UW-Madison ranks high

The national accolades keep rolling in for UW–Madison:

UW–Madison was named the eighth-best public national university in the 12th annual “America’s Best Colleges” guidebook, published by U.S. News & World Report. That was the same ranking UW–Madison received in the 1997 U.S. News ranking.

In its September issue, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine ranks UW–Madison sixth-best among the top 100 values in state universities.

The Kiplinger report compared cost, quality and financial-aid measures in calculating the rankings.

“Ratings always should be taken with a grain of salt, but this latest ranking used straightforward cost data and took into account our outstanding reputation,” says John Torphy, vice chancellor for administration. “To be in the top 10 certainly makes sense.”

Three other UW System institutions made the Kiplinger list — UW-Eau Claire (62), UW-La Crosse (64) and UW-Stevens Point (77) — leading the magazine to identify Wisconsin as one of the best states for parents to send their children to college. Topping the list was the University of North Carolina at Chapel.

In the U.S. News report, UW–Madison ranks 36th among all national universities, including private institutions, compared to 38th last year. Harvard, Princeton and Yale tied for first.

“As in past U.S. News rankings,” Torphy says, “UW-Madison continues to rank among the nation’s top five public universities in academic reputation, one of the key criteria used by the magazine.”

The U.S. News guidebook hit newsstands and bookstores Monday. All rankings will be available Friday on the U.S. News Web site.