Dominican Ranked #10 in Midwest by U.S. News & World Report

U.S. News & World Report ranks Dominican University #10 in the Midwest in its prestigious 2022 Best Colleges publication. This is the second year in a row that Dominican has been ranked #10, after being included in the top 20 of Midwest Regional Universities for more than 20 years. Widely considered to be the leader in the college rankings field, U.S. News & World Report evaluates nearly 160 universities in the Midwest.

The university also is ranked #6 in Best Undergraduate Teaching, an impressive increase from #11 last year. Dominican was named #1 Best Value in Illinois, a category that compares, among other factors, a school’s academic quality and the percentage of full-time undergraduates receiving needs-based financial aid.

Dominican is ranked #1 in the Chicago area and #3 in the Midwest in the “Top Performers in Social Mobility” category. The university is one of only two schools in the country within the Regional University category to be ranked among the top #10 overall and as an exemplar in social mobility.

The relatively new social mobility category measures how schools are delivering on commitments to move economically disadvantaged young people up the economic ladder. Specifically, the category ranks how well schools enroll and graduate students who receive federal Pell Grants intended for families whose total incomes are less than $20,000—compared to the graduation rate of students who do not receive Pell grants and are generally presumed to be better prepared to succeed in college. Dominican places a high priority on closing the equity gap in its student body, almost half of whom are first-generation-to-college and 99 percent of whom receive some form of financial aid.

“This U.S. News and World Reports recognition as a regional top-ten university affirms our commitment to being an innovative, relationship-centered educational institution that focuses on the success of each student at Dominican. We are proud to be the top Chicago-area school in multiple categories, including as a top performer in social mobility,” said Dr. Glena Temple, president.

The report rates Dominican as #8 in the Midwest in its “Most Innovative Schools” category, a measure ranking institutions for making “innovative improvements toward curriculum, faculty, students, campus life and facilities.”

U.S. News & World Report bases its rankings on a system that evaluates a number of indicators, including academic excellence, graduation and retention rates, assessment by institutional peers and high school counselors, student selectivity, ratio of students to faculty, and alumni giving. Dominican’s peer assessment score of 3.1 on a 5-point scale is the highest in the university’s history.

In addition to its recognition by U.S. News & World Report, Dominican University is ranked as #5 among master’s universities in the state of Illinois by Washington Monthly and is included in Princeton Review’s 2021 Best Colleges: Midwest.

About Dominican University

Founded in 1901, Dominican University is a comprehensive, coeducational Catholic institution offering bachelor’s and master’s degrees through the Rosary College of Arts and Sciences, the Borra College of Health Sciences, the Brennan School of Business and the College of Applied Social Sciences. The university also offers a doctoral degree in library and information science.