The New School fell 12 places in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2025 national rankings, from no. 201 to no. 213. It marks another year of decline after major changes to the ranking methodology.

This is the second consecutive year that The New School’s ranking fell, continuing a pattern that began with a sharp decline. The university dropped 74 spots in 2024 from its 2023 ranking of no. 127.

The New School’s plunge in ranking in 2024 followed a shift in how U.S. News & World evaluates institutions.

U.S. News & World changed the criteria and weighting used to rank colleges. It weighted categories like graduation rates, post-graduation earnings, and how well colleges support students who receive Pell Grants heavier. Meanwhile, other factors — like alumni donations, class sizes, and reputation surveys — now carry less weight.

Olivia Young, a former news reporter on the New School Free Press, wrote an article in 2023 that reported on The New School’s rank drop of that year. She honed in on the methodology changes in ranking systems and why they’re causing rank drops among private schools like The New School.

“The most drastic data point comes from an addition to the methodology: college graduates earning more than a high school graduate earns. This measure examines the number of federal loan recipients who earned more after completing their undergraduate degree than those whose highest level of education is a high school diploma,” Young said. “Here, New School ranked 396 out of 404 institutions.” 

Other ranking sites show a similar pattern. The New School’s College Factual ranking dropped from no. 205 to no. 208 from 2023 to 2025. 

Other private universities such as Fordham University, Pace University, and even Columbia University have all seen their rankings decline in recent years. 

In 2023, Columbia announced that it would no longer be sharing data with U.S. News & World, the first major university to do so. The announcement came after the Ivy League school dropped from its no. 2 spot to no. 18 in September of that year. 

Columbia said it had become concerned about the outsized influence the rankings played in the undergraduate admissions process. “Much is lost in this approach,” the university said in an announcement signed by officials. 

Amy Malsin, Vice President of University Communications at the New School, said “we are proud of the exceptional learning experience we offer our students — the value of our rigorous, multidimensional approach to education can be seen and felt in the daily impact our students, faculty, staff, and alumni have on the world.”

“As always, we will continue to evaluate our distinctive academic experience by our own standards, those of our accrediting body’s standards, as well as other evaluative entities such as college rankings,” she said.

Jeffery Salingo wrote in The Atlantic, “reputation is still the biggest factor in the U.S. News methodology, and plenty of people still care enough about an exclusive brand to pay a premium for it.”

But in recent years, Salingo said, “many families have begun to put more emphasis on practical matters such as tuition costs, hands-on learning, and career outcomes.”