Iowa public universities still participating in U.S. News rankings, despite boycotts

In a year that’s seen large-scale boycotts of the U.S. News & World Report college rankings — including from top law schools like Yale and Harvard — Iowa’s public universities continued to participate and made some gains in the new 2023-2024 “Best Graduate School” rankings made public Tuesday.

The University of Iowa’s part-time Master of Business Administration program, for example, moved up to No. 28 in the nation from its position at No. 36 last year. It tied at No. 36 overall for its education graduate programming, up from last year’s 39 spot.

Iowa State University, which ranked nationally in almost every engineering specialty, came in at No. 46 overall — up from 48 last year. And it maintained its hold on the No. 2 spot in agricultural engineering.

ISU also ranked No. 25 for aerospace engineering; No. 31 in civil engineering; and No. 34 in chemical engineering. The UI ranked No. 47 in civil engineering, No. 58 for its biomedical engineering program; and No. 77 overall in the engineering category.

UI and ISU tied each other at No. 34 for industrial engineering.

“As a public, land-grant institution, Iowa State is proud to provide students with a high-quality education that is both accessible and affordable,” ISU spokeswoman Angie Hunt told The Gazette.

To the question of why ISU is continuing to participate in the rankings by providing U.S. News with internal data — and whether it has concerns about how the rankings might disadvantage institutions that focus on diversity and affordability — Hunt acknowledged rankings are imperfect.

“While rankings offer a point of comparison, the methodologies used by U.S. News and many other higher education rankings do not fully capture or prioritize many qualities at the core of Iowa State’s mission,” she said.

The boycotts and “unprecedented number of inquiries,” including from law and medical schools, compelled U.S. News this year to delay its release of law and medical school rankings — without announcing a new upcoming publication date.

UI officials, when asked about their participation, noted U.S. News said it will “continue to rank colleges using public data” even if the UI does not complete a survey. “Both the University of Iowa’s College of Law and Carver College of Medicine participated in this year’s rankings,” the university said.

The University of Northern Iowa, which also participated, did so to provide prospective students “another tool” in deciding where to pursue a higher education, officials said.

“We do vet what rankings we participate in and are selective about that process,” UNI spokesman Pete Moris said. “We have been ranked by U.S. News as one of the top public regional universities in the Midwest for nearly two decades. In the case of these continuing ed rankings, business and education are two of our flagship programs at UNI, and we felt it was in the best interest of UNI and our potential students to participate.”

UNI’s part-time MBA program tied for No. 168 nationally, down from No. 135 last year. Its graduate program in education dropped to No. 198 nationally from No. 106 last year.

Within the education category, the UI ranked No. 12 nationally for its school counseling program and No. 19 for its higher education administration program.

The UI also achieved the runner-up spot at No. 2 in the nation for its physician assistant graduate program and No. 4 nationally for its pediatric primary care nursing doctorate. The UI ranked No. 17 overall for its doctor of nursing practice program.

Much of the concern around U.S. News’ rankings rests with its methodology, which some institutions said benefits affluent institutions while hurting student diversity and affordability. In March, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona accused the U.S. News rankings of creating an “unhealthy obsession with selectivity.”

U.S. News responded with a letter stressing the importance of more information — not less — and urging “open access” to all undergraduate and graduate school data.

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

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