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The Daily OrangeU.S. News & World Report ranks SU 53rd, position slips from last year
By Ryan Balton
Posted: 9/3/08, 1:22 AM EST Section: News
In high school guidance offices across the country, prospective college students find the thick report titled "America's Best Colleges." The 2008 publication by U.S. News and World Report released last week, ranks Syracuse University at its 53rd spot - three spaces lower than 2007.
The drop is "not a big change," said Robert Morse, director of data research for U.S. News. The university has alternated between 50th and 52nd for past four years.
"Generally speaking, it's a very small change," he said. "There's small changes in some of the variables that accounted for the difference, or a school moved ahead of you ... and pushed you down."
The small changes were in admissions data and faculty data, he said, noting it would be too time consuming to determine exactly what caused the three spot deficit this year.
Ranked 83rd is the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, up from last year's ranking of 85.
U.S. News has published its rankings of colleges annually since 1985. This year, Forbes.com joined the college-ranking arena, because, according to Forbes.com, "for too many years, information about the quality of American higher education has been monopolized by one publication."
Forbes.com has much different rankings, placing SU at 320th, trailing 189th-ranked SUNY-ESF.
Morse, who has worked at U.S. News since 1976, thinks Forbes.com's rankings are weaker than the ones he works on.
"Their rankings don't make any sense," he said.
High graduation and freshmen retention rates are two of SU's greatest strengths compared to other schools, Morse said. Graduation rate performance, the difference between predicted and achieved graduation rate, was another strength Morse pointed out.
SU's biggest weakness was what Morse called financial resources - not financial aid, he emphasized, but rather how much the university spends on the education of each student.
While the rankings give a snapshot of a school's strengths and weakness, it is meant to be only a guideline for prospective students, Morse said.
The drop is "not a big change," said Robert Morse, director of data research for U.S. News. The university has alternated between 50th and 52nd for past four years.
"Generally speaking, it's a very small change," he said. "There's small changes in some of the variables that accounted for the difference, or a school moved ahead of you ... and pushed you down."
The small changes were in admissions data and faculty data, he said, noting it would be too time consuming to determine exactly what caused the three spot deficit this year.
Ranked 83rd is the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, up from last year's ranking of 85.
U.S. News has published its rankings of colleges annually since 1985. This year, Forbes.com joined the college-ranking arena, because, according to Forbes.com, "for too many years, information about the quality of American higher education has been monopolized by one publication."
Forbes.com has much different rankings, placing SU at 320th, trailing 189th-ranked SUNY-ESF.
Morse, who has worked at U.S. News since 1976, thinks Forbes.com's rankings are weaker than the ones he works on.
"Their rankings don't make any sense," he said.
High graduation and freshmen retention rates are two of SU's greatest strengths compared to other schools, Morse said. Graduation rate performance, the difference between predicted and achieved graduation rate, was another strength Morse pointed out.
SU's biggest weakness was what Morse called financial resources - not financial aid, he emphasized, but rather how much the university spends on the education of each student.
While the rankings give a snapshot of a school's strengths and weakness, it is meant to be only a guideline for prospective students, Morse said.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Olin MacGregor
posted 9/03/08 @ 9:15 PM EST
Chancellor Cantor could care less about academic rating status quo , let alone back slippage -- Cantor has already learned how to thumb her boney rear end at alums, bring in her own Trustees, and politicize her chair as a highly liberal Democratic Upstate NY pol. (Continued…)
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