Georgia colleges remain strong on U.S. News rankings

By Laura Diamond

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia's colleges remained strongly represented on the popular and controversial U.S. News and World Report's rankings released Tuesday.

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John Spink, jspink@ajc.com Emory University was the highest ranked Georgia college in U.S. News and World Report's rankings. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gave the keynote address at Emory University’s 165th commencement in May 2010.

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Emory University was the highest ranked Georgia college, coming in at No. 20 among national public and private universities. The college dropped from last year's No. 17, but has been in the top 20 for 18 consecutive years.

Georgia Tech was ranked 7 among public universities and tied with University of California at San Diego. Among national public and private universities it came in at No. 35, the same spot it held last year. Tech was ranked No. 4 among engineering schools where the highest degree granted is a Ph.D.

University of Georgia came in at No. 18 among public colleges, improving from last year's 21. UGA was in a four-way tie with Ohio State University, Purdue University and University of Maryland. Among national public and private universities UGA was in a seven-way tie for No. 56.

Spelman College ranked No. 1 among historically black colleges. This is the college's fourth consecutive year in the top spot. Morehouse College was No. 3.

The magazine used reputation, class size, retention and graduation rates, alumni giving, faculty resources and other factors to determine the list.

Some colleges have criticized the rankings, saying statistics can't measure the quality of an institution. But many high school students and their parents scrutinize the rankings as they decide where to apply.

The magazine added a category this year asking high school guidance counselors their opinions. The counselors ranked Emory and Tech as No. 22 among the top 47 national universities.

The rankings can be viewed at: www.usnews.com/colleges.