Southeast Missouri State University has been recognized among the top 100 best regional universities in the Midwest according to the 2019 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings, underscoring Southeasts continued commitment to a student-centered education launching extraordinary careers.
The University has been consistently ranked by the publication since 1993.
Institutions categorized as best regional universities provide a full range of undergraduate programs and some masters degree programs. Therankings are based on several key measures of quality, including graduation and retention rates; outcomes, including social mobility by graduating students who received Pell grants; assessment of excellence by peers and counselors; faculty resources, student excellence; financial resources; and alumni giving. Regional universities are ranked against their peer group in one of four geographical regions: North, South, Midwest and West.
The U.S. Newsmethodology places the heaviest weight on student outcomes, including analyzing schools’ success at retaining and graduating students.
Southeast continues to make progress towards its goals of retaining at least 80 percent of all first-time, full-time students to the second year and graduating at least 60 percent of this cohort in six years. In fall 2017, Southeast achieved a retention rate of 75.1 percent and a graduation rate of 51.9 percent both the highest rates since Southeast began tracking this data.
Student success, through academic excellence and engagement, is our top priority, said Dr. Carlos Vargas, president of Southeast Missouri State University. Our institutional commitment to student learning, personal support and persistence are hallmarks of the student experience at Southeast. We are proud to afford our students opportunities to engage in diverse, dynamic and engaging learning experiences, preparing them for successful careers in the workforce after graduation.
According to the U.S. News rankings, Southeast also was listed 20th among top public regional universities in the Midwest. In addition, Southeasts programs in business were listed among U.S. News Best Undergraduate Business Programs and the Universitys engineering programs were included in its Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs rankings.
Southeasts inclusion in the 2019 edition of Best Colleges by U.S. News & World Report is consistent with other ranking organizations that regularly have selected Southeast Missouri State University among the best colleges and universities in the Midwest.
The 2019 edition of the U.S. News Best Colleges guidebook includes data on more than 1,800 colleges and universities. The Best Colleges 2019 guidebook will be on newsstands Oct. 16.