Undergraduate program rises in national rankings

Ohio State’s undergraduate engineering program again ranks first in Ohio and has risen to 14th among public universities nationwide in U.S. News & World Report’s 2024 Best Colleges issue. Among both public and private institutions, Ohio State Engineering ranks 25th overall, up two spots since last year.

The Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering’s undergraduate program ranked 10th in the nation, the highest of Ohio State’s nine departments or specialties that received enough votes for inclusion. Other Ohio State engineering undergraduate programs ranking among the nation’s best include materials engineering (11), industrial/manufacturing engineering (16), aerospace engineering (17), civil engineering (17), mechanical engineering (19), electrical engineering (20), computer engineering (21) and chemical engineering (23).

U.S. News and World Report began evaluating undergraduate computer science programs in a separate category in 2020. In this year’s issue, Ohio State climbed four spots to rank 33rd among 554 programs nationally, and 21st in the artificial intelligence specialty category.

“With 10 of our programs improving their rankings this year, this is also the first time in more than a decade we’ve reached the echelons of the top 25 overall, and we plan to stay there,” said College of Engineering Dean Ayanna Howard. “Our upward trajectory reflects the dedication of our faculty and staff, as well as the collaborative spirit among our extraordinary students.”

The publication’s rankings of undergrad engineering programs are based solely on the judgments of deans and senior faculty at peer institutions. In the spring and summer of 2023, U.S. News surveyed deans and faculty members of undergraduate engineering programs accredited by ABET, the engineering accrediting body. Respondents were asked to rate each program they were familiar with on a scale from 1 (marginal) to 5 (distinguished). Each qualifying engineering school or program was sent two peer assessment surveys.

U.S. News has separate rankings for the 208 undergraduate engineering programs at colleges or universities that offer doctoral degrees in engineering and for the 273 programs at institutions where the terminal degree in engineering is a bachelor's or master's.

To be included in the computer science peer assessment survey and ranked, a program must either have been accredited by ABET or have recently awarded 20 or more bachelor's degrees in computer science.

In April, The Ohio State University College of Engineering’s graduate program ranked first in Ohio and 14th among all public universities in U.S. News & World Report’s 2024 Best Graduate Schools issue.