Boston College placed 36th in U.S. News & World Report‘s 2026 survey of national universities, a one-point improvement over last year’s ranking.
BC also performed well in several specialty rankings among national universities, including “First Year Experience” (fifth), “Commitment to Undergraduate Teaching” (sixth), “Service Learning” (10th), “Best Learning Communities” (15th), “Best Study Abroad Program” (17th), “Most Innovative Schools” (31st), and “Best Undergraduate Research and Creative Projects” (32nd).
In addition, the University was ranked 54th in the “Best Value” listing, reflecting its commitment to need-blind admission and meeting the full demonstrated need of all domestic undergraduate students.
While improving in the overall national university ranking for the second straight year, BC and other private universities continued to be negatively affected by the 2019 change in U.S. News’ methodology that rewards public universities with a high volume of Pell Grant-eligible students. Prior to the change, BC’s average ranking between 2011 and 2018 was 31st.
Among BC undergraduate schools and colleges ranked this year, the Connell School of Nursing was ranked 13th out of 686 nursing schools in the “Best Undergraduate Nursing Programs” survey.
The Carroll School of Management was ranked 32nd out of 533 schools in the “Best Undergraduate Business Programs,” and placed sixth overall in Finance, eighth in Accounting, 10th in both Analytics and Marketing, and 11th in both Entrepreneurship and Management.
Among Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences academic programs, BC was ranked 34th in the “Best Undergraduate Economics” survey, 43rd in “Best Undergraduate Psychology,” and 98th in “Best Undergraduate Computer Science.”
Overall, Princeton University ranked first among national universities again this year, followed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard, Stanford, and Yale.
Among Massachusetts national universities, BC and Tufts University were tied for third place at 36th behind MIT and Harvard, and ahead of Boston University (42nd), Northeastern (46th), University of Massachusetts-Amherst (64th), and Brandeis (69th).
Access rankings of all colleges and universities at the U.S. News website.
