Undergrad admission and alumni gifts drive a critical ranking

The annual U.S. News & World Report survey of American colleges and universities has ranked Boston College 38th among the country's 228 national universities in its September 5 issue.

The rankings saw Princeton University move into the number-one position, replacing the California Institute of Technology. Harvard and Yale universities tied for second, with Cal Tech (4th) and MIT (5th) completing the top five.

Boston College, which moved up one place in the overall rankings to 38th (a position it shares with Case Western Reserve and Lehigh universities), was aided in its advance by improvement in admissions selectivity, from 36th place last year to 33rd. The percentage of alumni who made a gift to the school--averaged over two years--also improved, from 47th to 32nd, with BC enjoying an average of 28 percent. Though the University did move from 108th to 99th in the category of financial resources--which measures investment in research and academics--BC remains weak in this area in comparison with other highly ranked institutions.

Just one point separated BC from sharing a 35th-place ranking with Georgia Tech, the University of Southern California, and the University of Wisconsin.

According to Dean of Enrollment Management Robert Lay, Boston College "continues to be ranked in the top 25 for two of the key criteria that U.S. News recommends for students and their parents choosing colleges"--that is, graduation rate (19th) and acceptance rate (23rd). In fact, notes Lay, BC ranked 5th this year among national private universities in freshman applications, just behind Cornell University and USC, and ahead of Harvard and Stanford University.

Boston College, the University of Notre Dame (19th), and Georgetown University (23rd) were the only Catholic universities in the top 40, and BC was the only one of the three to advance in the rankings. California boasted the most schools in the top 40 with six, followed by Massachusetts with five--Harvard, MIT, Tufts University, Brandeis University, and BC.

Jack Dunn

Jack Dunn is director of public affairs at Boston College.


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