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Syracuse University dropped 20 spots in the Wall Street Journal’s annual Best College ranking, going from 144th for its 2024 list to 164th for 2025.

WSJ published its 2025 Best Colleges in the United States on Wednesday, which ranked SU among 500 public and private higher education institutions across the country. Forbes also recently released its own 2024-2025 “America’s Top Colleges” list, where SU ranked 108th, eight spaces lower than on the 2023-2024 ranking.

WSJ rankings are based on research conducted with partners College Pulse and Statista. It ranks institutions based on three categories. Student outcomes — including post-graduation salaries, graduation rate and years it takes to pay off the net price — make up 70% of a college’s score, according to the publication’s methodology.

WSJ’s other criteria include demographic diversity and learning environment, which is determined by students’ surveyed assessment of the school’s academic quality. These contribute to 20% and 10% of the total score, respectively.

SU received an overall score of 70.5 out of 100 this year, one point lower than in last year’s list. Within each subcategory, SU scored an 84 for salary impact and a 78 for graduation rate. Last year, SU scored an 81 and 80 in these two categories, respectively.

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The Forbes college list ranks based on six categories: alumni salary, extent of typical debt, graduation rate, return on investment, student retention rate and academic success. Forbes also factors in its Forbes American Leaders List, which evaluates a school’s success based on how many alumni are featured across Forbes lists.

Forbes reported SU’s average grant aid to be $34,737 and the average debt to be $10,986. It also reported the median salary 10 years after graduation to be $130,100. Last year, the reported salary was $125,500.

SU was also ranked 67th for best private colleges and 49th in the Northeast this year by Forbes.

Other notable college ranking organizations, including U.S. News and World Report, have not yet released lists for the year. Last year, U.S. News ranked SU 67th out of colleges nationally.

Published on September 8, 2024 at 11:44 pm

Contact Zaara: zamalik@syr.edu