Vanderbilt ranks 18th, UT moves up to 85

The magazine’s latest guide to “America’s Best Colleges” hits newsstands on Monday. The rankings are based on criteria such as graduation and retention rates, faculty and financial resources and the percentage of alumni donating money to their alma mater.

Harvard and Princeton were tied for the top spot in the overall rankings. Vanderbilt was at 18 tied with Notre Dame and was the only Tennessee school among the top 50.

“Rankings like this are imprecise and imperfect, but if there are going to be lists of the best schools, we want to be on them,” said Michael Schoenfeld, Vanderbilt’s vice chancellor for public affairs.

Tennessee moved up 10 spots from 95th last year.

In the list of top 50 public national universities, Tennessee was tied for 38th with four other schools including Auburn University, up from 44th last year.

Other Southern public universities ahead of Tennessee included Virginia (2), North Carolina (5), Florida (16), Texas (17) and Georgia (19).

“These rankings are yet another sign that UT continues to grow in national prominence and stature,” UT Knoxville Chancellor Loren Crabtree said. “That’s due entirely to the great work of our faculty, both in research and teaching, and the high quality of our students.”

Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville ranked 11th among the top public universities in the South in the universities-master’s category, which includes schools with undergraduate and master’s degree programs but few, if any, doctoral programs.

Also in the master’s category, the magazine ranked Belmont University in Nashville at 15th of public and private institutions in the South. Others in Tennessee included Christian Brothers (21), Lipscomb University (27), Carson-Newman College (32), Union University (38), University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (40), Milligan College (47), Freed-Hardeman University (49) and University of Tennessee at Martin (54).