Accolades & Honors

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U.S. News & World Report

Ramapo College remains a top institution in the Best Regional Universities North category, ascending to #27 among all schools in the same region, as determined in the 2023-2024 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges. The results affirm Ramapo’s value as an institution that combines high-quality programs, affordability, and dedication to student success. Additional rankings include:

Top Value School, a category that looks at the quality of academic programming delivered with a low net cost of attendance, climbing up 12 spots.
Top Performers on Social Mobility, a category that measures success in enrolling and graduating a large proportion of economically disadvantaged students, earned Ramapo the #57 spot on the list in the region, up 14 from 2022.
Best Undergraduate Teaching, an honor acknowledges how our faculty and administrators are committed to teaching undergraduate students in a high-quality manner, ascending the rankings 12 spots.
Best Colleges for Veteran Students, recognizing Ramapo’s commitment to veteran students, increasing by two places.
Nursing, Business, and Psychology all earned designations for their strong and competitive undergraduate programs.

Institutions ranked in the Best Regional Universities category provide a full range of undergraduate and master’s programs. Over the past two decades, the U.S. News college rankings, which group schools based on categories created by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, have grown to be one of the most comprehensive research tools for students and parents considering higher education opportunities.

College Choice

Ramapo College of New Jersey is named among the top in College Choice’s 20 Best Colleges in New Jersey in 2023. Ramapo ranks as #1 among the nine public colleges in New Jersey and is ranked #3, with Princeton University and Stevens Institute of Technology, in the top two spots.

College Choice, a leading authority in college and university rankings and resources, developed its list by assessing academic quality, institutional reputation, program accreditation, along with return on investment—the differential between tuition costs and average early career earnings. Data came from the National Center for Education Statistics, Payscale, and U.S. News & World Report.

Forbes

Ramapo College of New Jersey has once again been named to Forbes’ America’s Best Colleges for 2024, retaining its top 10 ranking for public medium-sized schools. Only 500 four-year schools were selected after careful review of data points that include alumni salary, student debt load, graduation rate, return on investment, retention rate, and Forbes American Leaders List.

Princeton Review

Ramapo College of New Jersey is recognized in the listing for 2025 Best Colleges: Region by Region for the Northeast. The lists are based on survey responses from “the true experts in on-campus life – the students.”

Washington Monthly

Ramapo College of New Jersey has been named to Washington Monthly’s 2024 Master’s University list, which ranks liberal arts colleges—four-year institutions that award almost exclusively bachelor’s degrees and that focus on arts and sciences rather than professional programs—based on a contribution to the public good in three broad categories: social mobility, research, and promoting public service.

Washington Monthly also ranked Ramapo College #19 nationally for Women in STEM in Mathematics in 2024.

Colleges of Distinction

Ramapo College of New Jersey has been recognized as a College of Distinction for 2024-2025 in the U.S. by Colleges of Distinction, which honors schools nationwide for their excellence in:

Student Engagement
Quality of Teaching
Vibrancy of the College Community
Success of Graduates

Ramapo was also hand-picked for awards in the following areas:

Niche

For the seventh consecutive year, Ramapo College’s residence halls are ranked #1 among all public and private colleges and universities in New Jersey by Niche in its announcement of the 2025 Best College Dorms in America. Nationally, Ramapo maintained its ranking in the top 2 percent, moving up jumping seven spots to #16 out of 1,447 institutions. Per Niche, top-ranked colleges offer outstanding campus housing that is safe and clean with modern amenities at reasonable prices. This ranking is especially meaningful as the reviews come from directly from our students. See for yourself why our residence halls consistently receives high rankings.

Ramapo College ranks in the top 8% nationally as a Best Value College in Niche for 2025. Students and families seek assurance of a worthwhile return on their college investment, and that is what Roadrunners get at Ramapo.

Money Magazine

Ramapo College of New Jersey has been named to the 2024 Best Colleges in America list by Money magazine. Only the top 745 higher education institutions made the list. Factors including graduation rates, cost of attendance, and financial aid were analyzed to determine the 4.5 star rating, placing Ramapo right behind the only two 5.0 star rated institutions in New Jersey, Princeton and Stevens Institute of Technology.

Ramapo College of New Jersey has been honored by Money magazine on its 2024 Best Colleges in the Northeast rankings list, one of only 74 in the region, and the only public college in Northern New Jersey.

Condé Nast Traveler

Ramapo College of New Jersey has been named by Condé Nast Traveler one of the 50 Most Beautiful College Campuses in America. Ramapo has long boasted its pastoral location in the foothills of the Ramapo Mountains. Take a ride on a virtual skateboard and see why our picturesque campus earned this designation, or visit our campus for a guided tour.

RegisteredNursing.org

Ramapo College of New Jersey has once again been ranked as the #1 online RN to BSN program in NJ for 2024 and is one of the top 3 RN nursing programs in NJ for 2024. Offering both structured and open degree completion options, coupled with clinical leadership and a variety of clinical experiences, our program is extremely friendly for working RN schedules.

The MSN in Nursing Administration has been ranked #5 in the nation for 2024. The Nursing Administration program offers nurses the knowledge and expertise necessary to achieve the goals of addressing the management of nursing teams, staff, and other duties as outlined by the AACN and hospital leadership in the region.

Learn more about the BSN, RN to BSN, MSN, and DNP nursing programs at Ramapo College.

Nursing Process

Ramapo College of New Jersey is one of the top 5 best nursing schools in NJ for its Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program by Nursing Process. Learn more about the nursing program at Ramapo College.

MBA Guide Top 20 MBA Program

Ramapo College of New Jersey proudly offers the #2 public college MBA program in NJ, as rated by MBA Guide for 2024. The Anisfield School of Business is one of the select institutions worldwide that is accredited by the AACSB. The MBA program affords both business and non-business majors as well as working professionals a variety of ways to earn your degree while being mentored by experienced faculty who are active researchers in the field, ensuring you receive the highest quality education with the personal connections a smaller institution like Ramapo College offers.

Animation Career Review

Ramapo College of New Jersey has been recognized as the #4 top graphic design school program in New Jersey in 2024 by Animation Career Review. Criteria for determining such a designation include academic reputation, depth and breadth of program faculty, value related to tuition and indebtedness, and graduation and retention rates. To learn more about visual arts and visual communication arts programs at Ramapo College, visit the School of Contemporary Arts website.

Military Friendly®

Ramapo College of New Jersey has earned the gold award as a military-friendly school by 2024-2025 Military Friendly® Schools. Of the more than 12,000 VA-approved schools nationwide, only the top 15 percent of schools were recognized as military friendly. Ramapo was noted for its services to veterans that include reasonable transfer of credit, financial benefits, veterans clubs, credit for military training and nationally recognized testing programs, flexible class schedules, and membership in the Service Members Opportunities Colleges. Learn more about the support available for veteran students at Ramapo College.

ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge

Ramapo College of New Jersey has been recognized as having a Highly Established Voting Plan for 2024 by ALL IN. In 2022, Ramapo College of New Jersey was recognized in as an ALL IN Most Engaged Campus for College Student Voting. ALL IN recognizes colleges and universities for making intentional efforts to increase student voter participation.

Ramapo joins a select group of 394 colleges and universities nationwide that have been named by ALL IN for completing these four actions:

Participating in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge
Sharing 2020 NSLVE Reports with campus voting data with ALL IN
Developing and submitting a 2022 democratic engagement action plan with ALL IN
Having a current signatory to ALL IN’s Higher Education Presidents’ Commitment to Full Student Voter Participation.

Ramapo College also earned the 2022 gold award from the ALL IN Challenge. This is the second year in a row Ramapo College won the gold award for engaging students to participate in the democratic voting process. More than 77% of students voted in the 2020 election, which is 11.1% higher than the national average for college campuses. This is also an increase of 22.6% from participation in the 2016 election. Read more about how Ramapo College engages students to vote here. The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge empowers colleges and universities to achieve excellence in nonpartisan student democratic engagement.

College Magazine

Ramapo College of New Jersey has been recognized by College Magazine as one of the top ten campuses for students with physical disabilities for 2023-2024. Disability-friendly accommodations such accessible residence halls, classrooms, and transportation are why Ramapo College one of the best schools for students who need physical accommodations.

Great Value Colleges

Ramapo College of New Jersey has been recognized by Great Value Colleges as the top college in New Jersey and was ranked 24^th in the country on its list of Best Disability Friendly Schools. Ramapo College’s Office of Specialized Services (OSS) coordinates the support services and accommodations for approximately 500 students with disability. According to Greatvaluecolleges.net, professional organizations that track disability in the United States note that levels of disability employment, earnings and health vary greatly from state to state, and there is still a vast disparity between American Colleges when it comes to educating people with disabilities. Ramapo was distinguished for its “top-notch disability services that allow their students to succeed.”

National Association of Colleges and Employers

Ramapo College of New Jersey has been recognized for excellence in career services by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). Ramapo’s “Pathways to Success: Creating a Culture and Structure of Career Development” was named the top program in the category honoring career services best practices in 2021.

Arbor Day Foundation

Ramapo College of New Jersey achieved recognition as a 2023 Tree Campus Higher Education institution. Tree Campus Higher Education, a national program launched in 2008 by the Arbor Day Foundation, honors colleges and universities and their leaders for promoting healthy trees and engaging students and staff in the spirit of conservation. To obtain this distinction, Ramapo College of New Jersey met the five core standards for effective campus forest management, including establishment of a tree advisory committee, evidence of a campus tree care plan, dedicated annual expenditures for its campus tree program, an Arbor Day observance, and the sponsorship of student service learning projects.

The Templeton Guide

The John Templeton Foundation has named Ramapo College of New Jersey to its Honor Roll for Character-Building Colleges, which recognizes institutions that emphasize character development as an integral aspect of the undergraduate experience. Colleges must exhibit a strong and inspiring campus-wide ethos that articulates the expectations of personal and civic responsibility in all dimensions of college life. Selection criteria include:

The significant involvement and participation of faculty in forming and shaping the ideals and standards of personal and civic responsibility
Evidence that a wide variety of programs exist to prepare students for lives of personal and civic responsibility
The integration of personal and civic responsibility standards and activities into the core curriculum or areas of academic study
External recognition or honors
Procedures to assess effectiveness of campus-wide character-development programs