Syracuse University claimed the No. 60 spot on the 2017 U.S. News and World Report Best Colleges Rankings in the National Universities category.

These rankings are useful to prospective college students and their parents, as it is impossible for them to visit and compare all colleges, said David Rubin, professor and dean emeritus of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. But he said no student would be wise to rely on the rankings as the reason they pick a school.

Sam Gorovitz, philosophy professor and former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, also said he would discourage students from giving high value to the rankings.

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While top-ranked schools may be the best choice for some students, they might not be for others, Gorovitz said. It depends on who the student is and what is going to work best for that specific student.

“I would always … ask, for this particular student, what is likely to be the best match in terms of educational value, in terms of personal growth, in terms of empowerment?” Gorovitz said.

Many people believe the rankings are flawed in their methodology and they should not be taken seriously, Gorovitz said. But there is also a perception that they matter.

“And that means that lots of people do take them seriously,” he said. “That has an effect on the perceived value of a Syracuse degree, both for prospective students and for prospective employers.”

Gorovitz recalled a time when SU was ranked higher on the list.

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“The real issue is what will it take to get us back into the 40s where we used to be?” he said.

Gorovitz suggested to move up in the rankings, the university should invest more in the core disciplines.

The rankings generally do not fluctuate much and SU has remained within two spots of its No. 60 ranking over the past four years.

Rubin attributes this to the indicators used in the rankings, which he said enable the top-ranked schools to remain at the top of the list and prevent schools like SU from breaking through. Some of the indicators are high school counselor ratings of colleges and alumni giving rates.

“What they’re reacting to is just what they impressionistically know from the media,” Rubin said of the high school counselors. “They know Harvard is good, so I’ll rate Harvard good. Princeton is supposed to be good, I rate Princeton good.”

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Taking into account the alumni giving ratings is also in favor of Ivy League schools, as their alumni are much wealthier than that of SU, he said.

To improve the quality of the rankings, Rubin said he would include questions regarding the percentage of freshman-level courses taught by full-tenured professors and the level of career development guidance that is given to students.

“Is a university really putting its best people in the classroom for freshmen? Now, they don’t measure that at U.S. News,” Rubin said. “A place like Harvard would be in very bad shape with a measure like that.”

U.S. News and World Report gains revenue from the rankings, which serves as an incentive not to switch up the indicators involved in the rankings, Rubin said. If they were to change the indicators, it would mix up the list and may undercut their own credibility.

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Rubin said being among the top 60 universities helps SU, as there are thousands of public and universities in the country.

“To be in the top 60 means that you’re in the elite,” Rubin said. “So while we would like to be higher, I think being number 60 is quite an achievement.”

Published on September 21, 2016 at 1:03 am

Contact Taylor: tnwatson@syr.edu