Tufts maintains position in Forbes, U.S. News rankings

Tufts remains one of the top 30 schools in the country this year, according to the annual college rankings lists from U.S. News & World Report and Forbes Magazine.

The university maintained its No. 27 position on the U.S. News & World Report’s “Best National Universities” list on Sept. 9, while rising one spot to No. 24 in Forbes Magazine's 2015“Top Colleges” list.

However, for University President Anthony Monaco and other members of the university's administration, these rankings aren't everything.

Monaco recently wrote a letter to "Times Higher Education" with his co-chair for the Talloires Network, Cheryl de la Rey, on Sept. 5, where he argued that university rankings should consider community engagement.

"Global university rankings endeavor to play a positive role in motivating and recognizing excellence," he wrote. "They pay scant attention, however, to the quality of universities’ engagement with their own communities.”

Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Lee Coffin echoed this sentiment, pointing to the importance not only of student engagement, but also of student retention rates and graduation rates.

"I think President Monaco’s raising an important point about what matters," he said.

Tufts' first-year retention rate of roughly 96 percent is considerably higher when compared to national averages of 67 percent for all schools, according to U.S. News & World Report, and 80.4 percent for private universities, according to CBS News.

"That’s a really telling statistic, what percent of your first-year class comes back for sophomore year," Coffin said. "How many [members] of the first-year class graduate in 4 years or 5 years...that matters.”

Despite the significance that rankings often hold for college applicants, Tufts does not let the rankings factor into the way they operate, Coffin said.

"Rankings are part of the higher education environment -- they’re there, we can’t control them," he said. "To a degree, they’re useful, but...I’ve been here for 12 years and I have not heard anybody in the years I’ve been here talk about rankings as a motivating factor in the way we run the place.”

This runs counter to how other universities often weight rankings, according to Coffin. He referenced aBoston Magazine story on how Northeastern University used the U.S. News World Report as a template for its strategic plan as an example.

"The thing to remember is each [ranking comes from] a distinct media outlet that is defining their elements in their own terms," he said. "What I think it captures for potential applicants and their parents is a broad representation of quality.”

Director of Public Relations Kim Thurler agreed, arguing that the methodology often used to determine university rankings is potentially flawed.

"Used thoughtfully, rankings can be a guidepost, but they are not the whole map," Thurler told the Daily in an email.

She added that this year, Tufts has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, Princeton Review and Campus Pride's 25 most LGBTQ-friendly campuses, as well as Kiplinger's Personal Finance's list of best value colleges.

"While no ranking system is perfect, we can be proud that this year, Tufts’ continued strength is once again being recognized by a variety of organizations," Thurler wrote.

Broad representations from overall rankings often leave out certain factors that are important for evaluating institutions of higher education, Coffin explained. These include student engagement, financial aid, diversity and the number of first-generation students in a student body.

"There’s less attentiveness to these other categories that may end up being more meaningful to people," Coffin added. "Some will argue that also adds more subjectivity to it, but the whole thing is considered subjective.”

Coffin said he feels that, in many ways, certain subcategories are overlooked.

"There are a lot of indices that could be added to U.S. News that would broaden the definition of best universities," he said.

Tufts does well when looking at subcategories of rankings, such as admissions and assessments of universities by high school guidance counselors, according to Coffin. He said that high school guidance counselor ratings place Tufts at No. 22.

"I think the guidance counselor [statistic] is meaningful because they’re referring students to college...and I think it accurately captures the quality of what we’re doing at Tufts," he said.

Coffin said that despite the flaws he sees in many college rankings lists, he believes that many of the metrics do accurately describe Tufts.

"I think the big picture to me is great that we’re consistently considered among the top 50 national research universities in the United States," Coffin said. "I think that's a tribute to Tufts that we've stayed among that group for so long."