Johns Hopkins remains one of the nation's very best universities and is also among the best values for students, one of the most innovative schools in the U.S., and home to one of the country's most diverse student populations.
Those are among the findings detailed in the annual U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings, which were released Monday.
JHU is tied for No. 10 in U.S. News' overall rankings of national colleges and universities, putting it in the top 10 for the third time in the past four years. The publication also recognizes Johns Hopkins for excellence in undergraduate engineering education—where it ranks No. 1 among undergraduate programs in biomedical engineering and No. 14 overall among universities that offer doctoral degrees in engineering disciplines—and for its reputation among high school guidance counselors.
"We are proud to be recognized among such great institutions," said Johns Hopkins University President Ronald J. Daniels. "All corners of the university contributed to this accomplishment, and Johns Hopkins remains committed to providing students with a supportive and nurturing environment to discover, create, and excel."
The Johns Hopkins undergraduate experience is among the focal points of the university's Ten by Twenty strategic vision, released in 2013. Since then, JHU has rolled out a host of initiatives and resources designed to enrich students' academic and campus experiences.
Over the past year and a half, for example, a group of faculty, administrators, students, staff, and alumni have worked to develop new models for undergraduate education—both inside and outside the classroom—that solidify the university's standing as a global leader in higher education. In particular, the Second Committee on Undergraduate Education is looking at ways to encourage students to define their own educational path and pursue their interests, no matter how wide-ranging—including awarding credit for experiential learning, creating more interdisciplinary majors, and expanding undergraduate research and design experiences.
Hopkins remains one of the nation's premier destinations for undergraduates interested in conducting research in a wide range of disciplines, from anthropology and history to physics and neuroscience. The university continues to find new ways to help enterprising students turn their creative ideas—inventions, startups, and other projects—into reality. Later this month, for instance, a new student-focused innovation hub and makerspace, FastForward U Homewood, will open its doors near the university's Homewood campus.
Increasingly, Johns Hopkins students are being encouraged to connect learning with their life aspirations, to pursue their passions and interests and to tap into Career Center resources designed to connect them with industry-specific networks of employers, alumni, faculty, and others. The university's inaugural vice provost for integrative learning and life design, who joined JHU this summer, is working to develop strategies that result in better career preparation and outcomes for all students.
Johns Hopkins continues to deepen its commitment to student diversity in a variety of forms, a reflection of the university's belief that a community made up of individuals with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and thoughts is vital to the pursuit of critical inquiry and discovery.
The student body is increasingly diverse—27.2 percent of first-year undergraduates identified as an underrepresented minority in 2017, up from 14.2 percent in 2010. Twelve percent of JHU undergrads are first-generation college students—meaning they are the first in their families to attend college—and 11 percent are international students. Among Hopkins students pursuing an engineering degree, 43 percent are female.
In order to make a Johns Hopkins education more accessible to students from all socioeconomic backgrounds, Hopkins meets 100 percent of demonstrated need for admitted students. Overall, the university distributed more than $100 million in grant aid to undergraduates during the 2017-18 academic year, and more than half of the incoming class this year will receive aid.
U.S. News has ranked colleges and universities annually since 1995, and Johns Hopkins has been among the top 16 in each of the past 24 years. The methodology—which underwent significant modification before this year's rankings were determined—takes into account student retention and graduation rates, admissions statistics, faculty resources, financial resources, alumni giving, and assessments from peer institutions and high school guidance counselors.
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