Q -Why did Calvin's U.S. News & World
Report ranking change so dramatically this
year?
 A - Last year Calvin was ranked first by
Calvin's U.S. News & World Report in the
category of “Midwest Comprehensive
Bachelor's Colleges.” There were about 110
colleges and universities in that category
last year. This year Calvin was moved to a
completely different category, a national
category called “Liberal Arts Colleges."
That is the key factor in change of rankings
this year. None of the key areas which U.S.
News & World Report measures -- things
like graduation rate, retention rate, alumni
giving, percentage of class taught by fulltime
faculty, etc. -- have changed at Calvin
from last year to this year. Calvin is the
same school it was a year ago, but simply in
a different category this year.
Q -Why did Calvin shift categories?
A - U.S. News & World Report uses the
Carnegie Classification of Institutions of
Higher Education when they sort schools
for the rankings. Because Calvin was
recently moved by Carnegie into the
Baccalaureate Colleges—Arts and Sciences,
a national category U.S. News & World
Report calls “Liberal Arts Colleges,” Calvin
also was moved in terms of how U.S. News &
World Report categorizes us.
Q - Okay, so what's the difference in the two
categories and why did Calvin move?
A - Our old category included just schools
in the Midwest, about 110 in all, while our
new category is national and includes close
to 270 colleges and universities from
around the country. Also, our new national
category is more of a classic liberal arts category
and consequently we are competing
with a variety of prestigious national
colleges.
Calvin was reclassified by Carnegie because
slightly more than 50 percent of our students
are graduating with majors in arts
and sciences fields—such as biology,
English, math and philosophy—and slightly
less than 50 percent in professional degree
fields—such as business, education, engineering
and nursing. When Carnegie classified
institutions in 2000—the basis for previous
U.S. News rankings—it was the reverse:
slightly more than 50 percent of our graduates
were majoring in professional degree
fields.
Q - So why did the change lead to a drop in
the rankings?
A - One of the biggest factors in the rankings
drop probably was our peer reputation
score. In our old Midwest category we
scored the best of any school in peer assessment,
a rating that measures what presidents,
provosts and deans of admissions at
Calvin's competitors think of the school's
academic programs. That's a big factor in
where schools are ranked. It accounts for 25
percent of a school's overall ranking.
Switching categories meant jumping into a
group where fewer of our new peers know
us the way our old peers did. That hurt our
ranking. One example of this is where we
were ranked this year and where St. Mary's,
Ind., was ranked. Last year we were tied with
St. Mary's for number-one in the Midwest.
This year we both moved but we ended up
at 116th and they finished 91st. Why? As far
as we can tell it's because their peer assessment
score dropped slightly less than ours
did. We went from 4.1 last year to 2.9 this
year; they dropped from 3.6 to 2.6. The fact
that we were slightly less ahead of them this
year meant a 25-place difference between
them and us in our new category!
Q- Anything else?
A - Our new category features a lot of
schools with really significant financial
resources. At $80 million our endowment is
tiny compared to some of our new national
competitors.With our typical enrollment of
4,200 students our endowment works out
to about $20,000 per student. We know we
need to increase our endowment and our
financial resources to sustain and maintain
Calvin for the next century. However, the
schools in our new category have a huge
head start on us in that area. For example,
an MIAA peer such as Albion has an endowment
nearing $150 million with an average
of $70,000 per student. The top schools in
our new category have endowments over a
billion dollars! U.S. News & World Report
puts a fair amount of weight on financial
resources, so we get hurt in that area in our
new category.
Q -What other factors in the U.S. News &
World Report rankings came into play this
year for Calvin?
A - Categories in U.S. News & World Report
such as Calvin’s graduation rate, retention
rate, percentage of classes taught by fulltime
faculty and student-faculty ratio did
not change for the worse between last year
and this year. In fact in several of those
areas Calvin improved.
Q - So Calvin isn't a different school than it
was a year ago?
A - No. Last year we scored high in our category
in percentage of faculty who are fulltime
(91 percent), freshman retention rate
(87 percent), graduation rate (74 percent)
and alumni giving rate (33 percent). This
year those numbers were either all the same
or slightly better! We continue to strive for
excellence in all that we do; we continue to
improve the quality of a Calvin education;
and we continue to rest on the solid
Reformed Christian foundation that has
undergirded our work here since 1876.
Q - Still, to go from first to 116th is a big
drop.
A - On the surface, yes it is. But people
shouldn't look at it that way. For example, in our new category, the rate at which colleges
and universities accept high school seniors,
the percentage of students in the top 10
percent of their high school class and the
SAT and ACT scores of incoming students
are worth 15 percent of a school's rank. The
average acceptance rate of the top 25 in our
new category is 31 percent compared to our
98 percent. We practice very open admissions
here at Calvin, while most of our new
competitors do not; they reject about seven
in 10 applicants. That didn't hurt us as
much in our old category; it does in our new
category. Also, the average retention rate—how many first-year students return as
sophomores — is 95 percent for the top 25 in
our new category compared to our 87 percent.
The average graduation rate of the top
25 is 89 percent compared to our 74 percent.
Frankly, our more open admissions
policy probably hurts our retention rate and
graduation rate numbers a little, but we're
committed to that approach and so we'll
take the hit there when it comes to U.S.
News & World Report rankings. Hopefully
when people understand that they'll also
understand a little better how complicated
the ratings game can be.
Q - How do you think students and their
parents should approach college rankings
guides?
A -We've always handled rankings, including
the U.S. News & World Report rankings,
with much care and a slight degree of skepticism.
In our news release last year—when we were ranked first in our old category—I
said: "Finding a college is quite a bit different
than buying a car or a fridge. The data
available in guides like U.S. News & World
Report can be helpful to high school students,
parents, guidance counselors and
others. And it provides a convenient collection
of criteria like graduation rates, first year
retention rates, class sizes and student-
faculty ratios. But those are only a few
of the many ways that should be used to
measure whether a student will fit well with
a particular college." That advice holds
true a year later as well. Visit campuses, talk
to current students, check out college and
university Web sites, e-mail professors, sit in
on a class, stay overnight in a residence hall.
There are many ways to get to know a college
or university. The bottom line for
Calvin is we are a Christian college that provides
a first-rate academic experience, one
we believe is equal to any college in the
country. Our graduates are doing amazing
work of renewal in God's world. They are
making a difference. That's an affirmation
of our educational enterprise that goes far
beyond a ranking in a college guide.
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