Georgetown rose two places, from 25th to 23rd, in U.S. News and World Report’s 2006 America’s Best Colleges issue, tying it with the University of Virginia and reversing last year’s two-place fall.
The survey marks the 18th consecutive year that Georgetown has ranked among the top 25 national universities, according to U.S. News.
Harvard and Princeton tied for first place in this year’s ranking, followed by Yale in third and the University of Pennsylvania in fourth.
Georgetown’s improvement in the U.S. News rankings is positive news but may not be a true indicator of the university’s success, university spokeswoman Julie Bataille said.
“We’re pleased to have maintained strong rankings for our programs,” Bataille said. “Having said that, it is important to not place too much emphasis on [rankings] as they are just one measure of a school’s success.”
Brian Kelly (CAS ’76), executive editor of U.S. News and World Report, defended the rankings survey as one of many factors high school seniors should consider when applying to colleges.
“We have always said that [U.S. News’ rankings] are not the only way to evaluate colleges, but they are an accurate assessment of the numbers we put into the model,” he said.
The U.S. News report said Georgetown had the nation’s 11th-lowest acceptance rate among national universities, and the 10th-highest graduation rate.
The university’s rankings in some other areas were not as favorable, however. Georgetown ranked 109th in campus diversity and was the ninth-least economically diverse university in the country, the survey said.
It also reported that 43 percent of Georgetown’s students graduate with debt, ranking the indebtedness of Georgetown students 31st in the country.
The report also commended Georgetown’s study abroad program for its intensive nature and “considerable interaction between the student and the culture.” Georgetown’s service learning program was also acknowledged.
U.S. News’ rankings are determined by weighted criteria, including assessments from peer universities, student retention rates, selectivity, financial resources and graduation rates. Peer assessments are weighed most heavily, accounting for 25 percent of a university’s ranking.
Charles Deacon, dean of undergraduate admissions, said that weighing peer assessments so heavily skews college rankings, because the assessments are completed by three top officials of each university – the president, provost and dean of admissions – who may rank schools based on perceived notions of “big science” or strong graduate programs and not on the quality of undergraduate education.
“I’ve lobbied for a long time to have high school counselors do the assessments, because they are the people who really know these universities the best,” he said.
Kelly contended that U.S. News’ emphasis on peer assessments in its college rankings is appropriate.
“We’ve refined the model over time. We’ve seen studies that suggest that the [administrators] who respond do have a good idea of the universities [surveyed],” Kelly said.
Deacon asserted that there are other flaws in the way the survey determines its rankings.
“It is not a particularly valid ranking,” he said. “The survey leans far too heavily on financial aspects like endowment and faculty resources. Also it penalizes you for having adjunct faculty, which is actually one of Georgetown’s great strengths.”
Kelly said that Georgetown’s low faculty resources rating was a “huge factor in dragging Georgetown down.” He said that “it may be the case that Georgetown is singled out” for its large adjunct faculty, but that the survey does not evaluate the quality of individual adjunct professors.
“I’ve had adjunct professors who were horrible and others that were quite good. . There is a story behind the numbers,” Kelly said.
Although the university has consistently been ranked by the survey in the mid-20s, “[Georgetown] certainly competes with schools in the top 10,” Deacon said.
According to information gathered from accepted students, “of the 12 schools ranked immediately ahead of Georgetown, 11 lose more students to Georgetown than they win from Georgetown,” David Brunk, associate director of undergraduate admissions, said.
Deacon cited Georgetown’s reputation and increasing selectivity as indicators that applicants put little stock in the survey’s rankings.
“In the end we’re doing very well. We’re experiencing the best admissions we’ve ever had. . The results tell us that people are not influenced much by [rankings],” he said.
Deacon said that people are surprised when they first see Georgetown’s ranking in U.S. News and World Report because “they think of Georgetown as more highly-ranked than they see it in [the survey].”
Some Georgetown students seemed approving of the university’s improved rankings but remained cautious about future rankings.
“There are a lot of good schools out there. It’s good that Georgetown went up this year, but I don’t see it going up any higher,” Amaan Siddiqi (COL ’07) said.
Siddiqi acknowledged that the survey could be useful for applicants deciding which college to attend. “You have to know how good schools are in relation to each other,” he said.
Reema Ghazi (MSB ’08) said that when she applied to colleges, she “did not really give much credit” to the U.S. News and World Report rankings, but she did want to know if a school “was somewhere in the top 100.”
Ghazi said that although she would want Georgetown’s ranking to be higher, “if we’re grading it on financial situation, then I understand why we’re not in the top 10.”
Bataille maintained that Georgetown makes decisions with the interests of the students in mind, not to improve rankings.
“Georgetown’s efforts are focused on making students’ educational experiences the best that they can be at any given time,” she said. “If that means specific rankings criteria are impacted, so be it, but our motivation is doing what is in the best interest of our students and faculty, not simply improving rankings, for which methodologies vary.”
The Princeton Review also recently released college rankings that named Georgetown the 15th most selective university and the Georgetown area the 14th best college town in the nation. The survey also ranked Georgetown students the 20th most politically active.
