Virginia Commonwealth University rose seven places to a tie for 69th place in U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings of the top public universities, released today.
VCU also rose six spots to No. 136 on U.S. News’ 2025 rankings of America’s Best Colleges. This continues a trend from the 2024 report released last fall, in which VCU rose 23 spots from the previous year.
“VCU’s impressive rise in the U.S. News rankings is a testament to the work of dedicated faculty across VCU campuses who are driving the university forward with life-changing research and educational innovation,” said Dr. Fotis Sotiropoulos, vice president and provost for Academic Affairs. “There has never been a better time to be a part of VCU. Our extraordinary focus on excellence, impact and access defines what it means to be an R1 research institution in the 21st century, and our curricular innovations future-proof our students and prepare them to succeed in a changing world of rapidly evolving technology.”
U.S. News’ annual rankings of roughly 1,500 colleges are based on 17 criteria, with graduation rates, graduation performance, and peer ratings taking the most weight, but also including student debt, post-graduation earnings, student-faculty ratios, financial resources per student, faculty salaries, faculty research, and other indicators.
U.S. News also ranked VCU in several other categories and undergraduate programs as part of its Best Colleges for 2025. Most notably, the VCU School of Nursing undergraduate program was ranked 39th in the country.
“This recognition highlights the exceptional abilities of our students and the rigorous education they receive in our program,” said Dr. Patricia Kinzer, interim dean and professor of nursing. “This ranking reflects our program’s commitment to providing high-quality learning and hands-on training, supported by robust resources provided by dedicated faculty, clinical partners, advisors and academic coaches, preparing our graduates to excel and lead in patient care.”
Not all programs are ranked annually. VCU has 23 graduate, online and undergraduate programs that are ranked in the top 50 nationally by U.S. News.
The latest ranking follows several other 2024 recognitions by U.S. News.
In June, VCU was ranked in the top 20% of universities worldwide in the 2024-25 Best Global Universities report.
Also, in June, U.S. News ranked VCU’s College of Engineering nuclear engineering graduate program 18th in the nation.
Additionally, in its latest rankings of graduate programs released in April, U.S. News placed 10 VCU programs in the top 50. Two programs, Nurse Anesthesia (No. 6) and Homeland Security (No. 6), made it into the top 10. Two departments, the School of Pharmacy (tied for 19th) and the School of Education (tied for 25th), made it into the top 25.
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