University of Virginia - Rankings and Recognition

Rankings and Recognition

In 1985 and 2000, the University of Virginia was described as a "Public Ivy" by authors Richard Moll, Howard Greene, and Matthew Greene, in reference to a group of public universities offering an education comparable to Ivy League universities. In 2009 and 2010, U.S. News & World Report ranked the University of Virginia as the number two public university among "National Universities" in the United States and #130 among the world's best universities. In the 2011 edition, the undergraduate program at U.Va. ranked #2 out of roughly 200 public universities in the United States, tied with UCLA, and #25 overall (including private schools), tied with UCLA, the University of Southern California, and Wake Forest University. In the 26-year history of the rankings, U.Va. has never dropped out of the Top 25 listing and has always ranked either #1 or #2 among public schools. In every published edition of the report going back to 1983, the undergraduate program at the University has also retained its position as the highest ranked school, public or private, in its home state of Virginia. Forbes Magazine ranked the University #44 in its 2010 ranking of U.S. universities, the highest ranking for a public university on the list. Internationally, in 2010 U.Va. ranked 72nd in the world according to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. The 2011 QS World University Rankings placed Virginia at 126th overall, four places up from 2011, and 96th in Arts & Humanities. GQ magazine recognized the University of Virginia noting classroom attendance of scholarship athletes as well as student traditions such as referring to the institution as "the University," ranking it 25th.

The University of Virginia has been recognized numerous times as having the highest African American graduation rate among public universities, and by a wide margin. Among the Top Four public universities that consistently rank highest in the ubiquitous U.S. News rankings, the University of Virginia has an 87% black student graduation rate, some 15 to 20 percentage points higher than the 70% at the University of California, Berkeley, 68% at the University of Michigan, and 73% at UCLA. In addition, due in part to California Proposition 209 and the Michigan Proposal 2, the University also has much higher African American populations than these peer universities. The University of Virginia has an undergraduate student body that is 8.7% African American, while the University of California undergraduate student bodies at Berkeley and UCLA are just 3.2% and 3.7% African American, respectively. Only 5.2% of University of Michigan undergraduates are African American. Thus, relative to its closest peers, the University of Virginia has twice to three times the proportion of African American undergraduate students, and they go on to graduate at significantly higher rates.

The University of Virginia has many highly regarded graduate programs. Programs ranked in their respective fields' top 10 by U.S. News & World Report include Law, Tax Law, International Law, architecture, 18th through 20th Century British Literature, African-American Literature, American Literature, American Literature Before 1865, Creative Writing, U.S. Colonial History, Political Theory, Developmental Psychology, Adult/Medical-Surgical Nursing, Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing, Management, Elementary Teacher Education, Secondary Teacher Education, and Special Education.

The Jefferson Scholars Foundation offers four year full-tuition scholarships based on regional, international, and at-large competitions. Students are nominated by their high schools, interviewed, then invited to weekend-long series of tests of character, aptitude, and general suitability. Approximately 3% of those nominated successfully earn the scholarship.

Echols Scholars (College of Arts and Sciences) and Rodman Scholars (School of Engineering and Applied Sciences), which include 6-7% of undergraduate students, receive no financial benefits, but are entitled to special advisors, priority course registration, residence in designated dorms and fewer curricular constraints than other students.

The University offers 48 bachelor's degrees, 94 master's degrees, 55 doctoral degrees, 6 educational specialist degrees, and 2 first-professional degrees (Medicine and Law) to its students.

The University of Virginia Library System holds 5 million volumes. Its Electronic Text Center, established in 1992, has put 70,000 books online as well as 350,000 images that go with them. These e-texts are open to anyone and, as of 2002, were receiving 37,000 daily visits (compared to 6,000 daily visitors to the physical libraries).

The University of Virginia is a member of a consortium engaged in the construction and operation of the Large Binocular Telescope in the Mount Graham International Observatory of the Pinaleno Mountains of southeastern Arizona. It is also a member of both the Astrophysical Research Consortium, which operates telescopes at Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico, and the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy which operates the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, the Gemini Observatory and the Space Telescope Science Institute. The University of Virginia hosts the headquarters of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, which operates the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia and the Very Large Array radio telescope made famous in the Carl Sagan television documentary Cosmos and film Contact. The North American Atacama Large Millimeter Array Science Center is also located at the Charlottesville NRAO site.

UVA also hosts the Rare Book School, a non-profit organization that studies the history of books and printing. The University is one of 60 elected members of the Association of American Universities, and the only member representing the Commonwealth of Virginia. Along with the University of Connecticut, UVA is one of two American member universities of Universitas 21, an international consortium of research-intensive universities. On May 14, 2007, University President John Casteen was named Chairman of the Board of the organization.

The university campus was recognized by MSN as one of the most beautiful college campuses in the world.