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US News 2024 Rankings (Wake #47)

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Rafi

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The latest US News rankings are out and Wake dropped ~20 spots to #47 (not sure where this fits into the boards tier ranking). This is the first time Wake has been outside the top 30 in 30 years. The US News underwent a major change to their methodology this year. They no longer consider class size, terminal degree of faculty, high school class standing, graduation debt, or alumni giving. They have a bunch of new factors, several regarding faculty citations and a few regarding first generation grad rates. They also changed the weighting of some factors - they have a nice table here that outlines the changes https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/how-us-news-calculated-the-rankings

Class size and faculty degrees no longer counting probably hurt Wake quite a bit. I wonder how much the school will chase these new factors?
 
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The ACC rankings are now:

Stanford 3
Duke 7
Cal 15
(ND 20)
UNC 22
UVA 24
GT 33
BC 39
VT 47
Wake 47
FSU 53
NC State 60
Syracuse 67
Miami 67
Pitt 67
Clemson 86
SMU 89
Louisville 195
 
I genuinely refuse to believe that TAMU and Virginia Tech are ahead of us. Ditto for Maryland. What the hell happened?
 
Pell graduation rates, Pell graduation performance, and first-generation graduation rates and first-generation performance make up 11% of the weight now compared to 5.0% last year.

Borrower debt is 5% compared to 3% last year.

Four measures of publications and citations were included as 4.5%.

Terminal degree faculty and class size were 11% and now they’re out.

All of those changes are very bad for Wake but are probably good overall.
 
From an article in the NYT:

“Wake Forest has never made decisions or determined university strategy based on chasing rankings such as those from U.S. News,” Susan R. Wente, the university president, said. “We do not intend to start now.”
 
PhDeac said:
Pell graduation rates, Pell graduation performance, and first-generation graduation rates and first-generation performance make up 11% of the weight now compared to 5.0% last year.

Borrower debt is 5% compared to 3% last year.

Four measures of publications and citations were included as 4.5%.

Terminal degree faculty and class size were 11% and now they’re out.

All of those changes are very bad for Wake but are probably good overall.
Click to expand...
Given these changes, it’s amazing Wake is still in the top 50.
 
Well, at least Miami is still far below us. My sister wanted to go to Wake, didn’t get in, and is still bitter about it.
 
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WFU03 said:
Taking out class size is insane. Even at Wake, on average, the large lecture classes I took did not offer as good an educational experience as the smaller classes.
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Agreed. I know this was even more pronounced for me at giant state school undergrad, where some of my large lecture classes may have been close to the size of the whole freshman class at Wake.
US News upped or added student to faculty ratio as a partial replacement for taking out class size, but that doesn’t really measure the same thing (and in my opinion doesn’t measure what actually matters).
 
WFU03 said:
Taking out class size is insane. Even at Wake, on average, the large lecture classes I took did not offer as good an educational experience as the smaller classes.
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Agree, smaller class sizes are why students choose go to Wake, not UNC etc.,
If they are going to throw in a bunch of extra criteria, why not include other relevant items like feeling safe at school, freedom to express your opinion, etc., that are a big deal to families making the decisions.
 
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Private universities proved particularly vulnerable to the new formula. Small class size, which was 8 percent of a score a year ago, is a matter of pride for many elite institutions. Its disappearance from the algorithm played a role in some top schools’ rankings tumbling.

The University of Chicago, No. 6 last year, moved down to No. 12. Dartmouth declined six places to finish at No. 18. Washington University in St. Louis, which was No. 15 last year, slipped to 24th. Brandeis, now ranked 60th, fell 16 spots, almost as much as Wake Forest, which declined 18 spots to tie for No. 47. Tulane went to No. 73 from No. 44.
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NYTimes gift article for anyone without a subscription:
www.nytimes.com

With a New Formula, U.S. News Rankings Boost Some State Universities

Responding to critics, the publication made its biggest changes to its method in four decades. But it’s unclear whether that is enough to quiet the naysayers.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
 
Rafi said:
From an article in the NYT:

“Wake Forest has never made decisions or determined university strategy based on chasing rankings such as those from U.S. News,” Susan R. Wente, the university president, said. “We do not intend to start now.”
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I….don’t believe her in the slightest. There is no way they’re not in (mild) crisis management this AM and there is no way this doesn’t effect applications.
 
Henry Chinaski said:
I….don’t believe her in the slightest. There is no way they’re not in (mild) crisis management this AM and there is no way this doesn’t effect applications.
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oh no doubt. she made the correct statement from a PR angle, but there has to be panic. I'm sure tour guides cite the stat of a "top 30 university for 30 years" or whatever.
 
PhDeac said:
Pell graduation rates, Pell graduation performance, and first-generation graduation rates and first-generation performance make up 11% of the weight now compared to 5.0% last year.

Borrower debt is 5% compared to 3% last year.

Four measures of publications and citations were included as 4.5%.

Terminal degree faculty and class size were 11% and now they’re out.

All of those changes are very bad for Wake but are probably good overall.
Click to expand...

Why good overall? Does it have to do with making larger, more affordable state schools more attractive to students?
 
Countdown to one specific dumbass chiming in and blaming this on Wente.
 
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