Elon excels in the 2022 Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education US college rankings.
Elon University is ranked #14 in the nation and #1 in North Carolina among private universities for student engagement in the 2022 Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Rankings. Elon has an overall national ranking of #107 among 455 private universities, and is listed with Duke University, Wake Forest University and Davidson College as the only North Carolina schools ranked among the top 400 private institutions.
This is the sixth year that the Wall Street Journal and London-based Times Higher Education have collaborated on U.S. college rankings that are described as an answer “to questions that matter the most to students and their families: How likely am I to graduate, pay off my loans and get a good job? Does the college have plenty of resources to teach me properly? Will I be engaged and stretched in the classroom and get good access to my teachers? Is there a diverse campus community?”
The study is based on 15 performance indicators combining to create an overall score that reflects the broad strength of the institution. The data are related to academic resources, graduation rate, student-faculty ratio, academic reputation, faculty publishing, alumni salaries and other factors. Almost 20 percent of the ranking relies on a student survey dataset, which measures the opinions of over 170,000 U.S. students across all ranked colleges. Due to the pandemic, a student survey was not conducted this year and scores were based on survey results from the previous two years. Students were asked how their colleges support critical thinking, whether faculty members helped them apply their learning to the real world, and whether they felt encouraged to explore new ways of thinking and challenge their assumptions or values.
Elon’s strongest scores in the rankings factors relate to student engagement in their studies. Elon ties with Yale University, Brown University, Texas Christian University and Taylor University at #14 among private universities and #18 among all colleges and universities.
Student engagement is described as “the extent to which students immerse themselves in the intellectual and social life of their college – and a major component of engagement is the quality of a student’s contacts with faculty.” Elon students responding to a survey gave high marks to the ways that their studies promote critical thinking and applying their knowledge in real-world situations. They also rate Elon high for challenging academics and close collaboration with their professors and peers.
Elon also earned high scores for its graduation rate and its spending on academic programs and student support services. Including almost 800 public and private colleges and universities in the ranking, Elon has an overall rank of #143.
Elon’s student engagement ranking compared with other North Carolina institutions:
#18 Elon University
#36 Duke University
#36 North Carolina State University
#110 Appalachian State University
#110 Western Carolina University
#149 High Point University
#195 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
#195 East Carolina University
#195 University of North Carolina at Greensboro
#287 Wake Forest University
Elon’s overall national ranking compared with other North Carolina institutions:
#5 Duke University
#33 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
#61 Wake Forest University
#66 Davidson College
#117 North Carolina State University
#143 Elon University
#401-500 Campbell University
#401-500 Queens University
#501-600 East Carolina University
#501-600 High Point University
#501-600 University of North Carolina at Charlotte
#501-600 University of North Carolina at Greensboro
>600 Appalachian State University
>600 Johnson and Wales University – Charlotte
>600 Lenoir-Rhyne University
>600 North Carolina A&T State University
>600 North Carolina Central University
>600 University of North Carolina at Asheville
>600 University of North Carolina at Wilmington
>600 Western Carolina University
>600 Wingate University