MACON/ATLANTA – Mercer University once again ranks among the top national universities in value, undergraduate teaching, nursing and engineering, according to U.S. News & World Report’s annual America’s Best Colleges issue, released today.
Mercer came in at No. 38 on the Best Value ranking list, which takes into account an institution’s academic quality and the previous year’s net cost of attendance for a student who received the average level of need-based financial aid.
The University continued to be recognized for outstanding undergraduate teaching by U.S. News, ranking No. 58 in the nation.
Coming in at No. 74, the College of Nursing’s undergraduate program jumped 56 spots in the rankings. The program, which this fall expanded its four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree to be offered on the Macon campus in addition to the Atlanta campus, is the longest-established nursing program in Georgia and has a strong reputation for excellence in scholarship, leadership, education, clinical practice and service.
The School of Engineering’s undergraduate program, consistently ranked among the nation’s top engineering programs that have bachelor’s or master’s as their terminal degrees, ranked No. 46 based on surveys of engineering deans and senior faculty at accredited programs.
The University’s undergraduate business and psychology programs also ranked highly, and Mercer was again recognized as one of the Best Colleges for Veterans.
The 2026 rankings evaluate more than 1,700 U.S. colleges and universities, using up to 17 factors to measure academic quality and graduate success.
According to U.S. News & World Report, schools in the national universities category offer a full range of undergraduate majors, plus master’s and doctoral programs and are committed to producing groundbreaking research. The institutions are evaluated based on factors such as peer assessment, freshman retention, graduation rate, class size, student-faculty ratio, academic profile of entering class and acceptance rate.
To view the full rankings and see more information on U.S. News & World Report’s ranking methodology, visit usnews.com/colleges.
