<p>Rankings Smankings!</p>
<p>You should take the rankings with a grain of salt because they do not provide an accurate picture of Northeastern. In short, NEU is drastically underrated. Northeastern should really be ranked in the top 60 (overall) and much higher for CS. Here's why:</p>
<p>The U.S. News methodology is flawed because it assumes that all colleges are following a traditional academic curriculum (i.e. comparing apples to apples). But Northeastern does things quite differently. It is one of only a handful of schools to have a fully integrated co-op program (i.e. it is an orange). For example, the way the current methodology works, the rankings make it appear as if Northeastern has a high student/faculty ratio. But this is only because U.S. News assumes that all students are on campus taking classes at the same time. This is far from the case; nearly half of the upper-class students are off campus interning at companies (unlike most schools, Northeastern students follow rotations where they alternate semesters of academics with semester long internships related to their major). Anyone who knows Northeastern knows that class sizes are actually on the small side (esp. upperclass courses). The amount of money spent per student and faculty resources rank also seem low in comparison to other schools in the top 60, but again this is only because U.S. News assumes that all students are on campus at the same time using resources. Students who are on co-op should be excluded because they do not pay tuition while theyre interning. Northeastern really has more money to spend on the students who are on campus taking classes. Again, anyone who has visited Northeastern recently knows that the school has plenty of money. All the facilities are new and the professors, administrators, etc. are earning top dollar. </p>
<p>Another flaw in the U.S. News rankings methodology is the use of a six year graduation retention rate. Again, U.S. News assumes that all schools are following a traditional four year academic model. But again, Northeastern does things differently. A very large number of NEU students choose the five year co-op program (a four year program is available but for some reason it is less popular). Northeastern also offers a six year PharmD program. Obviously, Northeastern's graduation stats would be significantly higher if U.S. News factored this into the rankings. But they don't.</p>
<p>Northeastern's rating, although still top tier (under the new ranking system), simply does not add up. Still, even with its nontraditional curriculum, Northeastern has been climbing in the rankings. This is primarily because the university has made significant gains in selectivity. Northeastern should continue to rise as it becomes more nationally known. The admit rate for last year was in the 40% range which was well below the vast majority of schools in the top 60. This year, the university received 6500 EA apps out of a total of 27,000 apps which is a new record. The university is also in the process of hiring 100 new star faculty. The new faculty will significantly lower the university's student/faculty ratio (this should make up for the shortfall in the rankings).</p>
<p>As a side note, the university administration has been lobbying U.S. News to make some changes to their rankings methodology so that it takes into account the universitys nontraditional academic curriculum. So who knows, Northeastern may finally get the credit that it deserves.</p>
<p>**As another side note, external research funding to Northeastern increased by a whopping 45% this year. The increase can be attributed to the ambitious faculty hiring plan. All these new star profs that the university has been hiring are bringing their research grants with them.</p>
<p>As for the CS rankings, there was an article published in the Boston Globe recently that stated that U.S. News made in error is gathering information relative to Northeastern. The magazine used data that was four years old. Since that time, NEU has beefed up its program considerably by adding several new star CS faculty and building a brand new state of the art facility to house the program. If not for the data error, the CS program would be ranked much higher than it is.</p>
<p>Don't let the rankings fool you, Northeastern is a great school.</p>