<p>I've been hearing about all these colleges that are on the rise in rankings and such (like Vanderbilt, Wash U, etc). Is UVA also on the list of colleges that are on the rise academically? I am a member of the UVA class of 2016 and I would hope that my school is also rising in rankings. No sarcastic comments please.</p>
<p>bump…I would like to know this too</p>
<p>As would I.</p>
<p>Especially since the whole President Sullivan dilemma brought out academic concerns about The University.</p>
<p>Generally, whenever a university obtains major national media attention, it increases the numbers of applications for admission. </p>
<p>In general there is way too much attention paid to a set of rankings from a certain defunct news magazine. </p>
<p>If people do want to see UVa rise in the US News ratings, they should make sure every alum makes at least a token contribution to the U. each year. That would help UVa rise, for whatever it is worth.</p>
<p>I agree with Charlie! UVa is a great school. Just come here and enjoy all that it has to offer.</p>
<p>I understand, but it is still nice to know that your school is also on the rise like other schools and not perhaps on the decline. There is no doubt that I will love UVA regardless, but I’m still curious.</p>
<p>The thing is: Colleges rankings are determined by a variety of factors. And some colleges are better at making the best of those factors. But there are many colleges out there that simply don’t care and provide a quality education.</p>
<p>What I’m about to say will probably put me in the minority on these forums, but I could care less: If I leave a class feeling like I’ve learned something meaningful, that’s all that matters to me. Whether this class was at Harvard or the local community college is irrelevant to me. Plus, I think most learning/education comes from individual work ethic.</p>
<p>But anyways, to answer your question: UVA is doing well in the rankings. Whether that necessarily correlates with a rise in academic quality is for students to decide.</p>
<p>^I disagree. Unfortunately in society, when a college has a high ranking, it attracts many more smarter students than lower ranked schools. I want to be in an environment filled with more ambitious and intelligent students. I think your comments aren’t really answering my question. I even said that I am going to love UVA regardless. My asking about UVA rising or not in rankings was out of pure curiosity. The answer to this question is a yes or a no with an explanation of why. I did not ask if one thinks that rankings are telling of one’s academic experience at a school.</p>
<p>UVA does very well in the rankings for public schools, typically just behind Berkeley and ahead of everyone else. It also has very good frosh retention rates and graduaton rates, which showsstudents tend to like it and succeed there. </p>
<p>The USNWR rankings, however, tend to favor privates, which typically have more dollars for faculty stars, smaller classes, and FA. In USNWR, there is a bit of a disconnect between UVA’s reputation ranking (around 17 or 18) and not too far behind anyone except HYPSM, and its overall ranking of 25. </p>
<p>Also, I agree that almost any publicity is good publicity (save for Duke Lacrosse scandal and Dartmouth Rolling Stone article) and although it is too early to tell, I think the faculty standing up to the adminstration will help the university’s reputation. I also think the debate about funding will jar some VA legislators into increasing state funds, which O’Donnell already wants to do.</p>
<p>^Do you think UVA will stay right behind ONLY berkely for the next edition of usnwr?</p>
<p>UVA’s US News rating is down 10 spots from its peak at 15 back in the late 80s. At that time Cal was 5, UM 8, UNC 11 and UCLA 21.</p>
<p>I don’t know if UVA’s ranking is going to drop, but it isn’t likely to go up. UVA kicks butt in alumni giving, admissions selectivity, undergraduate education, freshmen retention and 4 year graduation rate. But despite a $5 billion endowment, its rating for financial resources is horrible. 30th out of the top 30 schools and lags every one of the other flagships named above. The state of VA has been a national leader in cutting funding to state Us, but hasn’t eased up (like the other states have) on OOS enrollment.</p>
<p>UVA’s weak financial situation was the root cause of the recent turmoil and that situation is not going away. You also wonder if talk of UVA’s “reputation gap” is going have an impact. Not good to have UVA itself say that it is over-rated…</p>
<p>Fyi, this year UVA is tied with UCLA, behind Cal, ahead of UM and UNC.</p>
<p>^But this year UC Berkely is even worse off financially than UVA but their rankings continue to be very good</p>
<p>I’d say UVa Access really helps it. And it’s hard to ignore the dramatic increase in applicants this year and in the past. I’d say it’s on the up.</p>
<p>My guidance counselor puts UVA in the league of Duke, UMich, UCBerkeley, and Notre Dame. It’s quite prestigious.</p>
<p>As Northwesty noted, all the major public universities dropped in the US News ratings over the last 15 years. That has to do with changes in methodology, not reductions in quality.</p>
<p>Almost every university has had cutbacks in the last few years. Some people talk like UVa is the only place that has been affected by cuts in state funding. It actually is worse in some other states. UVa is one of the few major public universities that has not had layoffs. The California publics were spoiled by much higher rates of state funding and much lower than average tuition. Now they have come closer to the average because of state budget problems.</p>
<p>UVa has won awards for being one of the most cost-efficient universities.</p>
<p>The health care reform law will help UVa. UVa runs a huge health care system, with a significiant percentage of the academic budget funded by profits from the health care system. While there will be some reduction in medicare compensation rates, there is expected to be a huge reduction in uncompensated care.</p>
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<p>Fit really does matter much more than ratings. My son and I visited one of the top 6 universities and we both came away queazy. Also, consider the quality of a university for the academic area you want to study. For example, for some types of engineering, you might find you can get a better education at a “lower ranked” college, while for some programs, UVa may be equivalent to “higher ranked” schools.</p>
<p>collegekid16 writes “I want to be in an environment filled with more ambitious and intelligent students.”</p>
<p>You will be in such an environment at UVA. If that is your fundamental concern then you have nothing to worry about. There is a lot of information and opinion about universities available in the media. You have to filter out a lot of unimportant information to focus on what truly matters.</p>
<p>Chris, that is exactly my point! 
UVa is amazing. The students and faculty are amazing. No worries.</p>
<p>“But this year UC Berkely is even worse off financially than UVA but their rankings continue to be very good.”</p>
<p>Wrong!!!</p>
<p>The OP asked about rankings. So here’s what the rankings say. US News gives UVA a financial resources rank of 64. Cal is 43; UM is 36; UNC is 30, UCLA is 23.</p>
<p>While UVA raises money like a private school, it has the worst financial deal from its home state of any of these flagships. W&M is even worse – 69 grade. And that depresses UVA’s rating and that may depress its rating further in the future. </p>
<p>UVA gets the least amount of state support. Even less than schools in Michigan and CA (which have horrible budget situations). And UVA can’t get any relief by raising oos enrollment. UM’s oos enrollment is now above 40%. Cal and UCLA have doubled or tripled oos enrollment in the past few years. It is now easier to get into UCLA or Cal as an oos applicant than an in-stater! Those other flagships also get a lot more research funding per capita (more STEM) than UVA does. And they are bigger than UVA (economies of scale); although student/teacher ratios are the same or lower than UVA’s. </p>
<p>There’s no evidence that UVA’s financial situation is going to change, so I think there’s more downside risk than upside to its current ranking. Maybe it falls behind UCLA (now tied) in the next go round for example.</p>
<p>Since the rankings are relative, the real question is whether the schools UVA competes against (particularly private schools such as Duke, Cornell, Wake Forest, etc.) are declining academically. If they are, and if fewer students choose those schools (most likely for financial reasons) then UVA will rise in the rankings. Given the economy, this seems plausible.</p>