YU Surges from 48 to 42 in U.S News Survey

Current Rank is Strongest to Date

Yeshiva University surged from 48 to 42 in the recently unveiled U.S. News and World Report ranking of national universities. This showing in the U.S. News evaluation scheme is Yeshiva's most impressive to date and marks the third consecutive year the University has garnered a position in the prestigious first tier.

Yeshiva College Dean Norman Adler took this development in stride. "Of course we're in the first tier. Our students have a high level of intellect and are met with a comparably impressive faculty to further enlighten their intellectual growth. We don't understand how good we really are here at Yeshiva University."

Yeshiva College Associate Dean and Pre-Law Advisor Michael Hecht provided additional insight into the recent ranking successes. "The unique nature of this institution yields unique students who spend their college years in the most rigorous undergraduate program in the nation. You don't have to be Superman to excel at YU...but it helps. The strength of the student body really boosts our university."

As word of Yeshiva's performance trickled across campus, students appeared to respond with genuine enthusiasm. Ben Mantell, a YC junior, gushed, "This is incredible. Do you realize what this means? I am so happy." Mantell proceeded to call his parents in California to alert them to what he clearly regarded as a momentous occurrence. He later remarked, "It's my life goal for us to overtake Brandeis. We're almost there. Go Macs."

The desire to exact rankings vengeance against traditional adversaries Brandeis, New York University, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute was a pervasive feature of many of this journalist's encounters with Yeshiva students around campus. The animus directed against rival school Brandeis was particularly acute. One disgruntled Yeshiva student sought to burn a Brandeis banner in protest when he learned that the Waltham, Massachussetts school was still perched comfortably ahead of YU in the U.S. News ranking. Amid the feisty inter-university contentiousness there emerged an unmistakable glimmer of school pride.

Parents of Yeshiva students were not immune to this odd blend of euphoria and pyromania. Mrs. Shelly Schochet, the mother of a YU senior and incoming freshman, remarked, "Two of my children have chosen to attend YU. In light of the recent survey, I am even more proud they have chosen to attend this fine institution."

The Methodology

The methodology employed by U.S News to arrive at the published results took account of a broad array of considerations including academic reputation, student SAT performance, institutional financial resources, distribution of class sizes, relative selectivity, graduation rate, alumni giving rate, and other considerations.

In four ranked categories of analysis, Yeshiva had either the highest or lowest level of accomplishment among the nation's top fifty universities. This uneven performance revealed some lopsided figures.

Of first tier universities, Yeshiva boasted the lowest proportion of courses with enrollments of over fifty students. On the flip side, Yeshiva's reputation rank, the average rating of the quality of a school's academic programs as evaluated by officials at similar institutions, was a meek 3.0 on a five point scale. This number lagged behind all other top 50 universities. Yeshiva's selectivity rank and the corollary rate of acceptance were both also the least impressive among first tier schools. Yeshiva was only the 83rd most selective university in the country with an acceptance rate hovering around the 84% mark.

A number of robust performances in select areas, however, salvaged Yeshiva's top tier placement. Yeshiva's financial resources rank landed it in the 13th slot nationally, tying it with Duke and placing it squarely above Princeton, Cornell, Brown, and Dartmouth. The financial resources rank considers a university's total educational expenditures per full-time student. Yeshiva's success in this category is thought to be advantaged by its dual faculty of both secular and Judaic instructors.

Yeshiva's alumni giving rate of 39% was 13th best in the nation. In this category, Yeshiva outperformed such schools as Stanford, Cornell, Duke, and Columbia.

Yeshiva's 12th ranked faculty resources level also merits attention. This figure considers a university's faculty compensation level, proportion of faculty members with Ph.D. degrees, proportion of full-time faculty members, student/faculty ratio, and class size distribution. Yeshiva tied Stanford and eclipsed Brown, Columbia, and Dartmouth in this area.

Take a look at the detailed rankings on the web at USNews Online.