BYU Drops Nine Spots from Last Year's Ranking in U.S. News & World Report 2008 Issue

Brigham Young University is down nine spots from last year's ranking in the "Best National Universities" category in the U.S. News & World Report annual issue on academic rankings of American colleges and universities. It moved from 70th in the 2007 ranking last year to 79th this year in U.S. News & World Report's 2008 ranking issue that is due to hit newsstands on August 27^th.

The annual report by U.S. News & World Report ranks approximately 1,400 four-year accredited schools in the nation. Brigham Young University placed in the top 50 percent of the cream-of-the-crop schools in the national universities category that were evaluated this year.

The National University category is based on categories developed by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in 2006, according to the U.S. News & World Report web site. Schools in this category offer a "wide range of undergraduate majors as well as master's and doctoral degrees; many strongly emphasize research," according to the site. This year, the National University category includes 262 American universities (164 public and 98 private) the U.S. News & World Report web site reports. The rankings were available to the public starting August 17^th on the U.S. News & World Report web site.

This year Brigham Young University is also listed as 26th in the "Great Schools, Great Prices" category, which focuses on getting the most bang for your buck or value at the top schools. It came in as 16th in the category of "Least Debt," which compares the average debt carried by departing graduates.

Brigham Young University's business school, The Marriott School of Management, came in at 38th for "Best Business" programs. In specialty areas, The Marriott School was ranked 3rd for its accounting program and 19th in its international business program.

The Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering's undergraduate program at Brigham Young University was ranked 92^nd this year.