Academy earns several top college rankings

  • Published
  • By John Van Winkle
  • U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. --  The Air Force Academy is listed among the top universities in the nation in engineering and liberal arts courses, according to a U.S. News & World Report 2016 Best Colleges Rankings report released Sept. 8.

The Academy ties with the Naval Academy as the fifth Best Undergraduate Engineering Program.

Several specific Academy engineering programs ranked among the top in the nation among undergraduate universities. Those rankings are:

-- No. 2 Aerospace-Aeronautical-Astronautical Engineering, for the 15th consecutive year.

-- No. 3 Top Public Schools, tied with Williams College in Massachusetts.

-- No. 3 High School Counselor Rankings, for the third straight year.

-- No. 4 Electrical-Electronic-Communications Engineering, tied with Harvey Mudd College in California.

-- No. 5 Mechanical Engineering, tied with Harvey Mudd College.

The high school counselor ranking draws upon reputation among high school counselors across the nation, as U.S. News & World Report conducted a nationwide sampling of public high schools and large private independent schools, asking counselors what institution they thought offered the best undergraduate education to their students.

The Academy ranked as the no. 29 best Liberal Arts College in the nation, tied with New York's Barnard College and California's Scripps College. The Academy also ranked No. 1 among undergraduate business programs, tied with Baylor, Temple, Rensselaer Polytechnic University and several other colleges.

At the Academy, the student-faculty ratio is 8:1, the average class size is 20, 100 percent of the faculty are full-time employees and no classes are taught by teaching assistants.

For a full list of the Academy's ranking in the report, visit
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/united-states-air-force-academy-128328/overall-rankings.

This is the latest of several college rankings that ranks the Air Force Academy among the top colleges in the nations. Previously, the Forbes 2015 annual rankings of America's Top Colleges listed the Academy as the No. 38 best university in the nation, and the #6 best university in the West.