Rankings and Recognitions

When you remake the world, the world tends to notice. Don’t just take our word for it. Our reputation as one of the world’s top universities has been acknowledged by many leading college guides, industry, and internationally respected publications. As you search for the right university, consider what others have to say about RIT.

U.S. News & World Report

  • Ranked 112th in the “National Universities” category (2021)
  • Tied for 11th among top schools co-op or internship programs and 44th for undergraduate research opportunities under a new category, “Academic Programs to Look For” (2021)
  • Ranked 33rd among “best value schools” (2021)
  • Tied for 76th among “Best Colleges for Veterans” (2021)
  • Ranked 83rd for student excellence based on percentage of first-year students in top 10 percent of their high school class and SAT/ACT scores
  • Ranked 103 for social mobility, which measured how well schools graduate students receiving federal Pell grants (2021)
  • Ranked in top 50 among national universities in a national survey of “High School Counselors Top College Picks” (2019)
  • Ranked 50th among "most innovative schools" (2021)

Princeton Review

  • Listed in 2019 edition of The Best Value Colleges: 200 Schools with Exceptional ROI for Your Tuition Investment
  • Listed in 2021’s “Best 386 Colleges” and 2018’s “Best Northeastern Colleges”
  • Featured in the 2017 edition of “Colleges That Create Futures: 50 Schools That Launch Careers by Going Beyond the Classroom”
  • RIT’s Saunders College of Business is ranked eighth in the “Top 25 Online MBA Programs” for 2019
  • Included in “The Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges: 2020 Edition” (10th consecutive year)

Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education

  • Ranked 155th among U.S. colleges in The Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education rankings, placing RIT among the top 25 percent of colleges and universities in nation.
  • Engagement: Ranked No. 38 for engagement—how immersed students are in the academic experience, a result of survey responses on the difficulty of classes and the students’ likelihood to recommend RIT to their peers, among other indicators—placing RIT in the top 10 percent in the nation.
  • Right choice! If you could start over, would you still choose this college? Of all the students surveyed, those at RIT were more likely than students at most other colleges to say they would choose it again.
  • Inspiring! Does your college provide an environment where you feel you are surrounded by exceptional students? Students at RIT were more likely to feel inspired by their classmates than students at many other colleges.
  • Worth the Cost! Do you think your college will be worth what you and your family are paying? Of all the students surveyed, those at RIT were more likely than those at many other schools to believe their experience was worth the investment.

Undergraduate Programs

  • U.S. News & World Report
    • Ranked 83rd for student excellence based on percentage of first-year students in top 10 percent of their high school class and SAT/ACT scores
    • Tied for 59th out of more than 200 engineering colleges programs where the highest degree is doctorate (Kate Gleason College of Engineering) (2021)
    • Tied for 67th place out of more than 500 undergraduate business programs (Saunders College of Business) (2021)
    • Tied for 52nd out of 481 undergraduate computer science programs, a new category in this year’s rankings (Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences) (2021)
  • Forbes Magazine
    • Ranked 66th — fourth best among universities — by Forbes magazine on its 2019 list of “America’s Best Midsize Employers”
    • Listed in Forbes Magazine as one of America’s Best Colleges
  • Princeton Review
    • Ranked eighth nationally for “Top Schools for Video Game Design for 2019”— undergraduate programs

Graduate Programs

  • U.S. News & World Report
    • RIT’s online programs: Best MBA (tied for 26th), Best Graduate Engineering (tied for 63rd), Best Graduate Business Program, excluding MBA (114th) and Best Graduate Computer Information Technology program (41st) (2021)
    • RIT graduate programs: business (tied at 89th), engineering (tied at 72nd), computer science (tied at 68th), fine arts (23rd), photography (6th), physician assistant, (108th) and physics (tied at 69th) (2021)
    • Saunders College of Business ranked 91st among the nation’s best graduate schools for business
    • Saunders College of Business tied for 89th among the nation’s top MBA programs for full-time students (2021)
    • Saunders College of Business ranked 29th for business analytics program (2021)
    • Saunders College of Business ranked 141st for part-time MBA programs
    • Saunders College of Business ranked 22nd for “Best Online MBA Programs for Veterans”
    • Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences ranked in the 45th – 58th range among the nation’s best online information technology programs (2020)
    • Tied for 68th among the nation’s best computer science graduate programs, offered in Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences (2021)
    • Kate Gleason College of Engineering tied for 72nd in engineering schools offering a doctorate (2021)
    • College of Health Sciences and Technology tied for 108th among master’s degree programs in physician assistant (2021)
    • Tied for 23rd among universities offering graduate-level studies in fine arts (MFA) (2021)
    • Tied for sixth in graduate studies in photography (MFA) (2021)
    • Ranked eighth in graduate studies in industrial design (MFA)
    • Ranked 12th in graduate studies in multimedia/visual communications (MFA)
  • Princeton Review
    • Ranked seventh nationally for “Top Schools for Video Game Design for 2019”— graduate programs
  • Times Higher Education/The Wall Street Journal
    • The MBA program at Saunders College of Business has been ranked 54th among business colleges and universities around the world. (2019)

Value

  • U.S. News & World Report
    • Ranked 33rd among “best value schools” (2021)
  • Princeton Review
    • Named among “Best Value Colleges for 2020.” Only 7 percent of four-year colleges qualify for the annual Princeton Review list.
  • Kiplinger’s Personal Finance
    • RIT ranks among the country’s best values in private colleges, according to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance 2018 edition. RIT ranked 91st on the list of private universities.
  • Money Magazine
    • RIT is among the universities included in rankings by Money magazine’s: “727 Best Colleges for Your Money.”
    • RIT also ranked on a specialty list: “The 50 Colleges that Add the Most Value.”

Diversity

  • Forbes Magazine
    • Ranked No. 115 in Forbes’ 2020 “America’s Best Employers for Diversity,” which also places RIT No. 13 among all U.S. colleges and universities.
  • Winds of Change magazine
    • ​​​​​​​For the ninth year in a row, RIT has been listed as one of the “Top 200 Colleges for Native Americans” in the American Indian Science and Engineering Society’s Winds of Change magazine. The Top 200 List identifies colleges and universities where American Indian students attend in significant numbers, and where the campus community, Native American programs, and academic support services enable high levels of success for American Indian students.
  • INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine
    • 2020 Diversity Champion. For the sixth consecutive year, INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine recognized RIT as a “Diversity Champion,” one of the first colleges and universities in the nation to receive the designation. Diversity Champions exemplify an unyielding commitment to diversity and inclusion throughout their campus communities, across academic programs, and at the highest administrative levels.
    • Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award for successful efforts in the areas of campus diversity and inclusion (2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014).