OT: US News and World Report Rankings

[nyg]

In new rankings, MU is ranked #82.  Fair/Appropriate?

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/marquette-university-3863

[BobWildLoyalist]

This seems like a fair assest of MU. Student reviews were accurate, and I think a true and positive review of the school.

[GGGG]

As fair as any USN&WR ranking can be....

[Jay Bee]

In new rankings, MU is ranked #82.  Fair/Appropriate?

The ranking is reasonably appropriate.  The location of your post is absolutely not.

[4everwarriors]

Validates the "middle of the road" designation.

[jmayer1]

Validates the "middle of the road" designation.

Yep, just like the dental school.

[Blue Horseshoe]

Caveat emptor. Everyone knows that these rankings can be skewed by student reviews, in state tuition, excellent grad programs. Overall, I don't think it is the gold standard for undergrad information.

[GGGG]

In state tuition has nothing to do with it.  The criteria are simply bizarre.  22.5% (the largest single category) of it is based on "academic reputation."  This is simply what other campus Presidents, and high school counselors, *think* about the institution.

The other criteria are more objective, but also flawed in some ways.  For instance, they grade you on the % of students in the top 10% of their high school class.  What does that have to do with the quality of the education they receive?  Then they also grade on graduation rates - which are usually directly tied to the % of students in the top 10% of the class.

It is a completely flawed system that everyone should simply ignore...but they won't.

[4everwarriors]

Yep, just like the dental school.

I'm an undergrad alum as well, thank you

[Blue Horseshoe]

In state tuition does play a role in the "Best Value" category, doesn't it?

[GGGG]

Oh yeah...I was just talking about their national rankings.  The ones we are touting here.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

I'm an undergrad alum as well, thank you

pretty middle of the road.  kinda like roadkill.

[Blue Horseshoe]

Can anyone provide a list of % breakdown of how they put together the national rankings?

[GGGG]

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2011/09/12/methodology-undergraduate-ranking-criteria-and-weights-2012

[Buzz Williams' Spillproof Chiclets Cup]

Worth pointing out that as a Catholic school, it's pretty much apples and oranges compared to the state schools or Ivies.

MU is still (and has been for the past few years) in the Top 5 of Catholic universities with Notre Dame, Georgetown, Boston College, and Fordham.

Above other Catholic schools like SLU, Villanova, DePaul, Xavier, St. John's, Seton Hall, Loyola, Dayton, Gonzaga, etc.

[Henry Sugar]

You missed Holy Cross

[muhs03]

Whats the definition of a national university? I would think Nova would be considered one but its not.

[Pakuni]

In state tuition has nothing to do with it.  The criteria are simply bizarre.  22.5% (the largest single category) of it is based on "academic reputation."  This is simply what other campus Presidents, and high school counselors, *think* about the institution.

Absolutely correct. A few years back I did my own mini-analysis of the rankings and found that, generally speaking, the larger and more publicly known an institution (i.e. the big state schools), the better your "academic reputation" will be. And the better your "academic reputation," the better your overall ranking. In other words, the large administrations and faculties at big state schools think highly of the large administrations and faculties at other big state schools. The Ivies and a ahndful of the other elite private schools can avoud this, but once you get outside the top 25 or so, it becomes the rule.
There were several instances were a smaller private school, like Boston College, topped several state schools ranked ahead of it in all, or nearly all, of the other categories, but because it didn't have the same reputation it was lower in the overall rankings. And, of course, reputation becomes a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy with these rankings.

[foreverwarriors]

Whats the definition of a national university? I would think Nova would be considered one but its not.

Regional Universities offer a full range of undergrad programs and some master's programs but few doctoral programs. Regional Universities include Providence College, James Madison University, Creighton University, and Santa Clara University.
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/regional-universities-north

Nova is ranked 1st in the North Region - tough to tell where that would lead them to fall in the national rankings but just looking at their rankings, scores and key indicators compared to ours, I would have to say, they would be ranked ahead of us.
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/marquette-university-3863/rankings
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/villanova-3388/rankings

[drbob]

as a grad of the dental school  I hardly considered my education a " middle  of the road"  experience .

[79Warrior]

Worth pointing out that as a Catholic school, it's pretty much apples and oranges compared to the state schools or Ivies.

MU is still (and has been for the past few years) in the Top 5 of Catholic universities with Notre Dame, Georgetown, Boston College, and Fordham.

Above other Catholic schools like SLU, Villanova, DePaul, Xavier, St. John's, Seton Hall, Loyola, Dayton, Gonzaga, etc.

Where have you seen that published?

[jmayer1]

as a grad of the dental school  I hardly considered my education a " middle  of the road"  experience .

That was just a light-hearted jab directed at 4everwarriors, who i know is/was a teacher/graduate?? of the dental school and likes to say the MU's undergraduate program is "middle of the road".

[79Warrior]

In state tuition has nothing to do with it.  The criteria are simply bizarre.  22.5% (the largest single category) of it is based on "academic reputation."  This is simply what other campus Presidents, and high school counselors, *think* about the institution.

The other criteria are more objective, but also flawed in some ways.  For instance, they grade you on the % of students in the top 10% of their high school class.  What does that have to do with the quality of the education they receive?  Then they also grade on graduation rates - which are usually directly tied to the % of students in the top 10% of the class.

It is a completely flawed system that everyone should simply ignore...but they won't.

Many schools tout the percentage of students they have in the Top 10% of their graduating class. It speaks directly to the quality of students they attract.

[Nukem2]

In a very recent Newsweek poll, students rated UW-Madison's undergraduate program as one of the least challeging.......

[JWags85]

Absolutely correct. A few years back I did my own mini-analysis of the rankings and found that, generally speaking, the larger and more publicly known an institution (i.e. the big state schools), the better your "academic reputation" will be. And the better your "academic reputation," the better your overall ranking. In other words, the large administrations and faculties at big state schools think highly of the large administrations and faculties at other big state schools. The Ivies and a ahndful of the other elite private schools can avoud this, but once you get outside the top 25 or so, it becomes the rule.
There were several instances were a smaller private school, like Boston College, topped several state schools ranked ahead of it in all, or nearly all, of the other categories, but because it didn't have the same reputation it was lower in the overall rankings. And, of course, reputation becomes a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy with these rankings.

This is very true.  I did my undergrad Miami University in Ohio and its still a point of pride when people are impressed and compliment me with "great school" or similar comments.  Yet it trails schools like MSU, Iowa, and Minnesota which, while good schools, I know for a fact were "safety" schools for alot of my peers from those states at Miami.  And no offense, but schools like Auburn and Alabama being above schools like Miami and Marquette are ridiculous.

Its interesting, Ohio State has been climbing these rankings for years.  When I was a freshman in college 8 years ago, Miami was firmly above OSU and everyone would tell you that.  But rankings like this and associated buzz changed some people's opionions, and couple that with intelligently distributed scholarship money by OSU, the gap began to close, though the rankings then inflated wildly.  In many ways, its much like Wisconsin, fantastic graduate programs, lesser so undergrad work (though UW is a better undergrad institution than OSU).

I stopped taking US News and World Report seriously when schools I respected began to plummet year to year.  I mean, this is the NATIONAL list.  If you're looking for a job across the country, people are going to be more impressed by the Colorado School of Mines than Marquette, Miami, TCU, or the University of Missouri?  GTFO