USC ranked No. 54 among public universities
In the eyes of Cameron Howell, associate director of planning and assessment at USC, students and faculty should be aware of their school’s rankings but not allow them to dictate every decision. His analysis of USC’s 2011 worldwide and national rankings revealed the university’s strengths and weaknesses.
“We [the administration] should be thinking about issues of quality, measures of quality and strategies that we can use to improve quality,” Howell said.
University rankings can influence prospective students, reputation, research dollars, government funding and future employment.
Howell began with identifying comparison groups for USC. Schools such as Rutgers University, University of Connecticut, University of Georgia, University of Kentucky and University of Tennessee are counted as our peers because they are public universities with similar rankings, mission, size, scope and funding.
The University of Virginia and University of North Carolina serve as model universities for USC because of their consistently high rankings. In the 2011 Academic Ranking of World Universities, USC was academically ranked with UConn and UK between 201st and 300th. After No. 101, Academic Ranking of World Universities displays similarly ranked schools in general blocks, with schools listed in alphabetical order within each block.
The rankings are an imperfect system, Howell said. The world ranking system was developed by Shanghai Jiao Tong University and places a heavy emphasis on math and science and accounts for national recognitions such as faculty with Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals.
“Some of the metrics are important and some are not,” said Dr. Michael Amiridis, university provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. “It would be a mistake to blindly base decisions on rankings and not on what we think improves quality.”
According to the U.S. News and World Report 2012 university rankings, USC ranks 54th among public universities and 111th overall. Comparatively, UT is ranked 46th as a public university and 101st overall. UK is ranked 59th as a public university and 124th overall. Clemson ranks 25th among public universities and 68th overall.
The USNWR ranking accounts for reputation, which is difficult to measure. It is based on surveys of presidents, provosts and deans of admission at universities, along with high school principals and guidance counselors on their college perceptions and recommendations. Aside from reputation, the rankings account for retention, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, graduation rate performance and alumni giving rate.
Howell broke down the rankings further. USC is ranked fifth among public universities for its impressive percentages of classes with fewer than 50 students. However, USC ranks 47th for its proportion of full-time faculty.
The university’s selectivity is an important number in determining its reputation. USNWR currently reports USC’s early acceptance rate as 58.4 percent and overall acceptance rate as 69.9 percent. Out of the 1,378 public universities ranked, USC ranks 41st for acceptance rate, 41st for SAT and ACT scores and 46th for proportion of students in the top ten percent of their high school class.
USC does not report acceptance rates on its website, only the total number of applicants and the number that enrolled. Amiridis believes that it’s unfair to award universities for turning down students.
“The universities encourage students to apply and make them believe they have a chance,” Amiridis said. “Then students apply and they turn them down to improve their selectivity.”
According to Amiridis, universities should encourage prospective students who are prepared for the coursework and will be a match for the university.
Kiplinger, a finance publishing company, takes the public and private university rankings one step further by determining the schools with the “Best Value.” Kiplinger’s ranking system accounts for cost and financial aid, competitiveness, graduation rates, student indebtedness and academic support. At 57th for in-state students and 67th for out-of-state students, USC out-ranks University of Missouri, UT and UK.
USC’s academic achievements are highlighted in more specialized rankings. The South Carolina Honors College ranks first as a public university honors college, according to a guide published in April. It also takes first in USNWR’s international business rankings. “There are a number of commendable programs here,” Howell said.