The Daily OrangeSU falls in national rankings
By Fred Hintz
Posted: 9/1/09, 1:42 AM EST Section: News
Syracuse University fell down the U.S. News & World Report's list of "America's Best Colleges" for the second consecutive year. Controversy continues to swirl around the report and whether its results are valid.
SU now ranks 58th among national research universities, tied with Pepperdine University and the University of Georgia. SU had been ranked between No. 50 and No. 53 for the past five years.
The university's strengths were its graduation rates, retention rates and faculty resources - a category which measures faculty compensation, class size and terminal degrees among faculty members - according to the report.
But the university fell short in several categories including financial resources, student selectivity, admissions data and alumni giving, said Robert Morse, director of date and research services at U.S News & World Report. The university placed 97th in student selectivity, or admission standards, among the top 100 national universities, too.
The peer survey - a controversial part of the U.S. News rankings - also contributed to SU's drop, finding it weak in reputation, said Robert Morse, director of date and research services at U.S News & World Report.
In the peer survey, college officials, including presidents, provosts and admissions deans, contribute to the ratings and judge institutions on a scale of 1 to 5.
A group of college presidents publicly criticized the survey in May 2007, saying it believed many colleagues didn't answer the questionnaire truthfully, according to an August 19 article by The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Overall response to the peer survey is down 68 percent from 1999 due to the controversy, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. Just 48 percent of the college presidents questioned responded to the survey.
Morse warned that the rankings should not be used as the sole factor in choosing a school. He said, instead, they should be used as an aid to help distinguish the relative merit of an institution.
SU now ranks 58th among national research universities, tied with Pepperdine University and the University of Georgia. SU had been ranked between No. 50 and No. 53 for the past five years.
The university's strengths were its graduation rates, retention rates and faculty resources - a category which measures faculty compensation, class size and terminal degrees among faculty members - according to the report.
But the university fell short in several categories including financial resources, student selectivity, admissions data and alumni giving, said Robert Morse, director of date and research services at U.S News & World Report. The university placed 97th in student selectivity, or admission standards, among the top 100 national universities, too.
The peer survey - a controversial part of the U.S. News rankings - also contributed to SU's drop, finding it weak in reputation, said Robert Morse, director of date and research services at U.S News & World Report.
In the peer survey, college officials, including presidents, provosts and admissions deans, contribute to the ratings and judge institutions on a scale of 1 to 5.
A group of college presidents publicly criticized the survey in May 2007, saying it believed many colleagues didn't answer the questionnaire truthfully, according to an August 19 article by The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Overall response to the peer survey is down 68 percent from 1999 due to the controversy, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. Just 48 percent of the college presidents questioned responded to the survey.
Morse warned that the rankings should not be used as the sole factor in choosing a school. He said, instead, they should be used as an aid to help distinguish the relative merit of an institution.
Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 11
Chip
posted 9/01/09 @ 12:07 PM EST
SU continues to lessen admission standards (GPA and SAT) for minorities (non Asian) with the goal of diversity. Hence the decreased US News ranking. Don't believe it? I saw the admission stats a while back. (Continued…)
Intelligent Reader
posted 9/01/09 @ 4:41 PM EST
SU is falling on the scale because of its tuition/application fees. When you make your application fee $70, it sends a message to middle and lower class students that they can't afford the school. (Continued…)
jkwang01
jason
posted 9/01/09 @ 10:47 PM EST
i really like seeing the us news rankings every year.
as a student here at Syracuse, i noticed a lot of the stuff is pretty accurate.
also, i actually really appreciate how Syracuse is admitting more students from underrepresented urban areas. (Continued…)
Anonymous Two!
posted 9/03/09 @ 3:46 AM EST
And THIS ridiculous conversation, erroneous and ineffectual on ALL fronts, is why SU deserves its rankings. If we can't teach our students to hold conversations about their opinions (whether formed by bias OR constructed with careful research), of what use is our institution?
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