AMHERST, N.Y. – For the second consecutive year, Daemen College has been ranked among the best universities in the country in U.S. News and World Report’s prestigious Best Colleges rankings.

Institutions in the National Universities category offer a full range of undergraduate majors, plus master’s and doctoral programs. These colleges also are committed to producing groundbreaking research. Prior to moving to the National Universities list last year, Daemen had been ranked in the Regional Universities North category. 

“Daemen’s elevation to the National Universities category reflects our commitment not only to first-rate undergraduate instruction but to high-quality graduate education and cutting-edge scholarly research,” said Daemen President Gary Olson. “We continue to distinguish ourselves as a leader in higher education nationally as well as in Western New York.”

The U.S. News and World Report’s Best Colleges rankings also included Daemen in its special Social Mobility Category, which was launched last year. Daemen is ranked No. 135 (tied) among national universities. The category measures how well institutions graduate students who have received Pell Grants. On the 2021, list, Daemen is No. 17 among national universities ranked in New York State and one of only two private colleges in the Buffalo Niagara region from across the state listed in the top 20 for social mobility. 

According to U.S. News, “Economically disadvantaged students are less likely than others to finish college. But some colleges are more successful than others at advancing social mobility by enrolling and graduating large proportions of disadvantaged students awarded Pell Grants.”

The 36th edition of the U.S. News and World Report’s Best Colleges rankings evaluates more than 1,400 colleges and universities in 17 measures of academic quality. The data used in the 2021 Best Colleges rankings pertains to student and faculty cohorts that predate the pandemic.

Rankings are based on nine broad categories, including graduation and retention, which includes average six-year graduation rate and average six-year student retention rate; graduation rate performance; graduate indebtedness; social mobility; faculty resources, which includes class size, faculty compensation, percent of full-time faculty, percent of faculty with the highest degree in their field, and student-faculty ratio; expert opinion, which is based on peer assessment surveys; financial resources; student  excellence; and alumni giving.

Categories for U.S. News and World Report’s college rankings are related to those used by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Daemen is ranked in the Carnegie Classification’s prominent doctoral category, which is the top tier classification.