CU has new honors, ranking high on a new report of the best colleges in the country.
According to the U.S. News and World Report ranked CU-Boulder No. 42 among public national universities in the latest edition of its Best Colleges report. While this ranking still leaves CU in the top 50 public universities, it marks a fall from last year’s rank of No. 39.
(Courtesy of CU Boulder)
Including public and private universities, CU ranked number 94 on the best colleges list.
Of CU’s nine colleges and schools, the engineering and business programs received especially high honors, but also fell in their rankings from last year.
“There are lots of rankings out there,” said Malinda Miller-Huey, assistant director of Media Relations and News Services at CU. “But we don’t consider that the university will succeed or fail based on them.”
This year, the engineering program came in at No. 19 among public engineering schools whose highest degree is a doctorate, down from No. 18 last year. Within the engineering school, the aerospace engineering program ranked No. 14 and the environmental engineering program ranked No. 18.
The business program came in at No. 36, falling nearly 14 spots from last year. The entrepreneurship program of the business school ranked No. 19.
Milley-Huey said the U.S. News and World Report rankings are not highly valued by CU in part because the criteria used to assess schools does not correctly reflect the quality of education and research at CU.
The rankings are based on academic peer assessment, graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources and alumni giving.
“We are still proud of our ranking,” Miller-Huey said, “But there are some others [rankings] that we consider more telling of our stature as a research university.”
Although CU ranked lower this year, many students are still proud of the high place that their school holds on the national list.
“Our school has great facilities, and the resources are awesome,” said Keith Bowhan, a senior environmental engineering major. “I transferred [to CU] from Portland State University, and the classes here are a lot tougher.”
Bowhan said that overall, he is satisfied with his education in the engineering program, and thinks that the high rankings are deserved.
“It definitely matters to me that CU is ranked highly,” said Artyom Kosokin, a senior finance major from Uzbekistan. “Especially when looking for a job, you want people to acknowledge that you went to a good school.”
Carol Rowe, director of engineering communications, thinks that the rankings are mostly reflective of awareness about the school.
“The rankings are based on the reputation of the program, so I would say that these programs have successfully communicated their high quality,” Rowe said. “The [engineering] program has a strong reputation, and that is made even stronger by the strength of the campus as a whole.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Hadley Vandiver at Hadley.vandiver@colorado.edu.
