For the fourth year in a row, U.S. News and World Report has included all 10 LCMS colleges and universities in its “America’s Best Colleges” issue.
But for 2005, eight Synod schools are in the “top-tier” lists of the magazine’s rankings — the most in any one year. Concordia College, Selma, Ala., and Concordia University, Portland, Ore., are listed along with other fourth-tier schools in their regions.
Tiers are the levels of ranking the magazine uses for its best-colleges lists — the top tiers being highest and the fourth tier the lowest.
The 2005 special edition hit newsstands in September. Its rankings of schools also are on the Web at http://usnews.com.
For that ranking, U.S. News first gathers detailed data from the schools or from national higher-education associations. After categorizing the colleges and universities according to their mission or region, the magazine says it arrives at the rankings based on comparative analysis of information in areas such as academic reputation, retention and graduate rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, graduation-rate performance and the rate of alumni giving.
Categories that include the Synod schools are “Best Universities — Master’s” and “Best Comprehensive Colleges — Bachelors.”
“People throughout the Synod and beyond have known all along that the schools of our Concordia University System offer top-quality, life-changing, values-oriented education,” said Dr. William F. Meyer, interim executive director of the Synod’s new Board for University Education.
“So it comes as no surprise that a national news magazine ranks our schools among the best,” Meyer said. “But at the same time, we certainly appreciate this kind of recognition.
“What I said last year when the 2004 U.S News special edition came out is still true,” Meyer told Reporter. “It’s extraordinary that all 10 of our Concordia University System colleges and universities continue to excel as they do, especially in times of hard economic reality. This kind of recognition keeps reminding us that our campuses all across the country rank right up there in comparison with some of the best-known educational institutions in America.”
“Everyone in our church body, along with the students, faculty, staff, alumni and other supporters of our CUS schools,” Meyer said, “can be proud that these schools continue our rich heritage of superior Christian education.”
Richard Folkers, director of media relations for U.S. News and World Report, told Reporter that the magazine ranked more than 1,400 schools — “all [the] accredited four-year colleges in the United States” — for its 2005 “America’s Best Colleges” issue.
Posted Oct. 4, 2004
