Utah schools slip in rankings

Every year US News and World Report puts out their rankings of the best colleges and universities in the country. And every year the state of Utah usually fares pretty well. This year Brigham Young University, the University of Utah, and Westminster College have slipped in their rankings.

BYU, Westminster, Utah rank high on top-colleges list (Deseret Morning News, August 17 2007)

Utah schools go south in national rankings (Salt Lake Tribune, August 17 2007

Kind of fun to see how different the two papers spin the news.

Also interesting, especially to those in UVSC's administration, is the fact that the magazine has changed some of its methodology in determining the rankings. In particular they now disqualify any school that does not require either the ACT/SAT as part of the admission process.

UVSC has been ranked as high as 4th for comprehensive colleges in the West (The comprehensive college category has been renamed the baccalaureate colleges category this year). And while the school has sort of required the ACT as part of admission since 2005, it is unclear if the schools iffy policy (students over 21 or not required to take the ACT) has kept them out of the rankings this year. It might also be the fact that UVSC, in keeping with its open admissions policy, does not use the ACT to determine eligibility, but placement.