U.S. News ranks VCU as No. 69 public university
VCU rose to No. 69 in the U.S. News and World Report’s 2025 ranking of public universities nationwide. Last year, VCU was No. 76 in the list — a jump of seven places. Photo by Jerry Pleasant III.
Emily Grinstead, Contributing Writer
Virginia Commonwealth University was recently ranked No. 69 among top public universities by the U.S. News & World Report in the 2025 ranking released on Sept. 24.
This is a seven-point increase from the previous year, when VCU ranked No. 76, according to VCU News.
VCU now ranks higher than James Madison University, which ranks No. 78 on the list. However, VCU still ranks lower than the University of Virginia and the College of William & Mary.
The ranking, conducted over the past academic year, is determined by 17 factors, some of which include graduation rates, social mobility and peer assessment, according to the U.S. News & World Report website.
These rankings are an important tool for prospective students considering their post-secondary education, as well as an important tool internally in measuring the university’s progress, Jeffrey Kraus, VCU’s director of executive communications, stated in an email.
The university’s strategic plan, Quest 2028, outlines an enrollment goal of 32,000 students in the next four years. The university’s enrollment has steadily increased over the last two years, according to Kraus.
Kraus stated he does not foresee any negative impacts with the higher ranking, such as decreased access for local students.
“There really are no negatives to more people learning about the great programs and opportunities that VCU is providing its students and the greater Richmond community,” Kraus stated in an email.
Max Elliot, a third-year pre-med student, said VCU is not as competitive as other schools, but it makes sense it is ranked higher.
“I feel like it makes sense that it’s a little higher up. I feel like VCU is really good with diversity,” Elliot said. “You see lots of different types of people — we also have a campus across the world.”
Ashleigh Smith, a second-year STEM student, said VCU’s values of diversity and inclusion and its leadership are at odds.
“I feel like VCU has a really hard time with listening to student voices and they don’t really take into consideration everybody, especially since VCU is such a culturally diverse school,” Smith said. “Yeah, it feels like the people on the board don’t really represent the values of the students.”
Jasmine Dixon, a first-year student, said rankings did not personally matter to her when applying to college.
“I do not believe they matter because when I applied to VCU, I didn’t really look at the ranking. I did it more on the commute, more on me being familiar with the area.” Dixon said.
Teddy Calhoun, a second-year advertising student, said there are many factors that go into choosing a college.
“They mattered a bit I guess, like especially if I saw a university had a low ranking and a low graduation rate that definitely would matter to me,” Calhoun said. “But there are a lot of other factors as well. I guess the programs and the location.”
Tytiana Brown-Weathers, a first-year student, said she did not really consider rankings when applying to college.
“I already narrowed everything down based on where it is and how close it is to me,” Brown-Weathers said.
Zayna Osmani, a first-year business student, said VCU is an underrated school and people do not give it “credit where it’s due.”
“Because, you know, on top of how beautiful the campus is, and then like how good the academics are here — I think it’s just very underrated,” Osmani said.
Osmani said she is “100%” proud to be a student at VCU.
“I’m very proud to be a Ram. I think VCU has been the one college that I’ve toured that I felt like most at home and all the people here are very, very nice,” Osmani said. “All the faculty are very accommodating, very sweet, and I feel nothing but love and welcome since I’ve been here, so I’m very proud.”
