Hopkins can no longer claim a spot in the coveted top 15 of the U.S. News & World Report's annual national universities ranking following a three-position slip to 16th this year.
U.S. News establishes this ranking based on many criteria, including student/faculty ratio, average freshman retention rate, SAT/ACT scores in the 25th to 75th percentile, and acceptance rate.
Johns Hopkins' fall has been attributed to a deduction of two points in the overall score: one point for acceptance rate and another point for faculty resources, such as the number of classes under 20 students. The university still remained among the top 10 schools in the magazine's evaluation of "academic strength."
University officials expressed skepticism in regard to the U.S. News ranking, saying that several of its figures have been skewed and are misrepresentative.
"We did drop a bit in the fraction of classes under 20 students, but in looking into this matter, we have found that the data system from which this report is generated rolls up certain classes with multiple sections into larger categories, e.g., all expository writing sections were collapsed into one class, when, of course, the sections never meet together and they are indeed very small classes. This will be corrected `by hand' for the next submission of data," Paula Burger, vice provost and dean of undergraduate education, said.
"It is too bad that the index also fails to count individual courses, such as independent research. As you know, one of the hallmarks of a Hopkins education is the chance to do significant research with a faculty member, and that is the ultimate `small class' experience," she continued.
"The rankings are quite a rough measure of [improvement], but because they can set a tone out there among the public and influence the perceived quality of Hopkins with respect to our competitors, we take the matter of rankings very seriously. We want to put our best statistical foot forward. We do draw a line, however, at changing what we actually do, changing the nature of the education we offer, in response to the ranking methodology. We would not do that," John Latting, director of admissions said.
Hopkins received a negative point for its uncharacteristically high acceptance rate for the Class of 2009, which ended up being 35 percent. Hopkins has said that the higher admit rate was a precaution against any lingering security concerns among applicants.
The University stresses, however, that with the growth in the application volume for the Class of 2011 and this year's higher yield, coupled with a more selective admission rate of 27 percent all indicate that there is an intensified interest in Johns Hopkins University among most college applicants. "In the end, students choose a college most often based on best `fit' rather than best rank," William Conley, dean of enrollment, added.
