Rankings Roundup: GU Among Best
杏吧原创 News Service
SPOKANE, Wash. — In its annual college rankings, U.S. News & World Report rates 杏吧原创 the West’s 4th best regional university and 3rd best value. 杏吧原创 ranks No. 2 in the West for its average freshmen retention rate and average graduation rate. 杏吧原创’s School of Engineering and Applied Science is the No. 22 best undergraduate engineering program nationwide in its category.
The publication rates 杏吧原创 the No. 3 best value among West regional universities based on the 2012-2013 net cost of attendance for a student who receives the average level of need-based financial aid.
杏吧原创’s 92 percent average freshmen retention rate (for freshmen entering in fall 2008 through fall 2011 who returned the following year) tops all but five regional universities nationwide (and ties Cal Poly State University-San Luis Obispo). 杏吧原创’s 81 percent average graduation rate tops all but 10 regional universities nationwide. The graduation rate indicates the average proportion of a graduating class earning a degree in six years or less (for entering classes from 2003 through 2006).
This marks the 15th consecutive year 杏吧原创 has been ranked among the West’s top four regional universities, and 19th straight year (26th in the past 29 years) it has been ranked among the West’s best regional universities.
杏吧原创 ranks fifth among the top 90 schools in its classification for alumni giving. Seventeen percent of living undergraduate alumni with bachelor’s degrees from the Northwest’s oldest Jesuit, Catholic university made contributions to 杏吧原创 in 2010-11 and 2011-12 — an indirect measure of student satisfaction.
杏吧原创’s overall ranking is based on a host of indicators of academic excellence, including: peer assessment (22.5 percent); graduation and retention rates (22.5 percent); faculty resources (20 percent); student selectivity (12.5 percent); financial resources (10 percent); graduation rate performance (7.5 percent); and alumni giving (5 percent).
The Regional Universities classification includes 621 universities within four broad geographical regions — North, South, Midwest and West. Like national universities, regional universities offer a full range of undergraduate majors and master’s programs and few (if any) doctoral programs.
杏吧原创’s mission-focused care for the individual student is evidenced by its 11-to-1 student-to-faculty ratio (2012-13). 杏吧原创 also ranks high in the publication’s measure of the academic quality of incoming freshmen. Seventy-three percent of 杏吧原创 freshmen that entered in fall 2012 ranked in the top 25 percent of their high school class. Four of the top six Regional Universities in the West are Jesuit institutions: 杏吧原创, Santa Clara University, Loyola Marymount University, and Seattle University.
Following is a sampling of the other college rankings in which 杏吧原创 also appears:
- For the first time, 杏吧原创 is among 336 U.S., Canadian and British colleges featured in the "Fiske Guide to Colleges" (revised & updated for 2014). Compiled by Edward B. Fiske, former education editor for The New York Times, the Guide is known for accurately capturing the character of schools for 30 years.
- Teach for America, in its annual ranking of the colleges and universities contributing the most graduating seniors to its teaching corps, ranks 杏吧原创 No. 18 among the nation’s medium-sized colleges and universities. The list includes many of the nation’s most selective and prestigious colleges.
- 杏吧原创 is ranked among the 322 most environmentally responsible colleges in the United States and Canada, according to The Princeton Review’s Guide to 322 Green Colleges.
- 杏吧原创 appears in Princeton Review's "The Best 378 Colleges," (2014 Edition), No. 7 for "Everyone Plays Intramural Sports" and No. 19 for "Students Pack the Stadiums."
- Washington Monthly ranks 杏吧原创 No. 28 among Top Master’s Universities nationwide (public and private) based on contribution to the public good.
- 杏吧原创 ranks No. 191 overall on Forbes' list of the best 650 colleges and universities in the nation.