Spring Break
How we stack up
A&M No. 13 in the nation based on yield, 64th by "consensus." Who cares about consensus anyway?
By: Jason Staggs
Issue date: 2/23/09 Section: Opinion
On Jan. 26, U.S. News and World Report released the ranking of universities by popularity. These rankings are based on yield, or "the percentage of applicants accepted by a university who end up enrolling at that institution in the fall."
That percentage indicates a university's popularity among high school seniors and says a lot about how the institution is viewed in its home state, around the nation and in the academic community. If you have ever wondered what university administrators talk about at the cocktail parties on the 11th floor of Rudder Tower, this is it.
This year, according to the illustrious tracker of higher education reputations, our university is No. 13 in the nation, coming in at a whopping 56 percent yield. As always, the status-conscious among us will automatically search for the stats for t.u. You don't have to look far, as the tea-sips are ranked 17th. But the mathematically minded might be pleased to see that with a 54 percent yield rate, a simple subtraction operation reveals the sips are nothing more than another breed of two-percenters.
These figures become more interesting when it is taken into account that after the first handful of ranked schools, there is no direct correlation between a university's overall ranking according to the magazine, and that school's yield percentage.
For example, prestigious Cornell University, ranked No. 14 in terms of quality of education according to U.S. News, has a yield of only 47 percent, good for 28th best in the nation. This suggests that Cornell is a backup school, popular as a second choice among students, but not as a first.
Turning back to Texas, what does this say about the home state popularity of the two main universities in the Lone Star State? Well, obviously, Texas A&M is more popular than the Longhorns are. Being the more popular choice makes for comforting consolation, given how our educations ranking of 64th compares rather shabbily to t.u.'s 47th.
That percentage indicates a university's popularity among high school seniors and says a lot about how the institution is viewed in its home state, around the nation and in the academic community. If you have ever wondered what university administrators talk about at the cocktail parties on the 11th floor of Rudder Tower, this is it.
This year, according to the illustrious tracker of higher education reputations, our university is No. 13 in the nation, coming in at a whopping 56 percent yield. As always, the status-conscious among us will automatically search for the stats for t.u. You don't have to look far, as the tea-sips are ranked 17th. But the mathematically minded might be pleased to see that with a 54 percent yield rate, a simple subtraction operation reveals the sips are nothing more than another breed of two-percenters.
These figures become more interesting when it is taken into account that after the first handful of ranked schools, there is no direct correlation between a university's overall ranking according to the magazine, and that school's yield percentage.
For example, prestigious Cornell University, ranked No. 14 in terms of quality of education according to U.S. News, has a yield of only 47 percent, good for 28th best in the nation. This suggests that Cornell is a backup school, popular as a second choice among students, but not as a first.
Turning back to Texas, what does this say about the home state popularity of the two main universities in the Lone Star State? Well, obviously, Texas A&M is more popular than the Longhorns are. Being the more popular choice makes for comforting consolation, given how our educations ranking of 64th compares rather shabbily to t.u.'s 47th.
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