<p>[Saluki</a> Times | SIUC rises in U.S. News & World Report rankings](<a href=“http://news.siu.edu/2011/09/091311amh11170.html]Saluki”>http://news.siu.edu/2011/09/091311amh11170.html)</p>
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<p>And so on for almost 900 words.</p>
<p>Granted, I did not feel like reading the whole 900 word article, but based on the excerpt, I would say that she is “bragging” on bringing their rating up modestly, rather than bragging on the fact that it is rather low.</p>
<p>From low-mediocre to middle-low-mediocre?</p>
<p>I think I’ve read here on CC that there are more than 3000 colleges in the US. Is being in the top 10% mediocre?</p>
<p>Only on CC ^^^</p>
<p>170 out of 251 in its category. Mediocre.</p>
<p>That doesn’t mean necessarily that the school is mediocre, because the rankings are meaningless. Only that the ranking itself is mediocre.</p>
<p>I would expect them, and any school for that matter, to mention in their own campus newspaper that there was some improvement in their rank.</p>
<p>Except that they sent this out as a press release, which is how I saw it. I guess my amusement is mainly what a big deal they’re making of it, as if an improvement from 183 to 170 in a wholly meaningless ranking is an endorsement of the success of their school improvement efforts.</p>
<p>How dare they! Frankly they shouldn’t be allowed to sully the hallowed lists of US News!</p>
<p>I feel dirty even discussing any schools not ranked in the top 50.</p>
<p>Plus that Saluki mascot is kind of creepy…</p>
<p>The proof is in the pudding - I have had several coworkers from the two SIU’s (SIUE and SIUC) and they’re actually pretty decent schools. Affordable, non-flashy, good locations, etc.</p>
<p>SIUC has a reputation for being a party school. I believe they close down during Halloween for that reason. </p>
<p>Last year, UIC posted on its Facebook site that they’ve been rated a tier 1 school for the first time. </p>
<p>I don’t take much stock in ratings. There are so many factors in picking a good university. A university might be really known in one area but not another and so on.</p>
<p>Seems no more ridiculous than the endless words wasted about a college that moved up a spot in the top 20 USNWR, or debates about ‘predictions’ about the next USNWR results and so on. All a bunch of nonsense. </p>
<p>Yes there are real differences between schools, but the insanity of finding meaning from a singular number from a magazine is beyond absurd. </p>
<p>Consumers of education keep buying this garbage and other marketing ploys, so universities will keep using it when its to their advantage. As for SIUC, never heard of it, but if it brings in more students, or more donations from alumni, or helps sway other constituents, then it is absolutely no different than any of the other pointless advertising and self-promotion that ALL schools engage in for rational reasons.</p>
<p>Rankings are bunk. But for those who think they are gospel, remember: If it weren’t for the mediocres, the elites wouldn’t be elite.</p>
<p>How dare those peons take up space on the Internet to advertise an improvement in a ranking!</p>
<p>My graduate advisor (at a Big 10 school) earned his Ph.D at SIUC. I could care less whether anyone thinks that school’s ranking is “mediocre” or whatever.</p>
<p>Suppose SIU moved up from 183 to 170 and didn’t say anything about it because they were too ashamed of being #170. Highly demotivational. So they celebrate the small victory to encourage further progress. Moving up in college rankings is tough when all your competition already outranks you.</p>
<p>And then there’s the misleading title of the article in our local U’s paper</p>
<p>“UCF Earns a Top 5 U.S. News Ranking”</p>
<h1>4 in the Up and Coming U’s (but #97 of Public Universities)</h1>
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<p>Of course, they could simply ignore it on the basis that the rankings are meaningless … which they undoubtedly are.</p>
<p>It’s a shame when colleges, that should know better, start playing the rankings-are-important game.</p>
<p>Oh but I am so sick of the whole USNWR ranking thing. Really, is one to surmise that all students from the #97 ranked university are doomed to a life of mediocrity and those at the #1 school are destined for great things. Seriously? Why does this matter except to make money for USNWR? I would suggest that people read Malcolm Gladwell’s " What College Rankings Really Tell Us."</p>
<p>[What</a> College Rankings Really Tell Us : The New Yorker](<a href=“http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/02/14/110214fa_fact_gladwell]What”>The Trouble with College Rankings | The New Yorker)</p>
<p>I could sit here and give example after example of people I know who are wildly successful by anyone’s standards who were the 2.8 GPA kid at a over 100th rank college. And then there was my son’s Harvard educated high school physics teacher (very good teacher by the way) who makes less than I do and I was a SAMH for 15 years. It’s the drive and ability of the individual person that makes them successful, not the school.</p>
<p>Sorry folks, feeling very cranky about the rankings this morning. It’s got my son upset. He’s a student at our flagship’s nationally recognized honors college and doesn’t understand why the other public school in our state ranks so much higher. Neither do I. I have degrees from both schools and honestly, there was zero difference in the level of education. * Zero.*</p>