News > August 26, 2004

By Jessica Pritchard

News Editor

The university climbed one spot to No. 27 in U.S. News & World Report’s 2005 college rankings released Aug. 20.

In 2003 the university was ranked 25th, but despite keeping the same overall score, fell three positions last year to 28th.

The Babcock Graduate School of Management was ranked 36th, the School of Law 34th and the Baptist Medical Center ranked 40th for research.

The overall rankings were based on a point system, as they had been in the past, with points assigned to seven distinct areas: peer assessments based on interviews with administrators at other universities, freshman retention rate, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, graduation rate performance and alumni giving rate. The percent of classes with less than 20 students as well as the percent of classes with more than 50 students were compared, and points were assigned accordingly.

The university was among those in the National Universities group, which are 248 American universities (162 public and 86 private) that offer a wide range of undergraduate majors as well as master’s and doctoral degrees. 

“The university does appreciate the recognition for what the students and the faculty achieve and what the university as a whole has achieved,” Kevin Cox, a vice president and the director of media relations, said.

Cox, however, emphasized the need for prospective students to visit the university. “The admissions office does a great job of providing information to prospective students and their families,” he said. “We would always encourage students to visit personally, because really there’s no substitution for seeing the university for yourself and touring and asking questions.”

While university administrators caution against choosing a school based upon rankings, prospective students are taking the advice to heart.

“I think I went to Wake because I knew it was highly ranked, but I didn’t stop to look up the actual number in the rankings,” said Hannah Richardson, a freshman from Maryland.

“It is great to get recognition, and we know U.S. News is a prestigious publication, but to really know what the university is all about prospective students should visit,” Cox said.

Harvard and Princeton tied for the first place again this year, Duke was ranked fifth and UNC — Chapel Hill was ranked 29th.

In the past eight years, since the university has joined the National Universities group, it has fluctuated in rankings from 31st to 25th.