U.S. News Ranks Northern Iowa No. 2 Among Midwest Regional Public Universities: Does it Matter?

University of Northern Iowa ranks No. 2 (tied) among Midwest regional public universities in the latest college ranking survey from U.S. News and World Report.

"Our focus is on providing the best undergraduate education in the state," Benjamin Allen, UNI president, said in a statement released by the school. "We have a national reputation for our programs in teacher education, accounting, music and communication sciences and disorders, among others. This ranking affirms our university mission and strategic efforts to continue to provide students and faculty high-quality academic programs."

In the Midwest regional category, UNI ranks No. 22 when considering both public and private schools. Drake University ranks No. 3 overall in this category.

Call for Comment:

UNI has held a high ranking for several years, while Iowa and Iowa State have slid, yet in Iowa City and Ames and declining in Cedar Falls.

Do rankings matter when selecting a college?

UNI and Drake are considered regional universities. This category is defined as offering a "full range of undergrad programs and some master's programs but few doctoral programs."

National universities, which include University of Iowa and Iowa State University, offer "a full range of undergraduate majors, plus master's and Ph.D. programs" and are "committed to producing groundbreaking research."

U.S. News & World Report’s 2013 “America’s Best Colleges” rankings released Wednesday put at 46 and the at 28 on the list of the top 115 public national universities.

Iowa State is tied for 46th among 173 best national public universities and 101st overall in the “Best National Universities” category, which includes 281 American universities offering a broad range of undergraduate majors, as well as master’s and doctoral degrees, according to the Iowa University News Service. Last year, Iowa State ranked 44th among public universities and 97th among all national universities.

ISU really stands out in the engineering category according to the Iowa State University news service: In biological/agricultural engineering, Iowa State is the 3rd ranked program among all national universities, and 3rd among public universities. In materials engineering, ISU is ranked 10th among public universities and 17th among all national universities.

The University of Iowa's college of engineering is ranked

For more rankings find U.S. News & World Report "Best Colleges 2013" online at www.usnews.com/colleges.