The University of Miami climbed four spots to No. 63 in the 2024-25 edition of the U.S. News & World Report’s Best National University rankings, released Tuesday, Sept. 24.
UM shares its ranking with six other universities, including Brandeis University, George Washington University, Michigan State University, Pennsylvania State University – University Park, Santa Clara University and Tulane University.
In addition to maintaining its position among the nation’s best universities, UM has made strides in multiple key ranking categories.
The university is currently ranked No. 34 among national private universities, a positive trend from its position at No. 36 and 37 in previous years. Additionally, UM ranked No. 12 in Business Programs in the category of real estate, No. 39 in Best Bachelor of Science in Nursing Programs and No. 88 in Best Economics Schools.
“Our priority at the University of Miami is excellence. As we deliver on our mission and transform lives, we intentionally focus on factors that make a difference for our students,” the University of Miami said in a statement.
“These include attracting and retaining the best and brightest—students as reflected by performance and assessments, and faculty as measured by how often they are published and cited in top journals.”
In its 40th annual rankings, the U.S. News & World Report rankings evaluate nearly 1,500 national colleges and universities on up to 17 measures of academic quality
Top factors included peer assessment (20%), graduation rates (16%), graduation rate performance (10%), financial resources per student (8%) and faculty salaries (6%).
However, this year’s ranking methodology shifted significantly by removing the metric for first-generation student six-year graduation rates from the formulas for national universities and historically Black colleges and universities.
Instead, the U.S. News now focuses on the graduation rates of Pell Grant-recipients, which are considered a more standardized measure for comparison across all institutions.
These changes include an increased weight for Pell Grant-recipient graduation performance and Pell Grant recipient graduation rates among national universities, whose indicators both rose from 3% to 5.5%.
This falls under the category of social mobility, which aims to provide a more equitable assessment of how colleges support economically disadvantaged students and their post-graduation success.
The increase in ranking is a pleasant surprise for students that have seen UM steadily fall since peaking at No. 49 in 2021.
“I really appreciate all the opportunities that UM has to offer and resources that I didn’t know were available to me before,” said Gabriellah Valdes, a sophomore majoring in advertising management. “The school’s ranking, I’m not surprised, has gone up as it’s a very inclusive school and has a very welcoming faculty, which was one of the main reasons I chose this school. Its sense of community and growth is amazing.”
The University of Miami continued their statement expressing a similar sentiment.
“Long term, our focus is on providing an outstanding experience for our students, patients, fans, and supporters and conducting research that leads to the solutions our community needs. In short, we are pursuing excellence, not rankings.”