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   from the issue of August 26, 2004

     
 
Magazine ranks UNL in top 50 universities

UNL made U.S. News and World Report's annual America's Best Colleges rankings' Top 50 list for public national universities.

Showing improvement in several key categories, UNL was listed as tied with seven other universities at 98th place overall in the magazine's "Best National Universities" list. Among public national universities, UNL is tied with five other universities at 46th, placing it in the "Top 50 Public National Universities." Last year, UNL was 107th overall and 52nd among the public universities.

In each category, data on up to 15 indicators of academic quality are gathered from each school and tabulated, according to the magazine's methodology. Schools are ranked within categories by their total weighted score. UNL's total weighted score was 43.

Among the key data, UNL's graduation rate improved to 59 percent, from 54 percent the year before. UNL's acceptance rate decreased to 76 percent from 78 percent the year before (low acceptance rates improve rankings). UNL reported losing ground slightly in other areas compared to previous years: in class size under 20 (32 percent vs. 36 percent); class size over 50 (14 percent vs. 13 percent) and freshmen in top 10 percent of their high school class (25 percent vs. 26 percent). The improvements in key data upped UNL's overall score from 42 to 43 this year. Other categories remained nearly the same as last year, including the freshman retention rate, at 81 percent.

"While I remain skeptical about the accuracy and fairness of these rankings, I know many families use this survey in their assessment of universities, and I am pleased that we are among the 50 top public universities, and more importantly, moving upward," UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman said.

In other U.S. News listings, as in last year's edition, UNL's biological systems engineering program is listed as a top program specialty, and in "Best Undergraduate Business Programs," UNL is listed 68th in a pool of 120.


GO TO: ISSUE OF AUGUST 26

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