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Lipscomb ranked as U.S. News national university for third year

Kim Chaudoin | 615.966.6494 | 

For the third time in school history, Lipscomb University has been ranked as a top-tier comprehensive national university in the annual U.S. News & World Report’s “2019 America’s Guide to Colleges.”

Lipscomb was ranked 194 of the 311 institutions in the “Best National Universities” category, which consists of 190 public, 114 private and seven for-profit institutions, “that offer a wide range of undergraduate majors as well as master’s and doctoral degrees.” There are two tiers in this listing, and Lipscomb is ranked in the first tier, which puts it in a group of elite institutions such as Princeton, Harvard, the University of Chicago, Yale, Columbia, Stanford, Duke and Notre Dame.

In the 2019 guide, Lipscomb University is also ranked as an A+ Schools for B Students and #105 on the Student Debt Load at Graduation list in the National Universities category. And, for the first time, Lipscomb’s undergraduate engineering program has been ranked a top 100 program in the country.

U.S. News considers up to 15 ranking factors, each with varying percentages that contribute to an institution’s overall score. In this year’s ranking, Lipscomb University increased its score in the following categories: graduation and retention; average first-year retention rank; actual graduation rate; faculty resources; selectivity; SAT/ACT 25-75th percentile and financial resources.

Lipscomb joined the ranks of the nation’s top universities in 2016 when it was reclassified from the Regional Universities-South category to a Carnegie Foundation doctoral university, and placed among only seven percent of schools in the nation.

Lipscomb is one of only four universities in Tennessee ranked in the top-tier of the national list. Other institutions from Tennessee included in the top-tier national universities list are Vanderbilt, the University of Tennessee and Union University.

This is the latest recognition of the quality and growth of Lipscomb University in recent years. Just last month, the Chronicle of Higher Education named Lipscomb University the sixth fastest-growing private doctoral university in the nation and the fastest-growing in Tennessee. The Chronicle report is based on a study of enrollment data from fall 2006 through fall 2016 during which the institution experienced an enrollment growth of 80.6 percent.

“As we are all aware, rankings such as this are just one measure of the perceived quality of an institution,” said L. Randolph Lowry, president of Lipscomb University. “But most importantly it is the work our faculty, staff and administrators do each and every day to educate, inspire, mentor and lead our students that is a true measure of the tremendous, life-changing impact Lipscomb University has on its students.”

Located in Nashville, Tennessee, Lipscomb University is a Carnegie Foundation doctoral university that offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees.