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U.S. News ranks university No. 25
By Tom Clark
News Editor

U.S News and World Report will announce tonight that the university is ranked 25th among the 249 national universities in its annual publication of "America’s Best Colleges." This number is up one from last year’s rank of 26.

The University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor tied the university for the 25th spot.

The college guide, which will be released on the U.S. News Website, Usnews.com, late tonight, recognized the university for its low student/faculty ratio, freshman retention rate and small classes. Strong alumni giving and financial resources were also important factors in the shift up to the Top 25 list.

"We are pleased to be included among the Top 25 universities in U.S. News and World Report’s annual guide," Martha Allman, director of admissions, said. "We hope prospective students and their families will visit Wake Forest to understand more fully the excellent education Wake Forest offers."

The coordinators of the U.S. News rankings, Samuel Flanigan and Robert Morse, explain the methodology of selecting rankings for each school on the magazine’s Web site.

"Our overall ranking system rests on two pillars. First, it relies on quantitative measures that education experts have proposed as reliable indicators of academic quality. Second, the rankings are based on our nonpartisan view of what matters in education," they write.

While students and faculty alike are optimistic about the shift to number 25, President Thomas K. Hearn, Jr. maintained a down-to-earth approach to the rankings. "American obsession of rating and ranking shows that this is less about the value of colleges, and more about selling magazines," he said. "It’s nice to have that recognition, but I don’t think its something that we should take too seriously."

"The fact that we are tied with UCLA and Michigan, schools that we could hardly be more unlike, says something about the limitations of this (university) enterprise," Hearn said.

"It’s important to remember that this is not something that fundamentally changes the university."

U.S. News also placed the university 31st in its listing of "Great Schools at Great Prices," down from number 30 last year.

This list evaluates which colleges and universities offer the best value based on a formula relating academic quality, as indicated by its overall ranking, with the net cost of attendance for a student receiving the average level of financial aid.

The Calloway School of Business and Accountancy placed 25th in its ranking of the top undergraduate business programs in the nation.

The ranking of the best business programs is based on a survey of deans and senior faculty at business schools across the country.

The university recently announced that accounting students in the Calloway School placed first in the nation for their performance on the 2001 Certified Public Accountant exam. The Sept. 23 issue of U.S. News and World Report magazine featuring the rankings and the newsstand book, America’s Best Colleges, will go on sale Sept. 16.