U.S. News & World Report has ranked Rockhurst University No. 14 in the Midwest Best Universities — Master's category in its 2006 rankings released in August. The rankings are part of the magazine's annual “America's Best Colleges” issue and accompanying guidebook.

The magazine bases its rankings on a number of criteria including peer assessments, freshman retention rate, graduation rate, faculty resources, class sizes, student/faculty ratio, student selectivity, acceptance rate, financial resources and alumni giving rate.

Institutions in the Best Universities — Master's category provide a full range of undergraduate and master's programs, but offer few, if any, doctoral programs. Both public and private colleges are included. More than 175 master's institutions are included in the Midwest region. Find out more from U.S. News online.

"This ranking is one more validation of the exceptional quality of the Rockhurst experience. Our 2005 freshman class is 20 percent larger than last year, and is one of the strongest academically in many years," said the Rev. Edward Kinerk, S.J., president of Rockhurst University.
Rockhurst has been ranked consistently as one of the top 15 universities in the Midwest by U.S. News & World Report. It also has been listed in Barron's Best Buys in College Education, Peterson's Competitive Colleges and Money magazine. In 2003, the Carnegie Foundation designated Rockhurst as a national leadership site for the scholarship of teaching and learning. Rockhurst is one of only a handful of universities in the nation to earn this distinction.
"We encourage students to look at these rankings as part of a holistic approach in their college selection. There are many aspects of a Rockhurst education that cannot be measured in these rankings, such as our distinctive mission, which calls on us to develop each student as a whole person — intellectually and professionally, morally and spiritually," said Fr. Kinerk.