Popular U.S. News and World Report Rankings Rate Campus
The following article was written by Rutgers-Camden student Nick Tontarski and originally appeared in the Nov. 17, 2008, edition of The Gleaner.The latest set of popular college rankings from news magazine U.S. News and World Report have rated Rutgers–Camden with high marks. The smallest of the three Rutgers campuses has taken 26th place in the North in the Universities-Master's list, but is third when compared to other public schools in the region.
Dr. Deborah Bowles, associate chancellor for enrollment management at Rutgers–Camden, isn't surprised. She says the tiny campus can do even better: "I think it demonstrates that we need to work on getting our story told, so that more people are aware of our strengths in our programs. Rutgers–Camden has the bright students and the distinguished faculty to make it to the top."
Other local area colleges have also placed well in the rankings. Villanova University and the College of New Jersey took first and eighth place, respectively. Rowan University came in 28th and the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey placed 52nd.
More interestingly, Rutgers–Camden is the second-best ranked of the satellite campuses on the list. Top honors in that category went to 11th-ranked SUNY College of Arts and Sciences in Geneseo, New York.
U.S. New's and World Report's America's Best Colleges has been rating national colleges and universities since 1984. The list is divided into National Universities ("offering a full range of undergraduate majors, plus Master's and Ph.D. programs"), Liberal Arts Colleges ("focus almost exclusively on undergraduate education, and award over 50% of their degrees in arts and sciences"), Universities-Master's ("offer a broad scope of undergraduate degrees and some master's degrees but few, if any, doctoral programs"), and Baccalaureate Colleges ("focus on undergraduate education but grant fewer than 50% of their degrees in liberal arts disciplines.")
The rankings use the following criterion to produce a score for each University-Master's school:
Peer Assessment (25%): U.S. News and World Report asks top academics ("presidents, provosts, and deans of admission" to rate the school from 1 to 5.
Rutgers–Camden Score: 3.2
Retention (25%): The proportion of freshmen that return for a second year. Rutgers–Camden Score: 83%
Faculty Resources (20%): Takes into account class size, faculty salary, proportion of professors with the highest attainable degree in their fields, student-faculty ratio, proportion of full-time faculty.
Rutgers–Camden % classes under 20: 38
Rutgers–Camden % classes over 20: 7
Rutgers–Camden student-faculty ratio: 11/1
Rutgers–Camden % full-time faculty: 83
Student Selectivity (15%): Standardized test scores and high school class rankings are taken into account.
Rutgers–Camden% freshmen in Top 25% of high school class: 49
Rutgers–Camden 25th-75th percentile SAT scores: 990-1210
Financial Resources (10%): Per-student spending of a given college or university.
Alumni Giving Rate (5%): The average percentage of living alumni with bachelor's degrees that have donated to the school from 2005 to 2007.
Rutgers–Camden Score: 9%
The guide, America's Best Colleges: 2009, (ISBN 978-1-931469-33-3) can be found on shelves at all major retailiers and at the University District Bookstore.
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Media Contact: Cathy K. Donovan
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E-mail: catkarm@camden.rutgers.edu