The College of William and Mary moved up two spots in the most recent U.S. News and World Report rankings of national colleges and universities.

Tying with Boston College as the 31st best national university, the College moved past New York U. and Brandeis U., and gained ground on the 25th-ranked U. Virginia. The College retained its sixth position on the U.S. News list of public universities, while the Princeton Review and Forbes Magazine recently ranked the College as the second-highest state-supported university.

“Whether it’s U.S. News, Forbes or Princeton Review, it is always refreshing when outside publications seem to have some sense of the caliber of William & Mary,” Reveley said in a press release.

Additionally, the College ranked fifth in U.S. News’s category of universities with a strong commitment to teaching, improving upon its sixth place position last year, and placing ahead of Brown University, the U. California-Berkeley, the U. Virginia, Stanford U. and Yale U.

The category, introduced last year, values universities that balance faculty research with undergraduate instruction.

“It is especially satisfying to see our faculty’s strong commitment to undergraduate teaching affirmed by U.S. News,” Reveley said.

The College’s undergraduate business program ranking also improved, moving up from 48th to 42nd. The program was ranked 24th among public universities.

“This is a strong endorsement of the talent and efforts of our faculty, the vision of our program leadership, and the caliber of our students and graduates,” Mason School of Business Dean Lawrence B. Pulley said. “It is also gratifying that the Mason School faculty is recognized among the top five for its commitment to teaching.”

U.S. News compiles its rankings based on factors including a school’s undergraduate academic reputation, graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, alumni giving and graduation rate performance.