2010 US News undergrad rankings?

starburyknicks2004-2005
Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:13:09 +0000

I agree that the ranks are misleading. Some of these really good private/prep schools have like 80 students so you have to be in the top 8 in order to be top 10%. But then again, a lot of the really good private schools do not rank. Either ways, we cannot deny that Fordham ends up getting the lower tier of students from the good private schools instead of the best that end up going to the ivies. It is reflected through our poor SAT avg (1240) and that along with the acceptance rate counts for 60% of the selectivity (40% being GPA). We definitely need to step up and get the SAT up to 1300.

But one thing’s for sure - even if Fordham increases the quality of the student body, selectivity only accounts for 15% of the total methodology (IMHO it should be around 25%). But either way, the average SAT and GPA still need to go up (and the acceptance rate needs to go down to 35%) in order for the school to be taken seriously by others.
Some observations:
1)
We are ranked #53 for Graduation and Retention Rank. This is 25% of the total rankings if you include “Graduation Performance.” This is a good sign as well as a good starting point as to where we can expect the school to be ranked. 53 seems like a reasonable goal (we are already 25% of the way there if you understand what I mean). If you include the alumni giving rate (rank # 38), we are 30% of the way there towards a top 50 ranking. We just need to maintain the graduation rates and perhaps get even better in this department (probably ties into getting a better student body).

2) Our faculty resources rank (20% of rankings) is 64. We should aim for the top 50. 35% of the 20% is faculty compensation and 30% is class size (1-19 students). The other 25% is class size (less than 50) and faculty holding terminal degree in their fields. 96 percent of faculty hold a terminal degree and almost 100% of the classes are less than 50 students. We just need to pump more money into the faculty (higher better teachers, give more salary, and the infrastructure by adding more buildings/classrooms so that more classes are under 20 students).

I think these two factors are under our control. And if we can maintain the alumni give back rate, we have already taken care of 50% of the rankings. Everything else will take care of itself over time. As the school raises more money, we will be able to give out more and more scholarships, thereby improving the quality of the student body. Our financial resources rank is a petty 122 and that is 10%. And Peer Assessment you really cannot do much about. You just hope that academic authorities just take notice. That goes back to improved student body. No one can take you seriously if your SAT average is not at least a 1300.