U.S. News & World Report 2017 College Rankings: U-M Moves Up, MSU Slides

Most Michigan schools retained their spot in the highly regarded U.S. News & World Report 2017 College rankings released Tuesday.

The University of Michigan moved up a couple of spots to 27th, from 29th in 2016, and Michigan State University, ranked 75th in 2016, slid to 82 on the current list.

Western Michigan University was ranked at ranked at No. 194, down from 187 last year, while Central University slid to No. 194, from 187 last year.

Here’s how other Michigan schools fared and their respective categories:

National Universities

• Andrews University, Berrien Springs, No. 183

National Liberal Arts Colleges

• Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, No. 68
• Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, No. 83
• Hope College, Holland, No. 108
• Albion College, Albion, No. 122
• Alma College, Alma, No.146

Regional Universities, Midwest

• University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit, No. 24
• Grand Valley State University, Allendale, No. 27
• Kettering University, Flint, No. 31
• University of Michigan – Dearborn, Dearborn, No. 40 (tie)
• Lawrence Technological University, Southfield, No. 40 (tie)
• Aquinas College, Grand Rapids, No. 56
• Spring Arbor University, Spring Arbor, No. 63
• Ferris State University, Big Rapids, No. 74
• Cornerstone University, Grand Rapids, No. 79 (tie)
• Northern Michigan University, Marquette, No. 79 (tie)
• Madonna University, Livonia, No. 86
• University of Michigan – Flint, Flint, No. 108

Regional Colleges, Midwest

• Calvin College, Grand Rapids, No. 1
• Adrian College, Adrian, No. 15
• Olivet College, Olivet, No. 48
• Lake Superior State University, Sault Ste. Marie, No. 53
• Rochester College, Rochester Hills, No. 58
• Kuyper College, Grand Rapids, No. 60

The list is important to parents and kids. Deciding where to attend college is often the biggest decision a high school student will have to make, and it’s one that is typically just as nerve-wracking for the parents.

The process of college-hunting can lead to information overload, but U.S. News’ rankings are considered an important resource for many. The news organization spends months compiling data from hundreds of schools around the country. While U.S. News & World Report ended its print magazine in 2010, it still publishes online and a print version of its college rankings.

How Rankings Are Compiled

U.S. News uses five categories of data that are all weighted differently.

• Outcomes (30 percent): Hard student performance data such as retention, graduation rate performance and graduation rate.
• Expert opinion (22.5 percent): More subjective data that includes opinions of presidents, provosts, high school counselors and admissions deans.
• Faculty resources (20 percent): Class size, student-to-faculty ratio, proportion of full-time faculty, proportion of professors with the highest degrees in their field and faculty salary.
• Student excellence (12.5 percent): How incoming students are performing on measures such as ACT/SAT scores, proportion of first-year students in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class and acceptance rate.

Overall, the top five national universities: Princeton; Harvard; University of Chicago (tie for third); Yale (tie for third); Columbia (tie for fifth) and Stanford (tie for fifth). Among public universities, the magazine placed U-M as the fourth best, behind University of California-Berekley, University of California-Los Angeles and the University of Virginia.

Why It’s Important

“College is expensive,” U.S. News Chief Data Strategist Robert Morse told Patch in an email. “In addition to considering factors like location, cost, course offerings and activities, families should pay close attention to graduation and retention rates.

“These are important indicators of how well a school supports its students academically and financially. The Best Colleges rankings measure academic excellence, and we believe that students and their families should strongly consider academic quality when choosing a college.”

Typically, the prestigious Ivy League schools have a stronghold on the top of U.S. News’s lists. Last year, for instance, Princeton University, Harvard University and Yale University took the first three slots on the national rankings.

That’s all well and good for the best of the best high school students, but what about the rest?

The rankings are broken out by state and by category. Students and parents can also look at the publication’s rankings of best value schools and best public schools and the best schools by discipline such as engineering and business.

They can also drill down and see how specific schools perform across several metrics.

“U.S. News believes that the more information that is available to students, the better,” Morse told Patch. “Rankings, done right, are a useful source of information for students. U.S. News rankings focus specifically on assessing academic quality of schools. If academic quality is a top priority, our rankings are an ideal place to start.”

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