Without doing anything, Baker University fell in U.S. News and World Report’s annual ranking of colleges and universities.
In 2007, Baker University was ranked 44 out of 142 in the Midwest region of the master’s universities categories. For the 2008 edition, the university was placed in the fourth tier of a national list and received no ranking number.
Rand Ziegler, dean of the college of arts and sciences, said Baker’s place on the list changed because of the way the report is categorized.
“We had always been ranked in the master’s category because of our programs in (the school of professional and graduate studies),” he said. “Between last year and this year they switched our categories.”
Baker is now in the national liberal arts colleges’ category.
Instead of being compared to similar universities in the region, Baker is in the same category as Swarthmore College and other elite universities from around the country, Ziegler said.
“We’re a good school, but we’re not a highly recognized national college yet,” he said.
Ziegler said Judy Smrha, assistant dean for institutional effectiveness, will be trying to find out what criteria the report used for the classifications.
“We haven’t changed who we are,” he said.
The information submitted to U.S. News and World Report shows similar statistics for Baker for the 2007 and 2008 editions. The freshman retention rate was listed at 74 percent in 2007 and 75 percent for 2008. The graduation rate was also one percent higher in 2008, at 60 percent.
The most significant rate was in the drop of the peer rating from 2.5 to 2.1.
Ziegler said he thought the changing of categories could have caused the change in the peer rating.
Louise Cummings-Simmons, vice president for enrollment management, said the change in rankings won’t have a huge effect on the admission department.
“This school stands on faculty and the programs they offer,” she said. “Rankings are things some people look at, but for most it doesn’t make or break the decision.”
Senior Clayton Kellerman, a university admissions assistant, said Baker’s rankings didn’t effect his decision to attend Baker, and it shouldn’t cause the university to lose students.
“As a high-schooler I didn’t even know about the rating until I was here, and I don’t think it’ll negatively impact anyone,” he said. “They come because of the small community feel and hundreds of other reasons.”