SMU is again ranked as one of the nation’s best colleges. According to U.S. News & World Report, SMU fell two spots from 66 to 68 on the magazine’s annual college rankings of top national universities.
Thomas Tunks, associate provost said SMU’s ranking is good considering there are about 4000 colleges and universities in the United States.
He said for SMU to be included in the top 2 percent of all schools is quite an achievement. Tunks also said the university is building upon its strong foundation and is continuously improving its strong learning environment.
Shelia Castillo, an evening bachelors program student, said she was amazed when she learned about SMU’s rank in the magazine and glad she decided to come here for her education.
“I actually feel special and important that I am part of a University with that reputation,” she said.
Previously, SMU was ranked 71 in 2004 and 2005, and 70 in 2006.
Castillo said, “We are making improvements almost every year.”
Other schools in Texas, which were ranked higher than SMU include Rice University at 19, The University of Texas at Austin at 47 and Texas A&M University at 61.
The Cox Business School rose in the rankings for undergraduate business programs from 39 to 38. SMU’s engineering program was also ranked 95 of 100 for schools where a doctorate degree is offered.
To calculate each college and university’s rank, U.S. News measures up to 15 indicators of academic performance including: college graduation and retention rates, alumni giving, percentage of students from the top 10 percent of their high school class and student/teacher ratio.
This data contributes to 75 percent of a school’s score while the remaining 25 percent is based on a “peer-assessment” survey, which is sent to high-ranking officials at each college, who are then asked to rate the performance at other schools that are in their same category.
Albert Niemi Jr., Dean of the Cox School of Business, said methodology in the U.S. News rankings is a result of the peer-assessment survey, favors large universities and hurts small schools.
While SMU received a low score for the peer-assessment survey, Niemi noted that student quality was not weighted as heavily, which he felt distorted the score.
“Given the weakness in the methodology, I do not think we should take the rankings too seriously,” he said.
SMU’s ranking is not a determining factor for attracting quality faculty, according to finance professor Charles Ruscher.
“I moved to SMU because of the quality of faculty in terms of research and teaching, the top-notched administration that supports the faculty and students,” he said.
SMU biology senior Astrud Villareal shared a similar view.
She said when she chose to attend SMU in fall 2006 the college rankings had little effect on her.
“I didn’t really check the US News & World Report rankings,” Villareal said. “Not that it doesn’t matter, but for me, it mattered more that I felt at home at SMU more than what number we were on the report.”
Villareal, however, said she still realizes the importance of the rankings.
“I still think that our ranking is important, but at the end of the day, I chose SMU for the people, the programs and the comfortable feeling that I had whenever I was on campus.”
