VCU news

By Brian McNeill

Virginia Commonwealth University moved up seven spots to tie for No. 69 in U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking of top public universities, released today.

VCU additionally moved up six spots to No. 136 in U.S. News’ 2025 Best Colleges ranking of national universities. That continues the trajectory from the 2024 report released last fall, when VCU climbed 23 spots from the year before.

“VCU’s impressive climb in the U.S. News rankings is a testament to the accomplishments of dedicated faculty members across VCU’s campuses who drive our university forward with life-changing research and pedagogical innovation,” said Fotis Sotiropoulos, Ph.D., provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. “There has never been a better time to be part of VCU. Our uncommon focus on excellence, impact and access is defining what it means to be an R1 research institution in the 21st century. And our curricular innovation is future-proofing our students, preparing them to succeed in a changing world of rapidly evolving technology.”

The annual U.S. News rankings of nearly 1,500 institutions are based on 17 measures, most heavily weighting graduation rates, graduation rate performance and peer assessment, but also including student debt, post-graduation earnings, student-faculty ratio, financial resources per student, faculty salaries, faculty research and other indicators.

As part of its 2025 Best Colleges, U.S. News also ranked VCU in several other categories and undergraduate programs. Most notable, the VCU School of Nursing’s undergraduate program was ranked No. 39 in the country.

“This recognition highlights the exceptional caliber of our students and the rigorous education they receive in our program,” said Patricia Kinser, Ph.D., interim dean and professor in the School of Nursing. “This ranking reflects our program’s commitment to providing high-quality learning and hands-on training, supported by dedicated faculty, clinical partners and robust resources provided by our advisors and academic coaches — preparing our graduates to excel and lead in patient care.”

Not all programs receive updated rankings each year. VCU has 23 graduate, online and undergraduate programs that U.S. News ranks among the nation’s top 50.

The latest rankings follow several other 2024 recognitions by U.S. News.

In June, it ranked VCU ranked among the top 20% of all universities in the world in its 2024-25 Best Global Universities report.

Also in June, U.S. News ranked the nuclear engineering graduate program at VCU’s College of Engineering as No. 18 in the nation.

And in its updated rankings of graduate programs released in April, U.S. News ranked 10 VCU programs among the top 50. Two programs – nurse anesthesia (No. 6) and homeland security (No. 6) – were in the top 10. Two schools – the School of Pharmacy (tied for No. 19) and the School of Education (tied for No. 25) – were among the top 25.