This article was first published in the ChurchBeat newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox each Wednesday night.
U.S. News & World Report placed 14 Utah colleges and universities in its new 2026 rankings, with Brigham Young University and the University of Utah at the top.
BYU ranked No. 1 overall in the state and tied for 110th on the list of national universities with six other schools with a score of 63 out of 100.
BYU finished in the top 10 in one category and the top 20 in another (see below).
The University of Utah finished second in Utah and tied for 151st nationally with an overall score of 57.
The Salt Lake City school ranked in the top 10 in two programs (see below).
A graduate watches during commencement at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Thursday, May 2, 2024. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
Utah State University was the only other Utah school to make the national universities list, in a 15-way tie for 242nd with an overall score of 46.
U.S. News also ranked the top public schools, placing Utah at No. 79 and Utah State at No. 136.
BYU is the flagship university of the Church Educational System of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Two other CES schools were ranked by U.S. News.
BYU-Idaho and BYU-Hawaii tied for eighth in the Regional Colleges West category, with Texas Lutheran University and the University of Hawaii-West Oahu.
The acceptance rates and graduation rates for the schools listed above can be found at the bottom of this article.
The other Utah schools listed by the news website were placed in four categories:
-
Regional Universities West: No. 16 — Westminster. No. 50 — Weber State University. No. 64 — Southern Utah University. No. 93 — Utah Valley University.
-
Regional Colleges West: No. 27 — Snow College. No. 34 — Utah Tech University.
-
Health Professions Schools: Unranked — Eagle Gate College-Murray. Joyce University. Nightingale College. Provo College.
-
Engineering and Technology Schools: Unranked — Neumont College of Computer Science.
BYU and the University of Utah both ranked among the nation’s best-value schools. BYU was 17th and Utah was 170th.
“We’re always pleased to see recognition for our academic programs and the amazing students in those programs,” BYU spokesman Todd Hollingshead said. “While rankings don’t always capture the full story, it is nice for our students and alums to see the continued recognition, especially the acknowledgment of BYU as one of the best value schools in the nation.”
BYU, Utah and Utah State also each saw individual programs rank highly.
Individual BYU programs:
No. 3 — Accounting
No. 21 — International business
No. 33 — Entrepreneurship
No. 37 — Undergraduate business
No. 66 — Undergraduate economics
No. 74 — Bachelor of Science in nursing
No. 96 — Undergraduate engineering
No. 107 — Undergraduate computer science
No. 169 — Undergraduate psychology
Individual Utah programs:
No. 2 — Game/simulation development
No. 8 — Undergraduate entrepreneurship
No. 40 — Bachelor of Science in nursing
No. 64 — Undergraduate engineering
No. 121 — Undergraduate economics
Individual Utah State programs:
No. 112 — Undergraduate engineering
No. 191 — Undergraduate economics
No. 214 — Bachelor of Science in nursing
Acceptance rates
The rankings also included other interesting data.
For example, here are the acceptance rates of the three top Utah schools, or in other words, the percentage of applicants that a school admitted to its incoming class.
Graduation rates
Other data included the average six-year graduation rate for each school.
Analysts prefer to look at six years rather than four for graduation because many students stop schooling to work or for health reasons, or to do service in the military or on religious missions, like those served by many young members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
-
BYU: 80% (four-year rate is 27%)
-
Utah: 65% (four-year rate is 37%)
-
Utah State: 55% (four-year rate is 30%)
-
BYU-Hawaii: 49% (four-year rate is 27%)
-
BYU-Idaho: 49% (four-year rate is 21%)
My recent stories
Elder Ronald A. Rasband calls Family Proclamation a ‘revelatory voice’ and Charlie Kirk shooting an ‘evil act’ (Sept. 23)
About the church
-
Latter-day Saints believe in the “sanctity of human life,” a church leader said at the Utah Valley Institute during a devotional Sunday in the wake of the Charlie Kirk shooting.
