Iowa State ranked in the top 25 percent of national public universities for the 12th straight year. 

U.S. News and World Report annually ranks universities nationwide both public and private. This year Iowa State ranks No. 41 out of 164 in “best public university.” Overall, in the “best national university” category, Iowa State ranks 94th out of 262 universities.

“I’m not surprised [that Iowa State ranked in the top 25 percent],” said Marc Harding, Iowa State’s admissions director. “Iowa State continues to be a leader in higher education and it’s nice to see it recognized. The staff, students and the whole community should be proud.”

Last year Iowa State was slightly higher in the rankings at 39th in “best public university” and 88th in “best national university.” Changes made to the ranking calculation process factored into Iowa State’s 41st-place ranking.

Though Iowa State has fallen slightly in the rankings, John McCarrol, executive director of university relations, said that throughout the past 12 years, Iowa State has ranked between 36th and 41st in the “best public university” category.

“We have remained remarkably consistent,” McCarrol said.

Individually, Iowa State’s College of Engineering and College of Business were ranked in the top 100 nationally. The College of Business ranked at 88th and the College of Engineering at 37th. Within the College of Engineering, the school’s specialty area of biological/agricultural engineering ranked 4th in the nation.

“It makes us feel good as a department, it’s a very nice feeling,” said Ramesh Kanwar, chairman for the department. “It’s a reflection of the quality of the people we have. The faculty and staff are doing great things and the students are shining.”

The changes made this year to the ranking system include the addition of high school counselor opinion and more emphasis being placed on graduation rate performance. More schools have also been ranked. In previous years, U.S. News chose to rank only the top 50 percent of national universities. However, this year they chose to rank the top 75 percent.

Not only does Iowa State reside in the first tier of universities nationwide, but it is in the top 25 percent.

“There are a lot of opportunities that Iowa State has to offer,” said Luke Boeck, freshman in global resource systems. “The rating is excellent and I’m very proud to go to Iowa State.”