It’s that time of year again: back-to-school sales, the pre-dawn rumble of big, yellow buses, and the onslaught of annual college-ranking lists.
Washington Monthly’s 2010 college-ranking issue differentiates itself from other, similar guides by “ask[ing] not what colleges can do for you, but what colleges are doing for the country.” Consequently, the three primary criteria used by the magazine to compile its 2010 lists were:
- “social mobility” (recruiting and graduating low-income students);
- “research” (producing cutting-edge scholarship and Ph.D.s); and
- “service” (encouraging students to give something back to their country)
We at RHB were thrilled to find that a number of our clients were included among the best-performing institutions in this “different kind of ranking.” Congratulations to the following clients:
Liberal Arts Colleges
- Earlham College (IN)
- Denison University (OH)
- St. Mary’s College (IN)
- Westmont College (CA)
- Sweet Briar College (VA)
- Hanover College (IN)
National Universities
- University of Notre Dame (IN)
- University of Georgia (GA)
- Andrews University (MI)
- University of South Florida (FL)
Baccalaureate Colleges
- Franklin College (IN)
- Lasell College (MA)
- Warner Pacific College (OR)
- Post University (CT)
Further differentiating itself from a key competitor, Washington Monthlygoes on to assert:
“While colleges do have a point when they complain about U.S. News’s ratings, the problem isn’t that U.S. News ranks colleges, but that it does so based on the wrong factors—like wealth, fame, and selectivity—that incentivize college administrators in the wrong ways. A college president vying for rankings glory on our list, by contrast, would have to enroll more low-income students, help them earn degrees, orient academic programs toward service, and invest in new scientific research. The country needs more of that kind of competition, not less.”
Tell us what you think. Is this just the kind of re-prioritizing that higher education needs, or simply an attempt to carve a new niche in the college-ranking-guide market? Will your institution take note of this “different kind of ranking”? Should it? We want to hear from you.
