The Hardman Rankings

← World University Rankings 2026

Colorado State University

United StatesROR 03k1gpj17
=572
World University Rankings 2026 · 90% range 346–1219 of 2,287 · score 41.9
Research Index =464

How it scores

Research
80
Alumni outcomes
83
Admissions & earnings
183/243

Research and Alumni outcomes are percentiles among 2,287 universities; alumni outcomes are counted per student. Admissions & earnings is the position among universities in the same country (United States).

Admissions, outcomes and alumni

Admit rate
88.5% src
Yield (admits who enrol)
16% src
Median earnings 10 years after entry
$60,543 src
40-year return on investment (Georgetown CEW)
$2.02M src
Graduation rate (6 years)
67% src
Rhodes Scholars, 2021–26
0 src
Internationally notable alumni (Wikidata)
24 src
Heads of state or government (Wikidata)
0 src
Founders, billionaires and $30M+ alumni
not on the published top lists; estimated
Students (undergraduate headcount / total FTE, IPEDS)
25,538 / 28,450 src

Each figure links to its source. Admissions and earnings figures are comparable only within a country.

Research Index

A · Quality
57.2
B · Strength
71.7

Percentiles among 1,305 ranked universities. Rank on quality alone: =553. On strength alone: 370. The Research Index scores research only; admissions, earnings and alumni outcomes are scored in the overall ranking where data exists.

The numbers behind it (2020–2023)

Papers in the top 10% of their field
10.3% (9.7%–11.0%)
Papers in the top 1% of their field
1.1% (0.9%–1.3%)
Top-10% papers (fractional count)
555
All papers (fractional count)
5,366
International co-authored
38.6%
Open access
67.4%
Papers from 2020–23 since retracted
2 (0.15 per 1,000)

Core publications, fractional counting, field-normalised citation shares. Brackets show Leiden’s stability interval. Collaboration and open-access shares use full counting and aren’t field-normalised. Retraction counts come from the Retraction Watch database and include publishers’ mass retractions as well as honest-error retractions; a retraction is not by itself evidence of misconduct, and the count is never scored.

By field

Biomedical & health sciences=737range 575–905 of 1,671
Life & earth sciences=156range 105–258 of 1,092
Mathematics & computer science=701range 503–891 of 1,391
Physical sciences & engineering=280range 193–470 of 1,742
Social sciences & humanities=750range 575–885 of 1,262

Position over time

top 30%2006–2009: 179 of 5712020–2023: 464 of 1,305

The same method applied to each 4-year publication window. The number of ranked universities grows from period to period, so position is shown as a share of the field.

How other rankings place it

=464Research Index 2026
–QS 2027 (not in top 100)
–THE 2027 (not in top 100)
–ARWU 2026 (not in top 100)

Other rankings are cited for comparison. The Research Index measures research only; QS and THE also use reputation surveys and figures universities submit, and ARWU counts prize winners and total output.

Prize winners

Alumni laureates
0
Staff laureates
1

Alumni: none recorded. Counted from Wikidata (CC0). Alumni laureates count toward the overall ranking per student (10 of 65 global weight points); staff laureates are shown for context only.