By David Simpson
For the fifth straight year, Old Dominion University is one of the top institutions in U.S. News & World Report's Best Colleges rankings.
ODU ranked in the top tier of 1,500 national higher education institutions evaluated for the 2022-2023 report, and placed 156th among public schools.
In addition, Old Dominion remained a top performer in advancing social mobility, tying for No. 140. The criteria for this category included the rates at which each school enrolled and graduated disadvantaged students awarded Pell Grants. Most of these federal grants go to students whose adjusted gross family incomes are under $50,000.
Several ODU academic programs posted strong gains:
- Undergraduate business program - No. 144 (up from No. 166 last year)
- Undergraduate nursing program - No. 153 (up from No. 183 last year)
- Undergraduate computer science program - No. 172 (up from No. 191 last year)
ODU also was ranked No. 150 among undergraduate engineering programs at doctoral institutions.
"The U.S. News and World Report rankings reflect the continuing strength of Old Dominion University's academic programs," said Austin Agho, provost and vice president for academic affairs. "Further, they highlight the tremendous success of our efforts to support underrepresented and low-income students."
To see the complete 2022-2023 Best Colleges rankings, visit U.S. News & World Report.
Honors have been plentiful for the University this year.
Five ODU distance-learning programs were named among the best in the nation by U.S. News & World Report in January.
In March, Old Dominion earned a Gold ranking as a Military Friendly® School for 2022-2023 from militaryfriendly.com.
In April, Old Dominion was recognized as a top-tier institution in the Center for World University Rankings' Global 2000 list.
In May, the school was recognized as a global leader for addressing inequality, tying for 65th in the world and ranking fifth among U.S. institutions for reducing inequalities in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings for 2022.
In June, the University was awarded the No. 1 ranking in Virginia in a new Economic Mobility Index created by the public policy think tank Third Way. That same month, the school was named one of the nation's Colleges of Distinction for the 2022-23 academic year.
And this month, ODU's online master of business administration program was rated No. 24 in the East Coast and No. 4 in Virginia in the Online MBA Report's 2022 rankings.
