University of Michigan named among top public colleges in U.S. News, QS rankings

In rankings released today, U.S. News and World Report ranked U-M No. 29 nationally for undergraduate education in 2013, down a spot from last year.

U.S. News ranked the Ann Arbor campus 4th among public universities, behind University of California's Berkeley and Los Angeles campuses and the University of Virginia. The University of California-Berkley has been ranked 1st among public universities by U.S. News since 2007.

Michigan State University ranked 28th among public schools and 72nd nationally.

U-M has slipped from the No. 24 spot it held in the U.S. News rankings six years ago. Here's how the school has fared in the U.S. News rankings since then:

• 2013: 29
• 2012: 28
• 2011: 29
• 2010: 27
• 2009: 26
• 2008: 25
• 2007: 24

Meanwhile, the 2012-13 QS World University Rankings —also out this week— rated U-M as the top American public university.

Overall, the rankings placed the school 17th globally, down from 14th last year and 15th in 2010.

The top six schools in the QS rankings included four colleges in England, Harvard University and the No. 1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Other American schools ahead of U-M include Stanford, Yale, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, Cornell and Princeton universities as well as the University of Chicago and University of Pennsylvania.

While rankings can be subjective and a college's position can vary depending on the ranking entity, students look to rankings as they pick their college and universities often tout rankings if they've fared well.

U-M did not appear on U.S. News list of best value colleges, although schools like Harvard, University of Chicago and University of Virginia did.

U-M tied with Virginia's College of William and Mary as the sixth best school for undergraduate teaching.

U.S. News also ranked U-M's undergraduate business and engineering programs. The engineering school ranked seventh nationally, down from sixth last year.

The Stephen M. Ross School of Business undergraduate program once again ranked No. 3 nationally, tied with University of California-Berkeley.

Meanwhile, the business school came in at No. 7 this year in Bloomberg Businessweek’s annual rankings of the best undergraduate business schools.

According to U.S. News, high school counselors rated U-M an average of 4.4 on a scale of 5. Peer school University of Virginia received a 4.5 rating from counselors. Berkley received a 4.6.

U-M also ranked No. 18 in the world in 2011-2012 rankings by London-based magazine Times Higher Education and Thomson Reuters.

QS rankings, launched in 2004, are determined 40 percent by academic reputation, 20 percent by citations, 20 percent by faculty-student ratio, 10 percent by employer reputation and 10 percent by the proportion of international students and faculty.

U.S. News calculates its various rankings differently. Read about its methodology here.