Rutgers Ranked #72 in latest US News Survey

[dconifer]

As others have said, it really is a metric that is completely riggable. Clemson undertook this successfully in recent years.

From the first article cited in the article I linked:

And to actual gasps from some members of the audience, Watt said that Clemson officials, in filling out the reputational survey form for presidents, rate "all programs other than Clemson below average," to make the university look better. "And I'm confident my president is not the only one who does that," Watt said.

This article points out some interesting tricks. For example: Four classes containing 19, 19, 19 and 36 students will earn far more points than the same four classes containing 21, 21, 21, and 30 students. By creating a few monster-sized classes they were also able to create many of the super-small classes that scores big points with USNWR.

 

[HandBanana]

Incoming class was 15% OOS this year which is way better but needs to get better.

Also, UConn has all but admitted cheating at the rankings.

Can you provide a link? You are the only person I have ever heard say this. If it has been published I stand corrected.

Hope you guys have a good season.

 

[dconifer]

Personally, I admire a school like West Virginia, which could easily skyrocket from its abysmal USNWR ranking of 175 simply by being more selective in admissions. They don't, because they see their mission as admitting and providing the opportunity for education to kids from their state, which generates a lot of kids who don't have good numbers (public education is not strong in West Virginia).

Once kids are on campus, it's a solid academic school. But as this article (admittedly, from a West Virginia newspaper) describes, they get dinged in the rankings for the aforementioned lack of selectivity:

WVU gets a double-whammy in the U.S. News and World Report rankings because of the longstanding state policy that makes state high school graduates with grade point averages as low as 2.0 eligible for admission to all state colleges and universities.

as well as the resulting low retention rates:

WVU presumably gets hit again for its retention figures -- ... those 2.0 students who simply aren't able to keep up with the demands of college-level studies.


I'd prefer that a school concern itself with fulfilling a valuable mission and providing opportunity rather than worry and preen about rankings.

 

[CuredbywinningRU]

These are all nice but we have to figure out how to move up in USNWR rankings. 72 is not good. In 1996, we were 45 overall & the 12th highest public university. 8 years later in 2004 we fell to 58 overall. 19 years later we've plummeted to 72. We should be in the 45-55/60 range. aTm seems to have had a similar slide from 48 in 1997 & as late as 2002 to 70 now in 2015. What's the reason for their slide as they're flush with cash so it can't be that can it? TTFP, UF & Texas have been able to basically maintain their ranking in the 40s or around 50 for 20 years now, as have others in that range like all of the UC schools, while schools like Miami, Clemson, Maryland, UConn have moved up to where we should be. Fruit U's decline in the rankings hasn't been as bad as ours as it was 49 in 1996 & 61 now. What's their secret?

The secret is funding (there is no other issue even remotely close) and the related issue of demographic profile of the student body - a chicken and egg situation. Many folks made a lot of money in the markets and elsewhere in the last 20 years and many schools have been benefactors of the largesse of many of theses folks. We haven't. We lack far behind in major gifts and the state's penurious approach to RU makes it all much worse. Money is the issue.

 

[Leonard23]

The secret is funding (there is no other issue even remotely close) and the related issue of demographic profile of the student body - a chicken and egg situation. Many folks made a lot of money in the markets and elsewhere in the last 20 years and many schools have been benefactors of the largesse of many of theses folks. We haven't. We lack far behind in major gifts and the state's penurious approach to RU makes it all much worse. Money is the issue.

Here's what Maryland stated improved it's rankings:

UMD improved in several factors this year that led to the No. 19 ranking. Reduced class sizes and improvements in student-to-faculty ratio contributed to an increase in the university's faculty resources rank. An increase in the university's 6-year graduation rate and freshman retention rate led to an overall increase in UMD's graduation and retention rank. UMD continues to have one of the top 20 highest 6-year graduation rates among public universities in the country.
http://umdrightnow.umd.edu/news/umd-named-top-20-public-university-us-news-world-report

 

[TheB1GTerp]

#4 University of Chicago (former B1G member, but part of CIC which we have relation with)
#10 Johns Hopkins (associate member of B1G, soon to be member of CIC)
#12 Northwestern
#29 University of Michigan
#41 University of Illinois
#41 University of Wisconsin
#47 Penn State
#52 Ohio State
#57 Maryland
#61 Purdue
#69 Minnesota
#72 Rutgers
#75 University of Indiana
#75 Michigan State University
#82 University of Iowa
#103 University of Nebraska