aid, whose highest degree is a bachelor's, four years after graduation.

On the one hand, this adjustment eliminates the interference of family wealth and connections on income, making it easier to see the actual value added by a school to ordinary students; on the other hand, comparing salaries by field of study prevents a university from earning a high ranking simply because its graduates are concentrated in high-paying fields.

Reclassification of Institution Categories

This was prompted by a major revision of the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education by the American Council on Education, after which U.S. News conducted a comprehensive review of institution classifications.

Approximately 20% of colleges and universities across the nation will switch ranking categories, with the most notable changes in regional ranking categories. Some institutions strong in health, business, and STEM are expected to qualify for ranking for the first time.

For example, San Jose State University was reclassified from a regional university to a national university.

Addition of Multiple Subject-Specific and Value-Based Rankings

In addition to the overall rankings, new rankings include undergraduate economics program rankings and the inaugural "Best Value Schools for In-State Students" ranking, the latter aimed at evaluating public universities from two dimensions: academic quality and affordability for in-state students.

In addition, key indicators in the U.S. News rankings also include: student retention rate, Pell Grant graduation rate, faculty resources (including class size, faculty salaries, and faculty academic achievements, etc.), expert opinions, and more.

Ranking Highlights

TOP10

In this year's rankings, MIT surpassed Princeton University, which had held the No. 1 spot for 15 consecutive years, to claim the No. 1 spot among Best National Universities;

Harvard and Yale maintained the same positions as last year, ranking No. 3 and No. 4 nationally, respectively;

Caltech rose 6 places in this year's rankings, moving up to No. 5 nationally;

Johns Hopkins University, Northwestern University, and the University of Chicago tied for No. 9;

TOP30

Carnegie Mellon University rose 6 places, tying with Cornell University at No. 14 nationally.

UC Berkeley and UCLA both fell in the rankings, dropping into the 20s range;

Georgia Tech successfully broke into the Top 30, becoming a newly promoted top-tier institution in this year's list.

TOP31-50

Among the TOP31-50 rankings, some universities saw significant changes. Those that improved include:

Complete National Universities Rankings

Below is the complete 2027 U.S. News Best National Universities rankings. Institutions highlighted in yellow are partner schools of Pury Education.