Naval Academy Keeps Bragging Rights in Annual College Rankings

Naval Academy Keeps Bragging Rights in Annual College Rankings
More than 1,000 U.S. Naval Academy graduates celebrate during the 2025 Graduation and Commissioning Ceremony at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium in Annapolis, Md., on May 23. (Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Vanessa White/Navy).

The U.S. Naval Academy moved up a spot in the annual U.S. News and World Report rankings for national liberal arts colleges, taking third place … and besting its rival service schools for another year.

 

The Annapolis, Md., school has finished first among academies in the rankings since 2018. The U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., tied for fifth this year with Maine’s Bowdoin College, while the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., finished in a three-way tie for 10th place with Minnesota’s Carlton College and Harvey Mudd College in California.

 

Williams College and Amherst College, both in Massachusetts, repeated their 1-2 finish from last year.

 

Every school in the top 10 aside from the service academies charges at least $68,000 in annual tuition and fees. They’re also all smaller than the academies – while the service schools each have more than 4,000 undergraduate students, Wellesley College in Massachusetts is the only other top 10 school with more than 2,400 undergrads.

 

[RELATED: Current, Former Officers Spearhead NASA’s New Astronaut Class]

 

The military academies took the first three spots in the publication’s top public schools listing, edging out Virginia Military Institute. West Point finished best among the service schools for engineering, tying for third in the publication’s rankings of schools that don’t offer doctorate degrees ahead of Navy (tied for fifth) and Air Force (tied for seventh).

 

The U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., ranked first overall in the publication’s list of “Regional Colleges North,” ahead of Cooper Union (New York City) and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y.

 

Princeton University edged out Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard to take top honors in the National Universities ranking.

 

[RELATED: The MOAA Scholarship Fund]

 

U.S. News and World Report weighs 17 factors in its rankings, measuring both academics and “graduate success,” according to its methodology. Graduation rates and peer assessments carry the heaviest weight.

 

The publication did not consider the academies – or any other schools that don’t charge tuition –  as part of its “Best Value Schools” ranking, which listed Princeton, Harvard, and Yale in the top spots.

 

younger-officer-h.png

Resources for Currently Serving Officers

MOAA can help you succeed in your military career and beyond.

Learn More

About the Author

Kevin Lilley
Kevin Lilley

Lilley serves as MOAA's digital content manager. His duties include producing, editing, and managing content for a variety of platforms, with a concentration on The MOAA Newsletter and MOAA.org. Follow him on X: @KRLilley