UW-Madison sees little change in U.S. News rankings

UW–Madison remains the seventh-best public university and in a tie for 32nd-best overall university in the 2005 edition of U.S. News and World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges.”

UW–Madison Provost Peter Spear repeated the university’s long-standing position – and the position of many other institutions of higher education: that students and their families use the rankings with caution.

“We’ve received similar high rankings for a number of years, and it’s great to be recognized for our success,” Spear says. “But prospective students and their families should look closely at the data used to calculate the rankings and how the data are weighted. The raw data say much more about our success than the overall rankings.”

U.S. News reviewed 248 doctoral universities, of which 162 are public and 86 are private. The publication computes the rankings by looking at a list of indicators and assigning a weight to each indicator based on what the publication feels is most important.

U.S. News says a university’s score is based on peer assessment (25 percent of the score), student retention and graduation rates (25 percent), faculty resources (including faculty-to-student ratio, salaries and degrees held by professors, 20 percent) how selective a school is when admitting students (15 percent), the institution’s financial resources (10 percent) and alumni giving (5 percent).

Spear notes that UW–Madison is doing very well in the area of peer assessment, a category that gives the university a 4.2 out of a possible five, placing it in a tie for fifth among public universities and 21st overall. UW–Madison does not do as well in the areas of student selectivity (45th), financial resources (49th) and faculty resources (58th).

“This says that we would rank higher if we had more money and made it more difficult to gain admission,” Spear says. “So, given our resource base and our commitment to access, we’re doing quite well.”

U.S. News also developed unranked lists of a variety of undergraduate programs and initiatives that the publication says lead to student success. UW–Madison appeared on four of the lists, including those for first-year experiences, undergraduate research/creative projects, learning communities and study abroad. The lists included both public and private institutions.

UW–Madison was not included on the lists of schools with the most diversity, most international students, most and least student debt, and best values.

Spear says students also should consider, among other things, a school’s strength in the academic programs that interest them, the advantages and disadvantages of the school’s size, the availability of student support services and advising, and the quality of student life.

The report also ranks undergraduate business and engineering programs, with UW–Madison ranking 14th (tie) and 13th (tie), respectively, among doctoral universities. Both rankings place public and private universities into the same pool.

U.S. News also ranked individual business specialties. UW–Madison was ranked in accounting (20th), finance (tied for 13th), insurance (2nd), international business (tied for 13th), management (tied for 9th), marketing (9th), production/operations management (tied for 17th), quantitative analysis (tied for 13th), real estate (2nd) and supply chain management (13th).

For engineering specialties, UW–Madison was ranked in biomedical/biomedical (tied for 18th), chemical (4th), civil (21st), computer (15th), electrical/electronic/communications (tied for 19th), industrial/manufacturing (11th), materials (tied for 14th), mechanical (tied for 13th) and nuclear (2nd).