Published: Sept. 11, 2017

People sit in a circle on a campus lawn.

Released Monday evening, the University of Colorado Boulder’s undergraduate offerings take the No. 39 spot among public institutions (No. 90 overall, including public, private and for-profit universities) in U.S. News & World Report’s national “Best Colleges” rankings for 2018.

U.S. News and World Report 2018

CU Boulder undergraduate rankings:

Best Colleges: #39 publics/#90 overall

Business: #20 publics/#31 overall

Engineering: #16 publics/#30 overall

  • Aerospace engineering: #8 publics/#11 overall
  • Chemical engineering: #11 publics/#17 overall
  • Environmental engineering: #7 publics/#11 overall

The data represent a long tradition of excellence reflected in marks from the publication among both undergraduate and graduate-level offerings across the country, a showcase of CU Boulder’s highly regarded academic reputation.

In other highlights from the rankings, CU Boulder’s undergraduate business program at the Leeds School of Business landed the No. 20 spot among public universities, or 31st overall. This is up from No. 21 among public institutions and No. 32 overall for 2017.

Also, CU Boulder’s undergraduate engineering program at the College of Engineering and Applied Science comes in at 16th among public institutions whose highest degree is a doctorate, or 30th overall. This is up from No. 18 among public institutions and No. 32 overall for 2017.

Within engineering, updated rankings on Tuesday place CU Boulder (for aerospace engineering) in the No. 8 spot among public institutions and at No. 11 overall. This overall position is up one spot from No. 12 in the 2017 rankings, while the No. 8 ranking did not change from the previous year. Also within engineering, (for chemical engineering) CU Boulder placed No. 11 among public institutions and No. 17 overall, up from No. 12 and No. 18, respectively, in 2017; and environmental engineering landed the No. 7 spot among public institutions and the No. 11 spot overall.

U.S. News & World Report rankings are based on measures of academic peer assessment, graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources and alumni giving.

The full rankings are posted at www.usnews.com/best-colleges. U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings for graduate programs are issued in the spring.

In other publications, CU Boulder recently ranked No. 43 among U.S. institutions in 2017, according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities, also known as the Shanghai Ranking. It also ranked No. 100 in the world in 2017, according to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.