Vanderbilt is ranked 13th among national universities on U.S. News & World Report’s 2023 Best Colleges list. The university—moving up one spot from last year to its best-ever overall U.S. News ranking—also was recognized as a best value and as a stellar learning community.
“Vanderbilt is dedicated to bringing the world’s best students, faculty and scholars to an inclusive, collaborative community where everyone can realize their potential—a university at the forefront of innovation and discovery, where we prepare the next generation of thinkers, problem-solvers and leaders,” Chancellor Daniel Diermeier said. “Though rankings only show part of all that Vanderbilt encompasses, our continued trajectory in the U.S. News rankings is one recognition that we are an extraordinary learning and research community—and a destination for world-class scholars.”
For the second consecutive year, Vanderbilt was ranked No. 8 on the publication’s list of Best Value Schools. “Best Value” designates universities that offer the best value for students receiving need-based financial aid. Vanderbilt’s signature financial aid program, Opportunity Vanderbilt, enables Vanderbilt to meet 100 percent of a family’s demonstrated financial need, without loans.
In the category Academic Programs to Look For—spotlighting programs that foster a successful undergraduate student learning experience—Vanderbilt was ranked sixth nationally for Learning Communities. It also placed among best academic programs for Undergraduate Research, Service Learning and First Year Experience.
“Vanderbilt offers a transformative national model demonstrating the power of universities to produce cutting-edge research with high economic and social impact. At Vanderbilt, we place discovery—in its many forms—at the center of the university’s activities,” said C. Cybele Raver, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. “We continue to raise the bar, supporting every student’s opportunity to maximize their full potential through learning from one another and from our stellar faculty both inside and outside the classroom.”
Vanderbilt also showed strong global presence, featured in U.S. News’ top 50 national universities with the most international undergraduate students.
The 2023 Best Colleges rankings evaluate colleges and universities on 17 measures of academic quality, including retention and graduation rates, class size, the strength of the faculty, per-student spending, peer universities’ assessments and the average federal loan debt of graduates.
For more information about this year’s rankings, visit usnews.com/best-colleges.