UNIVERSITY NEWS | Loyola Marymount University landed at No. 64 on the 2020 U.S. News & World Report “Best Colleges” rankings. This marks LMU’s first listing as a national university with high research activity – an R2 institution in the Carnegie classification. This new classification occurred in February 2019 and reflects the academic and institutional growth LMU has made in recent years.
“This new ranking reaffirms our soaring achievements and growing renown, fueled by our highly esteemed faculty and diverse student body,” said LMU President Timothy Law Snyder, Ph.D., in a university press release. “LMU is recognized with the nation’s best universities because our academic and creative excellence, in concert with our mission and location, position our students for global impact.”
In February 2019, in announcing the new classification Provost Thomas Poon, Ph.D., said the change reflects the advanced academic activity at LMU. “The national reputation of our doctoral program in Educational Leadership for Social Justice, Loyola Law School’s innovative Doctor of Juridical Science program, and our faculty’s success in attracting external funding from government and nonprofit foundations” are among the factors that led to the change.
Out of nearly 400 schools in the national universities category, LMU is in the top five Jesuit universities in the country, including: Georgetown (No. 24); Boston College (No. 37); Santa Clara (No. 54); LMU (No. 64); Fordham (No. 74); Gonzaga (No. 79); Marquette (No. 84); University of San Francisco (No. 97).
Among the universities in the L.A. region in the top 100 are: Caltech (No. 12); UCLA (No. 20); USC (No. 22); UC Santa Barbara (No. 34); UC Irvine (No. 36); Pepperdine (No. 50) and UC Riverside (No. 91).
The latest U.S. News & World Report ranking comes on the heels of a newly released list by the Times Higher Education and The Wall Street Journal, which ranks LMU in the top 100 four-year colleges and universities nationwide. Additionally, Forbes ranks LMU in the top quarter of U.S. colleges, and the Chronicle of Higher Education named LMU a top producer of Fulbright scholars.
