Mason Comes Out On Top

By Broadside Interim News Editor Noah Martin

In the most recent issue of U.S. News and World Report (August 22, 2008) George Mason University was named the number one up-and-coming college amongst national universities.

“For prospective applicants, we believe the schools on this list offer the reassurance that whatever their historical reputation (or lack of it), they're firmly focused on improving the job they're doing today—at least in the judgment of their peers,” posted U.S. News and World Report.

This is the first time that the category of “Up-and-Coming Colleges” has appeared in U.S. News. Being number one in something may sound great, but the criteria for school rankings are often not clearly presented in a format obvious to readers. This new report excluded the criterion of historical prestige and fiscal expenditure, and instead based its rankings on the peer assessment sent to colleges’ faculty and administrators.

“Since their main rankings are mostly about how much money a school spends (really, it’s a HUGE factor in their ranking – [sic] not how they spend, just how much) they added a very reasonable new feature,” wrote Andrew Flagel, Dean of Admissions, about the new scale used for “Up-and-Coming Colleges”.

“I think most of the rankings are not terribly useful, and are basically just ways to sell magazines that should be viewed with a strong skepticism... Still, I do think in this case their judgement [sic] is incredibly astute,” commented Andrew Flagel, concerning the topic of George Mason’s top rank.