App State ranks among ‘Best’ schools in US, Southeast for 2021 and 2022

BOONE, N.C. — App State University By Anna Oakes and Jessica Stump Posted Sep. 17, 2021 at 4:30 p.m.

U.S. News & World Report, The Princeton Review and Forbes magazine have all confirmed what many Mountaineers hold to be true — Appalachian State University is among the country’s best higher education institutions.

The three national publications recently recognized App State for its academics, innovation, benefits for student veterans, programs to enhance the first-year experience and other aspects, naming the university to the following lists for 2021 and 2022:

“Best Colleges” rankings for 2022 — U.S. News & World Report.
“The Best 387 Colleges” and “Best Colleges: Region by Region” rankings for 2022 — The Princeton Review.
“America’s Top Colleges” rankings for 2021— Forbes magazine.
“Year after year, App State’s rankings affirm that we are an epicenter of educational leadership — from groundbreaking research and creative endeavors, to engaging first-year experiences and resources for student-veterans,” said App State Chancellor Sheri Everts.

She continued, “The value of an App State education speaks to the excellence of our faculty and staff, who continually find new ways to support and mentor our ambitious and supportive community of students.”

Read on to learn more about App State’s accolades.

App State one of ‘Best Colleges’ for 2022 — US News & World Report
App State again earned high marks in U.S. News & World Report’s annual “Best Colleges” rankings, released Sept. 13.

For the second year in a row, App State tops the list for Most Innovative Schools among Southern universities, identified as No. 1 by top college officials for making innovative improvements in curriculum, faculty, students, campus life, technology or facilities.

App State also moved to second in the ranking for Southern universities in the Best Colleges for Veterans category, up one spot from last year, and earned the second spot among Southern universities in the Undergraduate Teaching category.

For 2022, the university also held its rankings for the third consecutive year in two categories: third in Top Public Schools in the South and sixth in Best Regional Universities of the South.

In other U.S. News honors, App State ranked in the following categories:

No. 13 in the Learning Communities category.
No. 22 among Southern regional universities in the Best Value category.
No. 28 for First-Year Experiences.
U.S. News collected data from more than 1,850 institutions and used 17 metrics — including graduation and retention rates — to measure the schools’ academic quality, with the most weight placed on outcomes.

Since the U.S. News’ “Best Colleges” rankings were first published annually, beginning in 1987, App State has consistently placed among the top 15 public and private Southern universities.

See the full 2022 “Best Colleges” rankings.

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App State among ‘Best’ in the US and Southeast for 2022 — The Princeton Review
App State has been recognized as one of “The Best 387 Colleges” in the U.S. by The Princeton Review for 2022. Additionally, the publication named the university among 143 best schools in the Southeast for 2022 — part of its website feature “Best Colleges: Region by Region.” The institutions included in both lists, released Aug. 31, were unranked.

“It’s easy for Appalachian State University to attract undergraduates. Not only is the school ‘exceedingly affordable,’ but it offers ‘gorgeous scenery’ and ‘a strong sense of community that makes all its students feel like they have found their place,’” The Princeton Review wrote in its online profile on App State, citing input from students.

The profile also highlighted App State’s class sizes, which “allow a more personal learning experience” according to the students surveyed, as well as the university’s Honors College, textbook rental program, students’ passion for sustainability and wide variety of Outdoor Programs. The university’s student-to-faculty ratio is 16:1.

The Princeton Review selected schools primarily for their excellence in academic programs. Secondarily, editors took into account what students attending the schools reported to them about their campus experiences on a student survey for this project.

App State also has the distinction of being one of 416 national and international colleges and universities named in The Princeton Review’s 2021 “Guide to Green Colleges,” released in October 2020. Schools included in the guide were recognized for having exemplary commitments to the environment and sustainability. The schools were unranked.

View “The Best 387 Colleges” list.

View the “Best Colleges: Region by Region” feature.

View the “Guide to Green Colleges” list.

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App State named among ‘America’s Top Colleges’ for 2021 — Forbes magazine
Returning after a pandemic pause in 2020 is Forbes’ “America’s Top Colleges” rankings list, announced Sept. 8. App State is one of 600 public and private schools named to the list and ranked in the top 10 private and public North Carolina schools included.

Additionally, App State was recognized among the top 100 schools in the South on the list.

Forbes factored in seven metrics to determine the rankings: alumni salaries; student loan debt; return on investment; graduation rates; retention rates; academic success; and the number of graduates produced by the schools who are named to designated lists of successful leaders in public service, business, the arts and athletics.

“Public universities can deliver the most outstanding education to the broadest range of students at the most affordable price,” the publication wrote.

Access the complete Forbes list of “America’s Top Colleges.”

About Appalachian State University
As the premier public undergraduate institution in the state of North Carolina, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives as global citizens who understand and engage their responsibilities in creating a sustainable future for all. The Appalachian Experience promotes a spirit of inclusion that brings people together in inspiring ways to acquire and create knowledge, to grow holistically, to act with passion and determination, and to embrace diversity and difference. Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Appalachian is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System. Appalachian enrolls more than 20,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and graduate majors.

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