Boston University climbed two places to 41st place in the US News and World Report annual Best College Rankings of national universities, released Tuesday.

“We are pleased that Boston University’s achievements continue to be recognized and our reputation continues to grow,” said University President Melissa L. Gilliam.

BU was also ranked 36th among the best bachelor's programs in business administration (up 2 places), 53rd among the bachelor's programs in computer science (up 10 places) and 34th among the bachelor's programs in psychology (up 17 places).

“There are many criteria that go into creating these rankings,” Gilliam says. “But I'm particularly proud that our rise is reflected in many of our strengths, from our graduation rates to the research work of our faculty.”

In the latest rankings, BU is tied with Ohio State University and Rutgers University among 434 national universities ranked by the US News Methodology.

US News Rankings are considered by some to be one of the most influential college rankings used by parents, students and counselors when choosing a college or university. This year US News Seventeen measures of academic quality were used to determine the national university rankings, including graduation rates, graduation performance, Pell Grant student graduation and performance, first-year student retention rates, borrower debt, and faculty research output.

“Over the past few years, we have worked very hard to make BU accessible through Affordable BU and to ensure student success once they enter BU,” says Gloria Waters, university provost and chief academic officer. “What we are most proud of is improving both the freshman retention rate and the Pell and six-year graduation rates.”

This year, BU achieved its goals of both a graduation rate of 90 percent (six years after enrollment) and a retention rate of 95 percent.

“I think our strength really lies in the achievement of our students,” says Linette Decarie, assistant vice president for analytical services and institutional research. “We've consistently improved our retention and graduation rates year over year. Those are the highest BU has ever had, and they really carry significant weight in this ranking.”

BU also ranked 25th in the Best Value category among national universities for the second year in a row. The Best Value ranking attempts to go beyond an institution's tuition plus room and board and instead focuses on the true cost of college by incorporating measures of student financial aid, including need-based aid, scholarships or grants and the overall financial aid discount rate, as well as the institution's overall academic quality.

The ranking of bachelor's programs is based exclusively on peer assessment surveys conducted in spring and summer 2024 exclusively among programs in these specific fields. In other words, it is feedback from administrators and faculty at comparable universities.

BU ranked 118th in the Top Performer on Social Mobility category, up a whopping 104 spots from last year. This category measures how well schools graduated economically disadvantaged students, using data from Pell Grant categories. BU administration is still analyzing how this major change came about.

BU was also one of fewer than a dozen schools in the top 50 that achieved its ranking even though SAT and ACT scores were optional in the admissions process.

“We're doing something that I believe is in the best interest of equity and inclusion for our students,” says Decarie, “and we're doing it at a time when it's not as prevalent at other schools in the top 50, and we're still doing well.”

“The improvement in both the earnings and social mobility of college graduates points to the real value of an undergraduate education that enables our students to graduate successfully,” says Waters.

“Taken together, these data show that our efforts to ensure the success and retention of our first-year students are paying off,” she says, “and that our commitment to accessibility and affordability is having the desired effect of improving outcomes for people of all socioeconomic backgrounds.”