U.S. News and World report has recognized Rogers State University as one of the top universities in the western region of the United States in its “2025 Best Colleges” rankings, released Tuesday, Sept. 24.
RSU ranked ninth in “Top Public Schools – Regional Colleges of the West,” up from its previous ranking of 10th in 2024. The ranking is the highest ranking on the list for any college or university in the state of Oklahoma. The “West” region includes 15 states, from Oklahoma and Texas, all the way to California, the West Coast, and Alaska.
RSU received another top ranking in the region, ranking 31st on the list for “Overall Rank – Regional Colleges of the West.”
RSU also received recognition in the 35th position for “Top Performers on Social Mobility – Regional Colleges of the West.” This ranking is based on an institution’s success in graduating students who receive Federal Pell grants, as well as additional factors including graduation rates for first generation college students.
For the first time, RSU’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing program received a national ranking on U.S. News and World Report’s “2025 Best Colleges” list. The RSU Nursing program has a reputation for excellence, with its graduates passing the NCLEX at a rate higher than both the state and national averages.
“These rankings by U.S. News and World Report are yet another indication of the quality, transformative education found at Rogers State University,” said RSU Interim President Dr. Mark Rasor. “Our emphasis on preparing graduates for the workplace while also maintaining an affordable public residential university experience has bolstered RSU’s reputation in the region and helped us climb in these rankings. I am grateful to our students, staff, faculty, administrators and alumni who make RSU such a remarkable university. I am proud to be leading what I believe is the premier regional university in Oklahoma.”
Now in its 40th year, the U.S. News and World Report Best Colleges rankings evaluate nearly 1,500 national colleges and universities on up to 17 measures of academic quality and place an emphasis on social mobility and outcomes for graduating college students.
Rankings are determined by placing each school into a category based on its mission and by its geographic region of the U.S. (North, South, Midwest and West). U.S. News then gathers data from and about each school to measure academic excellence using numerous factors, among these, graduation rates, first-year retention rates, graduation rate performance, peer assessment, borrower debt, student/faculty ratio, full-time faculty and more.
Each indicator is designated a weight based on researched judgements about which measures of quality matter most. Lastly, colleges are ranked based upon their overall scores.
Data for the 2025 Best Colleges was gathered by U.S. News in the spring and early summer of 2024.
Rogers State University is a regional four-year university serving northeastern Oklahoma and is the only four-year public residential university in the Tulsa metropolitan area.
For more information about RSU or to apply, visit www.rsu.edu.