2015 College Rankings

[78crusader]

The Princeton Review Best 379 Colleges is now out.  I am guessing VU is not on the list.  We were not on the list last year either, after having made the list for several consecutive years.

The US News college rankings will be out in a few weeks.  I'm holding my breath to see where we end up.  Last year it was #6.  Before that we were tied for 4th.  Not long ago we were #3 or #2.  Before that we were #1 at least twice.

Enrollment is up.  Endowment is up.  Average ACT scores for incoming freshmen are up.  There are new buildings everywhere on campus.  Why the drop?  Why no longer on the Princeton list?  No one from VU has ever addressed this.  If recent history is any indication, we will drop even further than last year's #6 ranking.  Of the schools that were #1 or #2 at the same time VU was that high, no one has dropped as far as we have.  For instance, when we were #1 in our region, Villanova was #1 in its region.  Villanova last year was still ranked very high; not the case for VU.  What is going on?

Paul

[vu72]

The Princeton Review Best 379 Colleges is now out.  I am guessing VU is not on the list.  We were not on the list last year either, after having made the list for several consecutive years.

The US News college rankings will be out in a few weeks.  I'm holding my breath to see where we end up.  Last year it was #6.  Before that we were tied for 4th.  Not long ago we were #3 or #2.  Before that we were #1 at least twice.

Enrollment is up.  Endowment is up.  Average ACT scores for incoming freshmen are up.  There are new buildings everywhere on campus.  Why the drop?  Why no longer on the Princeton list?  No one from VU has ever addressed this.  If recent history is any indication, we will drop even further than last year's #6 ranking.  Of the schools that were #1 or #2 at the same time VU was that high, no one has dropped as far as we have.  For instance, when we were #1 in our region, Villanova was #1 in its region.  Villanova last year was still ranked very high; not the case for VU.  What is going on?

Paul

I agree with your concerns, but, we have moved up in the Washington Monthly rankings, moving to number 3 nationally, not regionally.

http://www.valpo.edu/news/2014/08/25/valparaiso-university-moves-to-third-in-the-nation-for-contribution-to-public-good/

[vu72]

And don't forget about Forbes:
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/forbes-ranks-valparaiso-university-among-top/article_f141af0a-4a83-5707-b814-d0b78c2f86ad.html

[setshot]

Valpo has again tied with Xavier for 5th. place in the MW Regional category. Butler a solid #2. What gives?

[okinawatyphoon]

Valpo ranks number 5 this year in US News & World Report. Tied for 1st for Up-and-Coming.

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/regional-universities-midwest

[vu72]

Well at least we haved leveled off.  I checked a couple of interesting figures.  I compared Valpo with Butler and Drake.  One startling figure is that Butler is now at only 39% males students while Drake is at 44% and Valpo is at 48%.  The other thing is that our endowment continues to be bigger than these schools.  Valpo is at $177,976,000 while Butler is at $171,576,000 and Drake at $168,619,000.  This advantage should only increase as our next fund drive will focus on endowment.

[VULB#62]

In a different ranking (CollegeFactual) just released, Valpo come in at #248 out of 1394 rated US colleges for 4 year undergraduate programs.  We came in #39 out of 224 rated schools in the Great Lakes Region.

http://college.usatoday.com/2014/09/08/upenn-named-best-college-nationwide-for-2015/

Some Valpo specific ratings:
  ACT scores of incoming freshmen = 85%
  Amount spent per student = 72%
  Faculty compensation = 41%
  Student/Faculty ratio = 73%
  Freshmen retention = 85%
  6 year graduation rate = 85%
  Starting salary = 66%
  Mid career salary = 72%

Some familiar Great Lakes region friends:
ND #1  -  (#10 overall)
Marquette #20
Bradley #21
Dayton #25
Butler #27
Loyola #37
Valpo #39  -  (#248 overall)
UIC #49
Detroit Mercy #66
Evansville #76
UWM #166
Oakland #169
UWGB #170
Wright State #184
Cleveland State #193
YSU #212
Chicago State #215 - (#1332 overall)

[VULB#62]

Maybe we should combine these two strings?

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Maybe we should combine these two strings?

I think we're just waiting for one of the two to devolve into a facilities discussion like always

[bbtds]

Maybe we should combine these two strings?

I think we're just waiting for one of the two to devolve into a facilities discussion like always

Speaking of facilities, do you think there will ever be a formal plan laid out to finally renovate the ARC? Or are they just giving us a lot of lip service? It'll be a real full moon on Popcorn Festival Day before we ever see these asses do anything.

That should take care of it.

[valpotx]

At least we are well above Evansville, since they consider themselves our peers in academics

[valpotx]

Let's get back to that #1 rating we had while I attended!

[78crusader]

Let's face it.  The rankings have not been kind to VU during the past 5-6 years.  Perhaps the most disappointing ranking, to me anyway, was the College Factual rankings.  We ranked 11th...out of 32 colleges and universities in Indiana.  Here is the Top 10: (1) ND (2) DePauw (3) Rose-Hulman (4) Saint Mary's (5) Purdue (6) Butler (7) Earlham (8) Wabash (9) IU (10) Goshen (yes, we rank below Goshen).  Saint Joseph's, by the way, ranks 30th.

I just don't understand the drop in the rankings.  Something is amiss and I'm not sure what it is. 

Paul

[vu72]

Let's face it.  The rankings have not been kind to VU during the past 5-6 years.  Perhaps the most disappointing ranking, to me anyway, was the College Factual rankings.  We ranked 11th...out of 32 colleges and universities in Indiana.  Here is the Top 10: (1) ND (2) DePauw (3) Rose-Hulman (4) Saint Mary's (5) Purdue (6) Butler (7) Earlham (8) Wabash (9) IU (10) Goshen (yes, we rank below Goshen).  Saint Joseph's, by the way, ranks 30th.

I just don't understand the drop in the rankings.  Something is amiss and I'm not sure what it is. 

Paul

I guess I'm not at all concerned.  We know the average GPA and SAT scores have improved over this time, enrollment is on the rise and new buildings are very evident.  USNews say we rank #2 in the Midwest in teaching. What is most important?  As for the "Factual" rankings there could be several reasons why we are ranked lower than some.  Faculty salaries for one.  This is why the endowment and endowed chairs are high on our to do list.  Student starting salaries?  Could it be that a larger than normal group of our graduates are choosing church or other vocations with typically lower pay levels?  Who knows.  I just don't want to lose any sleep over such things.  Rest assured, in the real world, Valpo's name recognition is just slightly higher than Goshen's!   

[78crusader]

Faculty salaries are low, that is for sure.  I recall Dr. Allen Tuttle (one of the GREAT professors VU has ever had -- I think a building should be named after him, I'm serious) telling me in 1975 that at some point in the 1960s the national accreditation group came to VU and basically demanded a damn good explanation for why faculty salaries were so low -- they were threatening all sorts of things, from probation to actually denying re-accreditation for VU, which of course is the nuclear bomb that all colleges fear.  Fortunately, according to Dr. Tuttle, President Kretzmann was called in for a charm offensive and, of course, he was able to sweet talk the accreditation group into overlooking the low salaries. 

Maybe the answer to the lower rankings is simple: the first ever US News rankings were based on only one thing: academic reputation, which is maybe VU's greatest strength.  Later, when other items were added, such as faculty salaries and alumni support, we lost a bit of ground to our peers.

Paul

[a3uge]

While teaching, nursing, pastor-ing are great careers with decent pay, I'm not sure it moves the needle in terms of endowment. Not really as much room to move up in those careers. Building up engineering and pairing majors with business (business intelligence and sciences) would be great for spitting out high paying careers. Not holding anything against certain career choices, but Valpo should invest a bit more in sciences, like, I don't know, Computer Science to name a random major instead of treating it like a random supplement major that it's forced to include.

[valpo04]

While teaching, nursing, pastor-ing are great careers with decent pay, I'm not sure it moves the needle in terms of endowment. Not really as much room to move up in those careers. Building up engineering and pairing majors with business (business intelligence and sciences) would be great for spitting out high paying careers. Not holding anything against certain career choices, but Valpo should invest a bit more in sciences, like, I don't know, Computer Science to name a random major instead of treating it like a random supplement major that it's forced to include.

Found this article today, somewhat topical: Where to go to college if you want the highest starting salary

[bbtds]

While teaching, nursing, pastor-ing are great careers with decent pay, I'm not sure it moves the needle in terms of endowment. Not really as much room to move up in those careers. Building up engineering and pairing majors with business (business intelligence and sciences) would be great for spitting out high paying careers. Not holding anything against certain career choices, but Valpo should invest a bit more in sciences, like, I don't know, Computer Science to name a random major instead of treating it like a random supplement major that it's forced to include.

Found this article today, somewhat topical: Where to go to college if you want the highest starting salary

Sounds like "The Big Bang Theory" kind of people actually win out here. CalTech is actually mentioned in the top 5.

[FWalum]

While teaching, nursing, pastor-ing are great careers with decent pay, I'm not sure it moves the needle in terms of endowment. Not really as much room to move up in those careers. Building up engineering and pairing majors with business (business intelligence and sciences) would be great for spitting out high paying careers. Not holding anything against certain career choices, but Valpo should invest a bit more in sciences, like, I don't know, Computer Science to name a random major instead of treating it like a random supplement major that it's forced to include.

Found this article today, somewhat topical: Where to go to college if you want the highest starting salary

Ok, decided to look up schools in Indiana... low and behold my old employer Indiana Tech shows up as #5 in the state, just behind Rose-Hulman, Notre Dame and Purdue!  ARE YOU KIDDING ME    Somebody has got to be cooking the books.  At least we are #7  IU is #9  Evansville #13  Butler #19  Ball State #23

[vu72]

This should make some of you happier than perhaps the US News rankings.

College Choice magazine, under presumably similar ranking criteria, has Valpo ranked number 2 in the Midwest, among masters level institutions.

From the top 50, here are the rankings ofsome schools of interest:

1. Creighton (same as US News)
2. Valpo
4. Bradley
5. Butler
6. Xavier (tied at 5 with Valpo in US News)
7. Drake
8. Evansville
14. Detroit
29. Indiana Wesleyan

Here are the full Midwest rankings:

http://www.collegechoice.net/rankings/regional-universities-midwest/

[FWalum]

Would love to see the Academic Reputation score up in the 90's, otherwise it's great to see us in the top 2!

[okinawatyphoon]

College Choice could have chosen a much better picture of our school.... but still a great ranking! 

[VULB#62]

College Choice could have chosen a much better picture of our school.... but still a great ranking! 

Agree...........  the chapel wudda been better, but then how about all the other great looking buildings.

That brings up a great question.  If there was one photo shot that would communicate to the entire freakin' world what Valpo is, what would that shot be?

I don't think one would suffice.  Thoughts?

[vu72]

College Choice could have chosen a much better picture of our school.... but still a great ranking! 

Agree...........  the chapel wudda been better, but then how about all the other great looking buildings.

That brings up a great question.  If there was one photo shot that would communicate to the entire freakin' world what Valpo is, what would that shot be?

I don't think one would suffice.  Thoughts?

I can't really think of any building other than the Chapel.  It has to be one one of the most iconic structures in Indiana, let alone all of secondary education.  The rather "modern" style" of most of the campus does not lend itself to "classic"college photos.  My second choice would be Guild Memorial.  I've emailed Mark before about ESPN using a picture of Valparaiso city hall in their broadcasts rather then a picture of the Chapel.  I said it was akin to showing a picture of South Bend City Hall during Notre Dame broadcasts rather than the Golden Dome!

[VULB#62]

Good point.

Years back before the city spread it's borders, you could be driving down to Valpo and the chapel would define your view   Dramatic.  That's not as possible now coming in from the north (Like two weeks ago).  But once you get near the campus, it is still impressive.  That  was built under OP Kretzman's watch I believe, yes?

Actually, I looked it up.  It was dedicated in 1959 and that was in the OP era. BTW Duke is contesting that it it is the 2nd largest college chapel in the world.  PfssssT!