BYU 71st overall, U. 124th in annual Best Colleges rankings

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's colleges and universities pretty much held their place among the U.S. News & World Report's Best Colleges annual rankings.

Among the notable numbers, Brigham Young University's accounting program ranked third best in the nation. BYU also ranked 13th in best value schools, moving up seven spots from last year.

"We're pleased anytime we receive a ranking," said BYU spokesman Todd Hollingshead. "In particular, the great price ranking, that's something that we certainly strive to do: offer a great education to our students at an affordable cost. It's nice to have that recognition."

BYU ranked 71st in overall national universities, leading Utah's higher education institutions. The University of Utah ranked 124th and Utah State University ranked 170th.

The U.'s David Eccles School of Business moved up 12 spots to rank 55th in the nation for business schools.

"We've been working to improve our programs and get the word out to the better students we hope to attract," said Taylor Randall, dean of the Eccles School of Business. "We realize the rankings aren't perfect, but this is an indicator of the work we've been doing over the past few years."

The U.'s S.J. Quinney College of Law and BYU's J. Reuben Clark Law School tied for the second year in ranking 42nd in the nation's best law schools.

Utah's only school of medicine, at the U., ranked 26th for primary care education and 54th for medical research.

This year Harvard and Princeton universities were tied for first place on the list of top national universities, with Yale and Columbia following close behind.

Among Western regional universities, Westminster College led Utah's colleges, ranking 26th in the nation. Southern Utah University overtook Weber State University, ranking 71st with Weber ranking 76th. Utah Valley University was not ranked.

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