Students at Cornell may be pleased to find out that they are not only at one of the best universities in the world, but also the best college town, according to two separate recent rankings.
Cornell was recognized as the 14th best in the world from QS World University Rankings, while Ithaca took home the top spot as the best college town in the United States by the website Schools.com.
According to schools.com, a website dedicated to being a “hub” for higher education topics, the town consistently “ranks in the top third of all schools in our rankings” and ranks sixth in affordability.
The parameters of college towns were defined as towns with less than 150,000 people, and the website looked at 170 communities.
Schools.com looked at factors beyond those that only affect current students — Ithaca’s high ranking can be attributed to its low cost of living for graduates who stay in Ithaca after they leave as well as its public school system.
The website also praised the “quality education” in Ithaca, adding that “students come together for uniquely Ithaca events.”
This is not the first time Ithaca has been esteemed as a college town — in 2014, Business Insider ranked it as the fourth best college town.
“Ithaca is the perfect mixture of giving students everything they would want in a college experience and offering seemingly endless opportunities to explore a unique local culture,” read another Business Insider article.
In June, Cornell was ranked also as 14th in the world for 2018 by QS World University Rankings, which gave it an overall score of 90.7 out of 100.
QS bases rankings academic reputation, citations per faculty, student-to-faculty ratio, employer reputation, international faculty and international students, according to its website.
Academic reputation weighs the most heavily at 40 percent on the overall score. Cornell’s ranking with QS comes as an improvement from the 2017 ranking of number 16, as well from the 2015 ranking as number 19.