09/13 - The University of Scranton Ranks in U.S. News' Top Ten for Ninth Straight Year

For the second consecutive year, The University of Scranton has risen in the ranks of the top ten universities in the north in U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” issue.

In the 2003 edition, The University of Scranton ranked fourth among “Universities – Master’s” in the north, improving from sixth place in 2002 and seventh in 2001. Also in the edition, The University of Scranton was ranked 11th in the category “Great Schools at a Great Price,” a ranking that relates academic quality to the cost of attendance.

U.S. News has counted The University of Scranton among the top 10 universities in the north for the past nine years and has consistently included the university in its rankings since the magazine first introduced them in 1983.

“All of us at the University are delighted that the efforts and achievements of our faculty and students have once again received national recognition,” said University of Scranton President Joseph M. McShane, S.J. “We were especially gratified to be recognized for our efforts to make an excellent education accessible to students from families of limited means.

“We will, however, not rest on our laurels. Rather, we will continue to build a culture of excellence on our campus, a culture that will continue to shape young men and women of talent for service to the human family.”

The north is the nation’s largest and most competitive region. It includes more than 170 schools in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and the six New England states. As defined by U.S. News, the “Universities – Master’s” category consists of 572 institutions nationwide that offer a full range of undergraduate programs and also provide graduate education at the master’s level. U.S. News bases its “Universities-Master’s” rankings on a range of quality indicators, including reputation, retention of students and graduation rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources and alumni giving.

Data are gathered from reports that institutions complete for various government agencies and from surveys of presidents, provosts and deans of admissions at universities and colleges in the regions.

“I believe that our standing in the rankings is rather striking in light of the fact that U.S. News’ criteria does not take into account many other educational outcomes that bear even stronger testimony to the quality of The University of Scranton; for example, the rate at which our students gain acceptance into graduate and professional schools and our students’ consistent success in garnering prestigious fellowships and scholarships,” Fr. McShane added.

In just the last two years, for example, University of Scranton students earned eight Fulbright Fellowships, a Truman Scholarship, four Freeman Awards, two NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarships, two Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarships and two State Farm Fellowships. In 2002, medical schools accepted 100% of Scranton seniors who applied, more than twice the national average. Law schools accepted 75% of applicants, 15% above the national average.

In the 2003 rankings, The University of Scranton rose in its peer assessment ranking and continued its trend of receiving especially high marks for alumni support, retention and graduate rate. U.S. News spotlighted The University of Scranton among schools in the north with the “Highest Graduation Rate.”

According to the magazine, the ranking formula gives the greatest weight to the peer assessment score. Formerly titled academic reputation, the score is based on the “opinion of those in a position to judge a school’s academic excellence.” The survey allows presidents, provosts and deans of admissions at peer institutions to evaluate the “intangibles such as faculty dedication to teaching.”

The University of Scranton’s four-year graduation and continuation rate has averaged roughly 80 percent since 1989, the fifth highest among the top 10 institutions in the region. The University of Scranton also reported a fall-to-fall retention rate for freshmen that has averaged 90 percent since 1989.

Taken together, the peer assessment and graduation and retention rates account for half of the overall score in the U.S. News rankings.

In the area of alumni support, 34 percent of University of Scranton graduates continue to support the University through annual gifts, the highest percentage among the region’s top ten institutions. The University of Scranton ranks second only to the College of Holy Cross among the nation’s Jesuit colleges and universities in the percentage of its undergraduate alumni of record who donated money to the university last year.

The U.S. News ranking follows on other recognition The University of Scranton has received for the quality and value of its educational offerings. This summer, the Princeton Review added The University of Scranton to its list of the nation’s “Best 345 Colleges,” and Kaplan counted Scranton among the country’s “320 Most Interesting Colleges.”

Last year, Yahoo! Internet Life magazine listed The University of Scranton among “America’s Most Wired Colleges” for the second straight year. The university improved on its 2000 ranking, rising from 43rd to 39th among comprehensive and research universities in the nation, the highest ranking of any Jesuit college or university. In 1999, the University became one of only 100 colleges and universities in the nation to be named to the Templeton Foundation’s Honor Roll of Character-Building Colleges.