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University of Michigan No. 3 public university in U.S., according to rankings

U-M holds onto same spot as 2021 on U.S. News & World Report’s list

The Center for Campus Involvement at University of Michigan welcomes about 4,000 students to campus with Escapade, an evening of food, fun and performances. (Scott C.Soderberg, Michigan Photography)

ANN ARBOR – The University of Michigan has been named the No. 3 public university in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.

The ranking site’s 2022-23 Best Colleges list was released on Sept. 12 and U-M held the same position as last year. It was also ranked the 25th best university overall amid both private and public schools.

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U-M tied with New York University, University of Southern California and University of Virginia for the No. 25 spot.

Here are the top five public universities for 2022-23, according to USNWR:

  • University of California, Berkeley
  • University of California, Los Angeles
  • University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
  • University of Virginia
  • University of Florida

To determine the rankings, USNWR considers the following weighted factors:

  • Graduation and retention rates
  • Social mobility
  • Graduation rate performance
  • Undergraduate academic reputation
  • Faculty resources for 2021-2022 academic year
  • Student selectivity for the Fall 2021 entering class
  • Financial resources per student
  • Average alumni giving rate
  • Graduate indebtedness

“Only academic data from our surveys and reliable third-party sources are used to calculate each ranking factor,” reads USNWR’s site. “This means for better or for worse, we do not factor nonacademic elements like social life and athletics; we do not conduct unscientific straw polls for use in our computations; and schools’ ranks are not manipulated to coddle business relationships.”

To see the complete list, click here.


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