OR MOST of us, the choice of which college to attend involves a great deal of our ego. Where we apply shows a what we think of ourselves, and most of us enjoyed hearing people's positive reactions when we told them we were coming to the University. So naturally, students have some personal stakes in the school's rankings.
Members of the University community are happy to know that it has reclaimed the tie with the University of California at Berkeley in U.S. News & World Report for best public university, and number 20 overall. We should resist the temptation, however, to decide that the U.S. News rankings are the only reflection of our quality as a school. When they improve, we tout them as accurate, but we deny their significance when they become inconvenient.
Rather, we should consider what the rankings say about whether the University is fulfilling its own mission, and how the rankings reflect trends in education today.
The University has held steady in the past few years. Historically, it has ranked as the best public, until it tied with UC-Berkeley two years ago and lost the spot last year. Despite these ranking changes, it would be hard to point to major changes in the University's quality.
Institutions that rank universities have some very difficult choices to make, both in what they measure and how much weight to give each factor. U.S. News uses quantitative measures such as the percent of classes with more than 20 students and the graduation rate, as well as less precise measurements such as peer reputation and "our nonpartisan views of what matters in education."
But prevailing trends in education change from year to year, and inevitably make their way into educational rankings. This year is no different.
The publication made one important change in methodology this year that probably made an impact on the University's reputation. After complaints that measuring spending per student was skewed in favor of large research universities, the publication adjusted the measurement to account for money spent on graduate research projects.
The University should feel vindicated by this decision, because it reflects the commitment to teaching by faculty at all levels of their careers. Many undergraduate students at highly ranked institutions have trouble getting classes with actual professors. Here, on the other hand, even first-year students can experience classes taught by professors of such high academic repute as Phillip Zellikow, Director of the Miller Center, and Larry Sabato, Director of the Center for Governmental Studies.
This is not to discount the importance of research to this university, but rather, serve as a reminder that while the University does not have as large an infrastructure for research as many land grant universities, a great deal of education is accomplished.
The inherent flaws in any ranking system that tries to rank intangibles does not mean that we should pay no attention to it. Indeed, the University should be proud that it is consistently in the top 25 universities.
This means that year after year, our traditions get the job done. No matter whether the trend is towards emphasizing graduation rates or class sizes, the University manages to do well in the category for its mission as a state university.
The top few spots in the overall rankings will always be held by private institutions, most of them Ivy League. One reason for this is the inclusion of reputation in the rankings: Historically these schools have turned out high-quality graduates, and so if they have an off year or two, the peers that rank them trust that the problem is temporary. Of course, the University benefits to a certain extent from its reputation as the top public school, attracting students who cannot pay for the Ivy League experience.
But being a public school will always place certain limitations on the University. These limitations have prominence in the minds of those who rank this school. The University's primary mission, to provide a quality education to the children of Virginia residents, provides direct limitations.
Absent large movements in the University's ranking, numbers alone do not determine the University's quality. Yet they do have some value to those wanting quantitative measures of how the University compares with peer institutions in particular areas, such as class sizes or graduation rates. Attending a number one rated school is small comfort when a class is full or a first-year student's dorm is still under construction.
Elizabeth Managan's column appears Tuesdays in The Cavalier Daily.)
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