The University of Michigan inched up one notch this year to obtain the 23rd spot in the U.S. News and World Report annual ranking of national undergraduate institutions.
While excitement traditionally accompanies the rankings, members of the University community said they do not see significance in the move from the 24th spot to the 23rd.
Vice President for University Relations Walter Harrison said he doesn't think the one-rank improvement means "anything at all."
"The differences are so fine at these excellent schools that they don't tell you very much," Harrison said.
This year, the University shares the 23rd ranking with three other institutions - Carnegie Mellon University, Tufts University and the University of California at Berkeley.
The maize and blue ranked second among public universities, behind the University of Virginia and tied with Berkeley - the only other public institutions in the top 25.
The University of Michigan attained a high academic ranking of 3.8 on a 4.0 scale - the same as third-ranked Duke University. Although that put Michigan at the No. 7 spot academically, Michigan was pulled down in the overall ranking by low scores in student selectivity, financial resources and alumni giving.
New to the annual report is a separate list of the top 25 public universities. Al Sanoff, managing editor of U.S. News' America's Best Colleges issue, said he added the list because nearly 80 percent of college students attend public institutions.
However, Harrison said the public rankings list is not useful because most students choose public schools because of cheaper in-state tuition and pay little attention to how they compare to each other.
Despite their prestige, University officials said they caution everyone to pay little attention to the annual rankings.
"The rankings just don't capture what we see as exciting and adventurous at Michigan," said Provost Nancy Cantor, noting that the rankings don't take into account specifics like the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program and the University's numerous living-learning communities.
Harrison said public universities traditionally don't fare well in the rankings because of variables such as selectivity.
"At a public university, one of our missions is access," Harrison said.
Harrison also questioned the accuracy of how the rankings measure certain variables. Alumni satisfaction, Harrison pointed out, is measured by how much money alumni give to their alma mater.
"By and large, I think that people should use other methods of choosing these schools than rankings," he said.
LSA first-year student Michael Kellermann said the U.S. News rankings did not influence his college selection process.
"I think that prospective students should look at the universities for what they are, not for what commercial media sources out to make a profit think they are," Kellermann said.
Sanoff said the rankings are only one tool that people should use to pick a school.
"(The rankings) provide useful comparative information, but should by no means be used in isolation," Sanoff said.
Harvard University re-gained the no.1 ranking after sliding to number three on last year's list. Joe Wrinn, a Harvard spokesperson, said he puts little stock into the list, but is happy to see Harvard on top again.
"If there's going to be a list, then it's nice to be on top ... but the main point is to see that students end up at the schools that are best for them," Wrinn said.
Source: U.S. News and World Report
09-04-97
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