U.S. News & World Report to Alter Way It Ranks Universities
July 30, 2003Print-Friendly Version
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U.S. News & World Report magazine announced recently that it is altering the way it ranks the nation’s top colleges and universities. Beginning this year, the magazine is dropping from its formula a statistic known as the yield rate. This figure is the percentage of applicants accepted by a university who later enroll at that institution.
According to the New York Times, the magazine made this decision following reports that many institutions of higher learning throughout the United States had started admitting more students under “binding early decision” programs than they had in the past. This practice reportedly has led more and more high school guidance counselors to criticize these early decision programs for forcing high school graduates to decide which college or university to attend before having an opportunity to properly research their decision.
Andrew Flagel, dean of Admissions at Mason, says this change by U.S. News & World Report will have little, if any, impact upon George Mason.