ANN ARBOR, MI - After maintaining its position as the highest rated public university in America earlier this summer in the QS World University Rankings, the University of Michigan found itself holding steady among top public universities in another high profile collegiate ranking released Tuesday, Sept. 12.

UM maintained its position as the No. 4 public university in the country in the 2018 U.S. News & World Report rankings, while finishing 28th overall in the national ranking. The university dropped one spot from last year's tie for 27th in the rankings.

The U.S. News rankings compare more than 1,800 schools across the country on up to 15 indicators of excellence, such as class size, standardized test scores of incoming students and average graduation rate.

The ranking's weighted methodology is most heavily-based on outcomes, which accounts for 30 percent of the overall score and is based on retention and graduation rates.

In addition to outcomes, other measures in the rankings include faculty resources (20 percent); student excellence (12.5 percent); expert opinion (22.5 percent); financial resources (10 percent); and alumni giving (5 percent).

UM received an overall score of 74 on a 100-point scale. Its first-year retention rate held steady at 97 percent, while its overall graduation rate climbed one point to 91 percent, according to the rankings.

The rankings also indicated UM had a student-to-faculty ratio of 15-to-1, while 74 percent of its freshman class in 2016 were among the top 10 percent of their graduating high school class. Its acceptance rate for 2016 was 29 percent.

Among public universities, UM finished behind the University of California- Berkeley, University of California Los Angeles and University of Virginia, respectively, while the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill rounded out the top five.

Overall, Princeton University once again topped the list for National Universities. Harvard University remained at No. 2 while the University of Chicago and Yale University again tied for No. 3.

Michigan State University inched up one spot into a tie among six schools for No. 81 in the rankings. It was tied with several other schools for No. 33 among public schools in the ranking, dropping one spot from last year's No. 32 ranking.

Other Michigan universities appearing in the ranking were Michigan Technological University (tied for No. 124), Western Michigan University and Central Michigan University, who were tied at No. 207 and Wayne State University at No. 223.