Tuesday, August 17, 2010

WMU on U.S. News list of top-tier national universities

Western Michigan University is one of just a handful of Michigan universities included in the U.S. News & World Report's new, expanded list of top-tier national universities released today.
The publication's 2011 ranking of more than 1,400 colleges and universities was unveiled at usnews.com and will be available in an Aug. 24 print guidebook on newsstands. WMU remains among the 262 universities--164 public and 98 private--the magazine singles out as having national standing and being among the nation's best. WMU's numerical rank is 179 among the total group, putting it in a tie for 98th place among the nation's public universities.
This is the 20th year WMU has appeared in the magazine's top grouping of "best national universities." This year, the publication expanded its numerically ranked top tier to include more schools. The schools in the bottom 25 percent of the group are listed alphabetically and without ranking as the second tier.
A total of four Michigan public universities are among the schools numerically ranked in the top tier of public and private institutions that is led by Harvard, Princeton and Yale in the top three slots.
Top Tier Michigan Universities
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Michigan State University
Michigan Technological University
Western Michigan University
Another three Michigan schools appear in the unranked lower tier of "best national universities." They are Central Michigan, Oakland and Wayne State universities. Several other state schools are on the magazine's various lists of top liberal arts schools and regional top master's-level universities and baccalaureate colleges.
WMU was first named to the overall "Best National Universities" list in 1991 and moved up to the third of four tiers on the 1999 list. The new ranking eliminates the four-tier system and moves to two. The widely read U.S. News list is based on 16 criteria, including academic reputation, retention and graduation rates, student/faculty ratios, class size, faculty resources and student test scores.
Earlier this month, WMU was named one of the "Best Midwestern Colleges" by Princeton Review. This is the sixth year the University has been honored with that designation, which was made to 152 schools in 12 states. The list is compiled using institutional data, visits to schools and the opinions of college counselors and advisors. An important element of the selection process is an 80-question student survey.
WMU has an enrollment of some 25,000 students and is classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a university with high research activity. The University offers more than 230 degree programs, including 29 at the doctoral level and has regional sites at seven locations around Michigan. The University attracts students from every state in the union and 90 other nations, and its more than 900 faculty members have been trained at some of the world's finest institutions.

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