Duke ranked eighth in the 2027 edition of the U.S. News and World Report Best National University rankings, falling one place from last year’s rank.
The 2026-27 rankings, published Monday evening, mark Duke’s lowest ranking in four years — albeit only two places behind its No. 6 slot in the 2024-25 rankings.
Duke broke away from Johns Hopkins University and Northwestern University in this year’s rankings after tying the institutions for two years in a row. The University of Pennsylvania — which also tied Duke in last year’s rankings — remained the sole No. 7 this year.
For the first time since 2011, Princeton University did not top the rankings, instead placing second. Instead, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology took first place this year, marking MIT’s highest ranking to date.
https://dukechronicle.com/article/duke-university-slip-8th-place-us-news-world-report-national-ranking-best-university-ivy-harvard-princeton-stanford-mit-caltech-northwestern-yale-pennsylvania-cornell-johns-hopkins-brown-20260922?shem=dsdf,sharefoc,agadiscoversdl,,sh/x/discover/m1/4Returning to the top 10 this year, the California Institute of Technology rose six places to claim the fifth spot, up from 11th last year; Stanford University tied Caltech for fifth, dropping one place. Other Ivy+ schools in the top 10 include Harvard University at No. 3 for the fifth year in a row; Yale University maintaining its No. 4 spot; and Johns Hopkins, Northwestern and the University of Chicago tied for ninth.
Of the remaining Ivy League schools, Dartmouth University and Columbia University tied for No. 12, Cornell University ranked 14th and Brown University came in last at No. 16. Brown is part of a four-way tie with Vanderbilt University, Rice University and Washington University in St. Louis.
Duke’s highest ever ranking was in 1998, peaking at No. 3. Its lowest ranking came in 1989 and 2021, when the University placed 12th. Duke has generally been in the top 10 schools since the modern U.S. News rankings began in 1988.
