Emory maintained its 18th place ranking for the fourth year in a row among 249 national universities in this year’s U.S. News & World Report annual college quality rankings. The Goizueta Business School was 18th in the rankings of undergraduate business programs as well.

We continue to progress on many fronts toward our long-term goals as a university, and we are glad to be recognized as one of the nation’s top teaching and research institutions,” said interim Provost Woody Hunter.

Emory’s rankings on the survey’s components included: 4 out of 5 in academic reputation, 20th in student selectivity, sixth in faculty resources, 13th in overall financial resources, 23rd in graduation and retention, and 19th in alumni giving.

On the faculty resources rank —which accounts for 20 percent of the final score and is mainly derived from faculty compensation and average class size—Emory remained in sixth place, a higher score in this area than Yale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford and many other universities.

This year the magazine continued its list of schools that offer the best value, titled “Great Schools at Great Prices.” Emory placed 26th on this list, in which universities are ranked based on both the net cost of attendance and the school’s academic quality.

Unlike the national university rankings, the magazine’s business program rankings are based solely on a survey U.S. News conducts of deans and senior faculty at business schools.

“We would be better served if the methodology for this survey employed any quantitative or school-reported data,” said Andrea Hershatter, assistant dean and director of the undergraduate business program. “However, we do acknowledge that a reputational survey has some impact in external markets, and will continue to work toward getting the word out about our excellence.”

Goizueta’s 18th place ranking for its undergraduate program comes in the wake of its 17th place ranking earlier this week by The Wall Street Journal in its second annual survey of MBA recruiters. Goizueta rose from number 19 last year and was rated in the top 10 in students’ ability to work well within a team (7th); students’ communication and interpersonal skills (8th); and the academic discipline of marketing (10th).

The rankings will be in the Sept. 23 issue of the magazine, which will appear on news-stands Sept. 16, and at www.usnews.com.