Biola University has again been named one of America’s best colleges, earning a spot in the top tier of the “best national universities” category of U.S. News and World Report’s Best Colleges 2020 rankings, released Sept. 9.
“It’s encouraging to receive this affirmation and ranking as a top tier national university, a reflection of the hard work of our faculty and staff to cultivate excellence within a thriving campus community,” said Biola University President Barry H. Corey. “In particular, these rankings affirm our focus on great teaching, educational value, career outcomes and improving our service to our students of many backgrounds, such as our veterans.”
The U.S. News rankings are considered the most notable of the annual published college rankings. For 30 years, Biola has been included on U.S. News’ list of national universities, which consists of 399 institutions that “offer a wide range of undergraduate majors as well as master’s and doctoral degrees,” according to U.S. News. This year, Biola is ranked at No. 185 overall, and is one of nine members from the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) to be ranked in the first tier. Biola is the top ranked CCCU member school in the National Universities category.
The annual guide spotlights Biola on a record seven special recognition categories in the 2020 rankings. Notably, Biola is included for the first time on the 2020 Best Colleges for Veterans list. Biola was included on the list partially for the number of Yellow Ribbon School services and veterans enrolled in those services. This is fitting as this fall the university is opening a Veterans Center for Biola student veterans on Sept. 16, 2019.
Biola was named to US News’ First-Year Experiences list this year due to Biola’s efforts in making freshmen feel connected to campus. Biola incorporates a First Year Seminar class for freshmen in their first year to help students acclimate well to college life and studies.
For Biola’s strong commitment to undergraduate teaching, Biola made the 2020 Best Undergraduate Teaching list. In addition, Biola was included on the brand new list, 2020 Top Performers on Social Mobility for the university’s strong outcomes for Pell Grant recipient students. Ranked at #88 out of 183 national universities, Biola is recognized on the 2020 Best Value Schools list for Biola’s strong quality to price ratio, discount rate and high academic quality alongside its net price.
To calculate the rankings, U.S. News uses quantitative data that assesses universities’ performance in everything from graduation and retention rates to faculty resources, measuring up to 15 indicators of academic performance. This quantitative data results in 80 percent of the overall score; the remaining 20 percent is based on undergraduate academic reputation surveys.
The annual guide also spotlights Biola as one of the nation’s “A+ schools for B students.” The list includes universities that are deemed as top colleges that seek a broad and engaged student body, admitting students who are well-rounded and have a sense of purpose, and not immediately disqualifying a student from admission who may have less than a 4.0 GPA average.
The U.S. News rankings are the latest in a series of national recognitions for the university. In August, Princeton Review ranked Biola as a 2020 Best Regional College in the Best in the West category. Princeton Review highlights 656 colleges across five regional zones that are considered academically outstanding and worth students’ consideration during a college search. Money Magazine also ranked Biola as one of 744 Best Colleges For Your Money in August. In addition, Biola was named to Kiplinger’s Best College Values list.
In August, Forbes recognized Biola as one of “America’s Top Colleges.” Forbes’ list includes 650 schools, which represent the top 15 percent of all undergraduate institutions.
U.S. News’ Best Colleges 2020 guidebook will be in stores on Oct. 15 and is available for pre-order online.
Learn more about Biola’s academic programs across nine schools.
Written by Jenna Loumagne, assistant director of media relations and strategic communications. For more information, contact Jenna at (562) 777-4061 or jenna.loumagne@biola.edu.
News Release Source: Biola University