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This is exactly what Professor X said, and I agree with him entirely. But I disagree with you in interpreting the OP’s intent; he refers repeatedly to UWEC being “pretty well ranked” (paraphrase) with no context as to academic department or scope of ranking. Without knowing anything about UWEC, I would have assumed that he meant well-ranked among national Us or national LACs, neither of which is the case. I don’t subscribe much to USNWR rankings except in the aggregate–i.e. there is a measurable difference between LAC #1 and LAC #50, though not necessarily between LAC#40 and #50. Any renown of UWEC’s English department will hinge upon previous graduates and specific professors, not upon the university’s overall ranking; I doubt that most graduate professors care about overall rankings in the least.</p>