College and University Rankings

College and University Rankings & Guides to Selecting a School Meriam Library California State University, Chico

This is a guide to books and articles available in the Meriam Library. Some contain rankings and others provide information that allows you to make an informed choice about which school is best for you. Some Internet sites are included, but no attempt has been made to be comprehensive. For an extensive annotated list of school ranking websites, consult College and University Rankings http://www.library.uiuc.edu/edx/rankings.htm. Formatting the Reference List Ranking Criteria Some of the criteria commonly used to measure an institution's academic quality, especially for undergraduate education, are average SAT scores of incoming freshmen, acceptance rates, number of students continuing with postgraduate study, size of the library, and number of PhD's on the faculty. For graduate schools, the record of faculty research and publication and a program's reputation among academics are frequently cited as indicators of quality. In selecting a school, students should define for themselves the factors that are most important and which school is the "best" for them.

Undergraduate Educational Rankings and Guides America's Best Colleges...... ref LA226 A44 Compiled annually by U.S. News and World Report, this book ranks the top schools in various categories of size and type of school. The California State Universities are usually included under Masters' Level Universities or Top Publics. Reputation, acceptance rate, SAT scores, class size, graduation rate, financial resources, and costs are some of the criteria considered in creating the rankings. Selected results, related articles and methodology also appear in a fall issue of the magazine and are available on the US News website. http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/cohome.htm America's Best College Sports Programs http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/sports/sports Cover story and data tables in U.S. News and World Report, March 18, 2002. Barron's Best Buys in College Education...... ref L 901 S56 This directory is self-described as covering schools that provide a first-rate education at a reasonable price. The highest tuition bracket is about $20,000 annually but most schools listed are considerably less expensive. Barron's Profiles of American Colleges...... ref L 901 B27.5 Rates schools on academic competitiveness from "noncompetitive" to "most competitive." Also provides details on admission requirements, library and computer facilities, athletic facilities, extracurricular activities and campus environment for over 1600 schools. Campus Squirrel Listings http://www.gottshall.com/squirrels/campsq.htm Find a squirrel friendly school. Rate the size, health and behavior of squirrel populations on your own campus. College Rankings (Princeton Review) http://www.review.com/college/rankings.cfm Students report on their colleges and pull no punches. Categories include Academics (including toughest schools to get into), extracurricular activities, quality of life, demographics (diversity vs. homogeneity) and parties. The "Administrative" category includes "best academic bang for the buck." You can select schools from a list and compare a range of data about them. Over 100,000 students were surveyed but little more is reported about the survey methodology. College Source (College Catalogs Online) http://www.cgf.org/home.asp requires current CSU Chico ID card View the full text of recent college catalogs from U.S. undergraduate and graduate schools. Search for schools meeting criteria of size (under 1,000 to over 25,000), location, tuition (under $1,000 to over $15,000) and offering particular undergraduate majors or graduate programs of study. Dancer's Resource...... ref GV 1589 J65 Descriptions of academic and professional dance programs and studio schools Multicultural Student's Guide to Colleges...... ref L 901 M58 1993 Narrative and tabular data relevant to students of color about enrollment, retention, graduation, financial aid, student organizations, and campus life at more than 200 "prominent institutions of higher learning" which have "traditionally appealed to the country's top students." National Directory of Scholarships, internships, fellowships for Latino Youth...... LB 2338 D57 Main The appendix includes "Top 25 Colleges and Universities," "Top 10 Business Schools" and "Top 10 Law Schools" for Hispanics - based on size of Hispanic enrollment, number graduating, number of Hispanic faculty and student organizations. Peterson's Guide to Two Year Colleges...... ref L 901 P48 Descriptions of over 1,700 U.S. and Canadian two year schools. Indexed by degree programs Peterson's Guide to Four Year Colleges...... ref L 901 P47 Descriptions of nearly 1000 accredited U.S. and Canadian colleges by major and geographic location. Petersons.com http://www.petersons.com From the publisher of printed guides like those listed above, doesn't rank, but you can search for schools by location, majors and cost. Peterson's Top Colleges for Science...... ref L 901 P4 1996 The 190 schools briefly profiled were chosen from a field of 1,442. Defining criteria were the percentage of graduates majoring in basic science and math programs, the percentage of graduates who subsequently earned PhD’s in science or math, and the percentage of graduates awarded NSF fellowships. StudentsReview http://www.studentsreview.com/ Uncensored student opinions of undergraduate and graduate schools. Take the online survey and register your opinion. "Top 100" Degree Producers --Black Issues in Higher Education identifies colleges and universities which grant the most undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees to minority candidates. There are separate lists for degrees awarded to Hispanic, Asian, Native American and Afro-American candidates, as well as a combined list. The Afro- American list includes both "traditionally white" and "historically black" institutions. Meriam Library does not subscribe to this journal, but the article may be available online. Black issues is indexed in Ethnic News Watch and Academic Search which are available to currently enrolled CSU Chico students and faculty from the ReSEARCH Station/Articles and Databases page.

Graduate Educational Rankings and Guides Best Graduate Schools...... ref L 901 A546 U.S. News & World Report's annual ranking of schools of business, law, medicine, nursing, engineering and education. Dates when other disciplines were ranked appear in Older Rankings below and on the U.S. News Best Graduate Schools website http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/rankindex.htm For comments on the U.S. News rankings see the Caution & Controversy section of the College and University Rankings guide http://www.library.uiuc.edu/edx/rankings.htm National Doctoral Program Survey http://survey.nagps.org/ Over 32,000 graduate students and recent PhD's were surveyed by the National Association of Graduate- Professional Students in order to assess graduate schools' implementation of recommended educational best practices. The survey is self-described as "observational" rather than a "controlled experiment." Respondents were self-selected and report their perceptions. Topics of interest to prospective graduate students such as curriculum and teaching, professional development, mentoring, time to degree completion, program climate and overall student satisfaction were graded by the respondents for their own programs. Peterson's Graduate and Professional Programs...... ref L 901 P46 Programs in arts and humanities, social sciences, sciences, and professions. Petersons.com/Graduate Programs http://www.petersons.com/GradChannel/Search.asp Select programs from a menu and refine your list to geographic location. Use Advanced Search to search the full text of program descriptions - useful in locating unique programs and specific criteria. StudentsReview http://www.studentsreview.com Uncensored student opinions of undergraduate and graduate schools. Take the online survey and register your opinion.

Business Schools Barron's Guide to Graduate Business Schools...... HF 1131 B375 (BST 3B #34) Jobs, Graduate Schools, Careers http://www.csuchico.edu/~wd6/webguides/employ.html graduate business schools and MBA programs 2 Peterson's Guide to MBA Programs...... HF 1131 P4 (BST 3B # 35)

Law Schools Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools...... ref KF 273 A85 Published by the Law School Admissions Council and the American Bar Association, this book provides for each school, data such as the number applying and admitted, the percentage of minority students and faculty, bar passage rate, and number of full and part-time classes offered. The introduction states that the ABA and LSAC "disapprove of any and all rankings." Data is presented in a format that facilitates comparisons among schools and encourages applicants to investigate various schools. Barron's Guide to Law Schools...... ref KF 266 B3 Provides information for 180 ABA approved schools

Other Disciplines Many professional associations publish directories of graduate education. They generally list faculty areas of specialization and may provide information such as admission requirements, number enrolled or number of degrees awarded in the previous year. Inclusion in one of these directories does not necessarily mean endorsement or accreditation by the sponsoring association. Directory of Colleges & Universities with Accredited Social Work Programs Council on Social Work Education...... ref HV 11 D585 Directory of History Departments and Organizations in the United States and Canada American Historical Association...... ref D 16.3 G83 Graduate Study in Psychology & Associated Fields...... ref B F77 A44 American Psychological Association. Lists programs at schools accredited by the APA

About Rankings Rankings Caution & Controversy http://www.library.uiuc.edu/edx/rankoversy.htm the usefulness of rankings, how they have been challenged and what schools have declined to participate in certain ranking surveys.

The Center http://thecenter.ufl.edu/ primary research focus is on measuring university performance. Reports and publications discuss the measures and methodology used in the U.S. News rankings and other aspects of ranking and quality measure in education. TheCenter also publishes an annual ranking of the Top American Research Universities. http://thecenter.ufl.edy.research2001.html 2000, January: Kersten, Glenn. "Grading on the Curve: College ratings and rankings" http://www.sls.lib.il.us/reference/por/features/99/collrank.html "Rankings Caution and Controversy" website recommends this article for its excellent overview of the topic of rankings. 1997, December: Levin, Shirley. "Ignore College Rankings-Become an Educated Consumer" http://www.washingtonparent.com/articles/9712/rankings.htm 1995: Walleri, R.D. and M.K. Moss, eds. Evaluating and Responding to College Guidebooks and Rankings. San Francisco, Ca., Jossey-Bass...... LB 2350.5 E92 1995 Main Essays on validity of reputational studies & discussion of U.S. News & World Report & Money Magazine rankings. 1993, Sept.-Oct: Schmitz, Constance C. "Assessing the Validity of Higher Education Indicators" Journal of Higher Education, v. 64, no. 5, pp. 5-3-521...... L 11 J78 Periodicals Examines eight criteria commonly used to assess quality and rank schools: accurately predict reputation and prestige for research universities but may have little relevance for nonselective, regional schools at the undergraduate level. 1992, March/April: Webster, David S. "Rankings of Undergraduate Education U.S. News & World Report and Money: Are they any good?" Change (March/April 1992) v. 24, no. 1, pgs. 19-31...... LB 2300 C4 Periodicals 1986: Academic Quality Rankings of American Colleges and Universities ...... LB 2331.63 W34 1986 Main

3 Of special interest are chapters 15 & 16 which compare the rankings of certain institutions on 7 major surveys done 1925-1982.

Older Rankings Research-Doctorate Programs in the United States...... ref LB 2377.3 R47 1995 This study by the National Research Council was begun in 1992. It includes more than 3,600 programs in 41 fields at over 270 institutions. Programs are ranked in broad disciplinary areas (e.g., arts and humanities, social and behavioral sciences, etc.) according to the” average rating of the scholarly quality of program faculty." For individual subjects (e.g., art history, chemistry, etc.), there are rankings according to scholarly quality of faculty, number of "Distinguished" ratings, total number of awards and honors to program faculty, citation density for program faculty and visibility of the program among scholars. This source emphasizes reputational measures which tend to show the strongest and weakest programs most clearly, but which provide less agreement on programs in the middle range. The editors state that "there is no single agreed index of a unitary attribute called 'quality'. There are several 'qualities' and the importance of them is largely a function of the needs of the reader." (p. ix) The Executive Summary http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/researchdoc/summary.html Research Doctorate Programs in the United States: Continuity and Change, is available online. Best Graduate Schools http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/rankindex.htm U.S. News & World Report has ranked programs in the following disciplines in the years indicated. These rankings are in addition to annual rankings of business, law, medicine, engineering and education schools.

Pub.Year Edition Programs ranked 2002 2003 PhD programs in the sciences 2001 2001 Health, public affairs and PhD programs in social sciences & humanities 2000 Health disciplines 1999 Library Science 1998 Health specialties, nursing, public affairs; top 25 rankings for programs in arts, humanities & sciences 1997 Architecture, drama, film, fine arts, music, creative writing, public health, pharmacy & social work 1996 Journalism and mass communications, library science, health and liberal arts

Locating Additional Information . Books Use the "Books" link on the ReSEARCH Station http://www.csuchico.edu/library to search the library catalog. Enter keywords like colleges, directories, undergraduate rankings, graduate rankings, universities rankings, graduate education biology, social sciences graduate evaluation, etc. Restricted to CSU Chico students, faculty or staff. Try these same search strategies in PHAROS, the California State Universities library catalog search engine. Pharos is available on the ReSEARCH Station under Library Catalog.

. Articles Use the "Articles & Databases" link on the ReSEARCH Station http://www.csuchico.edu/library. Select Academic Search or a database in your major or discipline. Restricted to CSU Chico students, faculty or staff. Enter keywords and combine with "and," for example: universities and ranking*, undergraduate and ranking*, colleges and evaluation, graduate schools and ranking*, etc.

. Internet Consult College & University Rankings for an extensive, annotated list of websites http://www.library.uiuc.edu/edx/rankings.htm Browse an online directory under higher education. Two good ones are: Yahoo/Higher Education http://dir.yahoo.com/Education/Higher_Education/ Librarians Index to the Internet/Education http://lii.org/search/file/education select "Choosing a College"

4 Search in Google http://www.google.com/ or Altavista http://www.altavista.com/ or your favorite search engine. Read the "search tips" to make your search as precise as possible.

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