U.S. News & World Report released its 2026 college rankings Tuesday.
Indiana University Bloomington maintained its spot at 73rd out of over 400 in the national university category and 34th in the public schools category. The Kelley School of Business jumped one spot to eighth best business school in the nation, tying with Cornell University, USC and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The Kelley School of Business remains IU Bloomington’s highest-ranked undergraduate program.
The IU School of Nursing in Indianapolis achieved its highest ranking ever at 13th, tying schools including UCLA and New York University. This comes as the nursing program enrolled its largest undergraduate class ever this year, with 1,952 students across three academic programs throughout the state, according to an IU press release.
Eight specific program specialties at Kelley were ranked in the top 10, including accounting, management, marketing and finance.
IU Indianapolis jumped four spots from last year, rising to 192nd in the new rankings. IU regional campuses were ranked in the Midwest regional rankings, with IU East ranking 40th, IU Kokomo at 45th, IU South Bend at 46th, IU Southeast at 48th and IU Northwest at 52nd.
The University of Notre Dame remains Indiana’s highest-ranked university at 20th, followed by Purdue University, ranked 46th.
IU Bloomington was also ranked 169th for “Best Value Universities” based on cost of attendance for out-of-state students who received the average level of aid or grants. Programs with higher rankings overall and lower costs achieved higher value rankings.
The U.S. News rankings are based on 17 factors, including peer-assessment, graduation rates, first-year retention rates and faculty publication rates. In 2023, the methodology changed significantly, removing factors that favored private schools, to instead favor outcomes and mobility.
