Philly-area schools climb in US News & World Report's Best Colleges list

Back to school: Move in day at Villanova University

FOX 29's Jenn Fred visits move-in day at Villanova University.

PHILADELPHIA - U.S. News & World Report has released its "2026 Best Colleges" list, and several Philly-area schools rose in rank from last year. 

The University of Pennsylvania went from being the No. 10 best school in the nation to No. 7, for example.

Drexel University jumped from No. 86 on last year's list to No. 80 on this year's. Villanova University rose one spot from last year's list to No. 57, and Penn State main campus rose four spots from last year to No. 50. 

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Temple University, on the other hand, fell four spots from the 2025 list, tying at No. 102 with schools such as Auburn University and Gonzaga University. 

In total, Pennsylvania had seven schools make the top 100 on the 2026 list. 

Susquehanna University and Lycoming College were also added to the top 100 liberal arts colleges list, and Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University is now considered the U.S.' fourth-most innovative school, according to the rankings.

The University of Pittsburgh rose a spot from last year's list as well to No. 69.

Big picture view:

U.S. News & World Report's annual Best Colleges list has been a cornerstone of higher education for years, with students and parents relying heavily on it when deciding which schools to apply to. 

The national and regional rankings evaluate nearly 1,700 colleges and universities using over a dozen different metrics to measure academic quality, according to a press release. The data for these metrics is universally reported by schools or obtainable from third-party sources, the release states. 

"While the general scoring weights and factors remained consistent, the 2026 rankings made a few small adjustments to ensure the results accurately reflect the evolving landscape of higher education," LaMont Jones, Ed.D., managing editor for Education at U.S. News, said in a statement.

"By considering students' credit hours and increasing the minimum number of students for a cohort, the rankings deliver a view of institutional investment in students, and graduation and retention rates," he added. 

An ‘outsized influence’ 

In recent years, however, the list has faced some backlash; several high-profile universities have publicly stepped away from participating in the rankings. 

Columbia University announced in 2023 that it would no longer participate, adding at the time that it had become concerned about the "outsized influence" the rankings played in the undergraduate admissions process. 

"Rankings do not accurately capture the student experience or the priorities of the institution," the university said in its announcement. "Much is lost in this approach." 

Columbia even went so far as to note that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to end affirmative action—which was still a pending decision at the time—"may well lead to a reassessment of admissions policies in ways we can’t even contemplate at this point."

In response to Columbia's criticism, U.S. News said that its critics "tend to attribute every issue faced by academia…to our rankings." 

"We have consistently stated that our rankings should be one factor in that decision-making process," Eric Gertler, executive chairman of U.S. News & World Report, said in a statement at the time. 

Since that debacle, U.S. News' methodology has evolved. Now, the ranking weighs factors such as student debt, graduation rates and the earnings of a school's graduates more than ever before.