U.S. News & World Report best colleges: See how Long Island colleges ranked

College rankings used to be predictable. Not anymore.

One of the biggest names in Best College lists, U.S. News & World Report, released new rankings Tuesday that showed Rockville Centre's Molloy University leaping up 27 places to be named among the top 40 regional universities in the North, while the tiny, naval engineering-focused Webb Institute in Glen Cove made its debut at No. 3 among Northern regional colleges.

The shake-up comes as U.S. News has revamped its rankings to focus on how well schools prepare a wide range of students to thrive in their careers and financial lives after graduation, including students with the greatest financial needs, according to the publication.

"We made these changes to better reflect career outcomes, which is so important to students who are making this investment," said LaMont Jones, managing editor for education at U.S. News. "Ultimately, that's what matters the most."

Adelphi University in Garden City and Hofstra University in Hempstead are now tied with nine other schools at No. 191 among national universities, after Adelphi moved up seven spots and Hofstra fell eight places.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology ended Princeton University’s 15-year run in the No. 1 spot, according to U.S. News. Massachusetts schools also took the top two spots among national liberal arts colleges, with Williams College at No. 1 and Amherst College at No. 2.

Not everything has changed on the lists.

Stony Brook University’s place among national universities held steady from last year at No. 59. The State University of New York school is in a 10-way tie with private Tulane and Brandeis universities and public Texas A&M University, among other schools. Stony Brook also ranked No. 11 among national universities for its graduation rate for low-income students who receive Pell Grants, Jones said.

The school is New York's highest ranked public university on the U.S. News list, and No. 24 among the top public universities in the nation. Its undergraduate psychology and computer science programs are ranked No. 50 and 52, respectively, in the nation.

"This recognition strengthens our ability to attract talented students from New York, around the country, and around the world," Stony Brook's president, Andrea Goldsmith, said in a statement.

'Earnings by major' added

In one of its biggest methodology changes this year, U.S. News introduced a new "earnings by major" metric that compares the earnings of graduates who majored in subjects such as nursing, education and business with those who majored in the same subjects at other schools. For that metric, U.S. News analyzed data on those who received federal financial aid.

In recent years, U.S. News has dropped measures such as alumni giving, class size and the high school standing of entering students. It continues to track retention and graduation rates as well as measures of schools’ financial resources and faculty quality, among other data.

At Adelphi, officials said the school's nursing program continues to draw strong interest. The university's School of Public Health and Nursing included about 28% of its nearly 5,100 undergraduates last year, the school reported. Adelphi has high-tech nursing simulation labs in Garden City and at its new Manhattan Center in midtown, as well as hospital-based programs that often lead to job offers, said Deborah Hunt, dean of the nursing school.

With artificial intelligence taking over many jobs, Hunt said, "nursing is one of the jobs that I would think is going to be pretty safe and continue to be very popular and much needed."

James P. Lentini, president of Molloy University, said the school's nursing, education, business and other programs help prepare students for high-paying careers.

“This is where our superpower is,” he said. “It's a good value for the education, with the tuition that we try to keep as affordable as we can.” Molloy's annual tuition is about $41,600.

On the new rankings, Molloy now is No. 39 among Northern regional universities, a category that includes schools from Maine through Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C., that primarily offer bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Last year, it ranked 66th.

Gains in Molloy’s earnings by major and its retention and graduation rates contributed to its jump in the rankings, said Jones of U.S. News.

"Those are all metrics where the school actually improved," he said. "It's not that the methodology caused them to move up."

Lentini said he supports the shift to incorporating more data about post-college outcomes into the rankings. But, he said, he believes some of the skepticism in recent years about the value of college education has been "unfair."

"I think it's been a little bit dramatized," he said. "I think we can show the facts: you get the four-year degree, you get a great job."

Colleges moved to new categories

St. Joseph’s University, which has a campus in Patchogue, ranked No. 56 among regional Northern universities, down from 50 last year.

The tuition-free, four-year Webb Institute, which has about 100 students studying naval architecture and marine engineering, tied with Manhattan’s renowned Cooper Union at No. 3 among regional colleges offering mainly professional programs. Previously, U.S. News ranked Webb No. 82 among engineering programs, but the publication did not compare it with other non-engineering programs in the past.

The United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point came in at No. 5 on the Northern regional colleges list. Farmingdale State College ranked 13th among regional colleges, down from 7th last year. On this year’s list, Farmingdale took third place for undergraduate teaching, Jones said.

This year, U.S. News also moved about one-fifth of ranked schools into new categories, based on changes in a framework called the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, which U.S. News uses in its data gathering.

Among the schools placed in new categories was New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury, now ranked No. 219 among national universities. Last year, it came in fourth among Northern regional universities.

The change reflects New York Tech's increased investments in research and doctoral programs, Francesca Fiore, vice president for strategic initiatives and accreditation, said in a statement. 

SUNY Old Westbury ranked 154th among national liberal arts colleges. Among public schools on that list, Old Westbury was in 18th place nationwide, Jones said. The school was 98th among Northern regional universities last year.

Long Island University, which has a campus in Brookville, placed 89th among regional universities this year. Last year, it ranked 373rd among national universities.