Duke slipped two spots in the U.S. News and World Report rankings of American universities this year, managing to land just inside the top 10.
At No. 10, the magazine's latest rank of the University released Thursday, Duke was placed at its lowest in at least a decade.
"We are so tightly bunched together by the formula that U.S. News uses that small changes at the top can produce seemingly large changes in the overall ranking," Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations wrote in an e-mail. "Duke is just as good a university this year as it was last year, and I would argue even better in some ways."
The University has been ranked No. 8 for the past three years, tied in 2009 with the University of Chicago and Columbia University. Both institutions remained at the same spot this year, while Harvard and Princeton tied for the top spot.
U.S. News calculates its rankings by giving each university a score based on seven measures: peer assessment, retention, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, graduation rate performance and the alumni giving rate. Chicago and Columbia were given a score of 91 points out of 100, edging out Duke with 90 points.
Duke made it into the top 10 of U.S. News and World Report's list of Best Value colleges at No. 9. The ranking is a comparison of the academic quality of an institution versus its total cost of attendance. Duke was also commended for its first-year experience, study abroad, service learning, writing in the disciplines and undergraduate research/creative projects.
"My parents are obsessed with the U.S. News rankings," freshman Hannah Hayward said.
She added that Duke was the highest-ranked university she applied to.
"I'm from Florida and they wouldn't let me apply to the University of Florida because it was ranked 50th," Hayward said.
While various publications market their annual college rankings as a valuable tool for prospective college freshmen, Schoenfeld noted that all rankings-from Forbes magazine to the Princeton Review-are trying to sell magazines and books.
"No single ranking can adequately assess or evaluate all the programs and departments that a complex research university like Duke offers, and it is absurd to think that an arbitrary collection of subjective data can do anything more than create a very general hierarchy of quality," Schoenfeld said.
Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Christoph Guttentag similarly said the rankings were misleading.
"The criteria used is based on the ideas of the publications," he said. "It implies differences between institutions that don't exist. I have philosophical problems with the whole process"
He added that the rankings do not have a large effect on recruiting and generally tend to reflect conventional wisdom. He noted that since 1999, when Duke was ranked 6th in the country, the number of applicants has risen by 50 percent.
"I knew where I wanted to apply. The rankings were a way to reaffirm that they were good schools," freshman Nicole Kyle said. "Visiting Duke was what helped me decide that I wanted to come here."
In spite of the criticism directed at the rankings from administrators at Duke and others around the country, Schoenfeld said some lists can be useful to the University in assessing its relative strengths and weaknesses, comparing with peer institutions and seeing whether the University's strategic focus is on the right track.
U.S. News and World Report is not the only publication in which Duke lost ground. Forbes magazine ranked Duke No. 104 in its second annual list of the best colleges, down from No. 80 last year. The U.S. Military Academy at West Point topped the Forbes list.
"If we can't agree on the ranking of the best college football team every season, even when they actually play each other and there is a winner and loser, how can any list really measure the best university?" Schoenfeld said. "The best college is the one that's right for each student."
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