Four Philly Schools Made the U.S. News List of the World’s Best Colleges

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U.S. News & World Report has released its latest rankings of the world’s best colleges, and four Philly schools have made the cut.

For its third-annual “Best Global Universities Ranking,” U.S. News rated the top 1,000 schools across 65 countries. The University of Pennsylvania was (unsurprisingly) a top contender, standing at 17th overall. Other Philly schools included — not just on the list, but in the top 500 – are Thomas Jefferson University, Temple University and Drexel University.

Thomas Jefferson placed 339th, while Temple, ranking 403rd, beat out Drexel at 405th.

The rankings considered 12 factors overall, with global and regional research reputation weighing most heavily. Other aspects analyzed included the number of books and publications a school produces (as well as their citation impact) and the number of conferences a university holds. Because American schools place an emphasis on research, researchers said, they performed exceptionally well, comprising a fifth of the list overall.

Four other Pennsylvania schools were included in the rankings: the University of Pittsburgh at 47th, Penn State University at 56th, Carnegie Mellon University at 67th, and Lehigh University at 619th.

It’s somewhat surprising that University of the Sciences didn’t make the cut, seeing as recent data from the U.S. Department of Education found that alumni from the West Philly school make the highest average salaries of any university in Philadelphia – even Penn.

Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University took the top three positions.

Visit U.S. News and World Report’s website for the full list.

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