2008 Woodie Awards
MU receives high national rankings, despite controversy in assessment
Lindsey M. Metz
Issue date: 8/31/07 Section: Campus
Despite the fact that several U.S. colleges and universities removed themselves from this year's U.S. News and World Report rankings, Miami University still prides itself upon being ranked 27th in the nation of the top public schools.
"We are always pleased to receive public recognition as one of the strongest universities in the country," said Laurie Koehler, Miami's director of admission. "We are striving to excel so we provide the best possible education and co-curricular experience for our students."
According to the Aug. 27 issue of the U.S. News and World Report, in addition to being ranked 27th in the nation of top public schools, Miami has also been ranked 67th of the top public and private schools.
To get these rankings, U.S. News and World Report takes into consideration 15 different aspects of more than 1,400 colleges and then weighs each category. The schools are then placed according to their cumulative ratings, which are based off of what values are thought to be most important and what, in their opinion, students should be most concerned about. The highest weighted values include peer assessment, student selectivity, faculty resources, and graduation rates.
The rankings come out every year and are used by prospective
students nationwide.
However, this year some schools decided not to be a part of the rankings, creating debate over the rankings' legitimacy.
"(There is a) small group of private institutions that have made a conscious decision to no longer provide data to the U.S. News and World Reports," Koehler said.
With not all schools participating, the numbers cannot be completely accurate and therefore schools should be looked at as a whole, not just as a statistic, explained Claire Wagner, spokesperson for the university.
According to Wagner, there is worry that some of the rankings are based solely on opinion and the majority of schools that chose not to participate in the rankings are private, smaller schools.
"We are always pleased to receive public recognition as one of the strongest universities in the country," said Laurie Koehler, Miami's director of admission. "We are striving to excel so we provide the best possible education and co-curricular experience for our students."
According to the Aug. 27 issue of the U.S. News and World Report, in addition to being ranked 27th in the nation of top public schools, Miami has also been ranked 67th of the top public and private schools.
To get these rankings, U.S. News and World Report takes into consideration 15 different aspects of more than 1,400 colleges and then weighs each category. The schools are then placed according to their cumulative ratings, which are based off of what values are thought to be most important and what, in their opinion, students should be most concerned about. The highest weighted values include peer assessment, student selectivity, faculty resources, and graduation rates.
The rankings come out every year and are used by prospective
students nationwide.
However, this year some schools decided not to be a part of the rankings, creating debate over the rankings' legitimacy.
"(There is a) small group of private institutions that have made a conscious decision to no longer provide data to the U.S. News and World Reports," Koehler said.
With not all schools participating, the numbers cannot be completely accurate and therefore schools should be looked at as a whole, not just as a statistic, explained Claire Wagner, spokesperson for the university.
According to Wagner, there is worry that some of the rankings are based solely on opinion and the majority of schools that chose not to participate in the rankings are private, smaller schools.
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Taylor O
posted 8/31/07 @ 10:30 AM EST
That last ridiculous paragraph looks like it was written by the Miss South Carolina Teen USA.
Equally ridiculous is US News using the "reputation survey" which asks other University Presidents about other schools which is a method suitable only to voting for a high school homecoming queen. (Continued…)
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