The university ranked the highest among any public institutions in northern Ohio in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2024 Best National Universities list, ranking 227th out of 439 public and private institutions. 

Kent State ranked 123rd among 227 American public institutions on the 2024 Top Public Schools list. 

“I congratulate our students, faculty and staff who help make Kent State a top public school and a best national university,” said university President Todd Diacon in a press release.  “Our commitment to access, student success and completion is reflected in these rankings and recognitions.”

The university earned a place on the Top Performers on Social Mobility list among national universities. The list demonstrates a university’s success in graduating students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. 

Some of the specific programs that were highly ranked individually from the university included a range of undergraduate programs: nursing, engineering, psychology, business, computer science and economics.

Dean Versie Johnson-Mallard from the College of Nursing, which was ranked 86 out of 656 schools for Best Undergraduate Nursing Program, spoke on how the students are a large part of what makes Kent State’s Nursing program so highly seen. 

“Students have many higher [education] institutions courting them starting in high school – scholars in Northeast Ohio that are serious about gaining high-quality nursing education recognize that Kent State University is the finest higher education institution located in their backyard,” Johnson-Mallard said. “Kent State University’s College of Nursing ranking high on the national best college rankings is due to national student scholars choosing us. KSU ranking number 86 for Best Undergrad Nursing Program reflects the faculty, staff, [our] commitment to our students and the profession of nursing.” 

Johnson-Mallard said the school’s focus on future careers is one of the aspects that makes the College of Nursing so appealing to students. 

“The high mobility scores reflect our mission to educating first generation, underrepresented and dreamers with goals and academic talent to make their dreams a reality,” Johnson-Mallard said. “We care deeply about educating the next generation of students.”

Maria Lopez Hernandez, a senior fashion design major, is currently enrolled in honors microeconomics and said the economics program, which earned Best Undergraduate Economics Program, provides benefits to her. 

“It’s very fast-paced,” Lopez Hernandez said. “It’s a lot of teaching yourself, [but the faculty] is really nice. I like how it’s taking every single [economic] subject and combining it all together. I’m personally not a microeconomics person, but it’s easy overall.”

Lopez Hernandez said that based on hearing about the university’s economics program previously, the program deserved the ranking it received. 

“I’ve heard from my friends about their [economics] classes and I feel like I get why it’s the best,” Lopez said. “They get like a lot of quizzes and little practice problems, a lot of  reinforcement in the material.”

Savannah Butter, a sophomore communications major, who transferred to Kent State but chose not to comment on where she transferred from, said she felt the university deserved its high rankings.

“I like the diverse atmosphere,” Butter said. “I feel like since I went to a high school that was very small, and it was in the middle of nowhere, I really never got to experience things like that. People are very welcoming here. It’s a lot different than the college that I had gone to before. Everyone’s very friendly and very nice.”

Questions regarding the rankings 

Some universities have decided to not participate in U.S. News & World Report’s rankings, questioning the impact the results have on deciding students. 

In Nov. 2022, Harvard Law School pulled out of the rankings. Dean John Manning wrote in a statement published on the university’s website, “Done well, such rankings could convey accurate, relevant information about universities, colleges, and graduate and professional schools that may help students and families make informed choices about which schools best meet their needs. However, rankings can also emphasize characteristics that potentially mislead those who rely on them and can create perverse incentives that influence schools’ decisions in ways that undercut student choice and harm the interests of potential students.”  

Columbia University said it will no longer participate in the U.S. News & World Report undergraduate rankings in a statement issued June 2023. “We remain concerned with the role that rankings have assumed in the undergraduate application process, both in the outsized influence they may play with prospective students, and in how they distill a university’s profile into a composite of data categories,” the statement read. 

Yale Law School, among a few other universities, also no longer participates. In May 2023, U.S. News & World Report announced it will put an increased emphasis on the diversity of students graduating from a school, and it will no longer account for alumni giving, faculty with advanced degrees, class size and students’ high school standing in its 2024 rankings.

Lex Ogilvie is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].