Millersville University has again been ranked among the best universities in the nation, according to the latest survey conducted by U.S. News & World Report (2005 America’s Best Colleges rankings), which will be published in both its weekly magazine and newsstand book. 

Under the category “Best Universities-Master’s,” institutions that provide a full range of undergraduate and master’s level programs, Millersville ranked 38th–same as last year–out of a total of 164 public and private institutions in the North, one of four regions into which U.S. News places schools. 

Among the other schools listed in the North are Villanova University, Rowan University, St. Joseph’s University, Alfred University, Towson University, the University of Scranton, and the Rochester Institute of Technology. 

Millersville is also listed 5th among 12 “Top Public Universities-Master’s” in the North–one notch above last year.  Further, in this category, MU is the highest ranking public institution in Pennsylvania. 

The U.S. News rankings are based on several key measurements of quality, including peer assessment, retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, graduation rate performance and alumni giving rate. 

In developing its rankings, U.S. News uses three basic steps.  The schools are categorized by mission and, in some cases, by region, and data is gathered from up to 15 indicators of academic excellence. Each factor is assigned a weight and reflects the judgement of U.S. News about how much each measure matters.

Finally, the colleges in each category are ranked against their peers, based on their composite weighted score.  For the complete rankings, visit the website www.usnews.com .