TCU came in at number 82 on the U.S. News 2014 list of Best National Universities, moving up 10 spots from the previous year's list. At Convocation Tuesday, Chancellor Boschini said TCU has gone up 15 spots since 2011.
TCU is ranked ahead of six other schools in the Big 12 and only trails the University of Texas at Austin (52) and Baylor University (75).
The University of Oklahoma, the University of Kansas, and Iowa State University were all tied at 101 while Kansas State University (135), Oklahoma State University (142), Texas Tech University (161) and West Virginia University (170) rounded out the Big 12.
Rice (18) and SMU (60) were among the other Texas universities on the list, leaving the Lone Star State with six universities total in the Top 100.
On top of being nationally ranked in the Top 100, four of the university's graduate programs are ranked in the Top 100 of their fields by U.S. News.
The Neeley School of Business is fifth in the Big 12 and ranked 79th nationally. The Harris College of Nursing and Health Sciences is 99th, the School of Nurse-Anesthesia is 55th, and the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders in Speech-Language Pathology is 73rd.
U.S. News also ranked other graduate programs in their individual lists. The Colleges of Education (132) and Fine Arts (187) made the national ranking along with the Departments of English (121), History (125), and Psychology (209).
U.S. News has been ranking universities since 1983, and the changes in the 2014 rankings show that the emphasis on measures of rank has changed.
According to the U.S. News FAQ, “the ranking model has put less emphasis on input measures of quality such as characteristics of the students and faculty, and more emphasis on output measures such as graduation rates.”
The most heavily weighted factor in the 2014 decision was the graduation and retention rates being at a total of thirty percent, according to the website.
TCU has an average freshman retention rate of eighty-seven percent with a fifty-eight percent four-year graduation rate.
This year’s ranking reflects on TCU’s promise and vision through the Academy of Tomorrow, according to TCU News and Events.
The plan says that TCU will continue to do its best at “recruiting students with strong academic profiles, growing the overall student body to a total of 10,000 students, creating a mix of students that is reflective of society at large, and offering excellent residential and learning facilities.”