Fall 2001

Rose-Hulman Ranked No. 1 for Third Year in a Row by U.S. News & World

Report

For the third year in a row, national engineering deans and senior faculty have ranked Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology as the nation’s best college among schools that offer the bachelor’s or master’s as their highest degree in engineering.

The ranking was determined from the results of an annual quality of education survey conducted by U.S.News & World Report magazine.

Ranked No. 1 for the second consecutive year were all five Rose-Hulman engineering programs: chemical, civil, electrical, computer and mechanical engineering.

The percentage of education officials responding to the survey increased to 52% from a 44% survey response rate last year.

The U.S. News survey asked higher-education officials to rate the academic quality of peer institutions.  Respondents rated each school on a scale of 1 (marginal) to 5 (distinguished).  Rose-Hulman earned a 4.5 rating.

"To be ranked as the best for three years in a row by our colleagues is an endorsement of Rose-Hulman’s leadership in undergraduate engineering education," stated Rose-Hulman President Samuel Hulbert. "The ranking is another indication that Rose-Hulman’s national reputation has reached a high level because of the quality of people, programs and the successes of our alumni."

The rankings of the top three schools in Rose-Hulman’s category did not change from last year’s results. Harvey Mudd College of California was ranked second, followed by Cooper Union in New York City.

Rose-Hulman also ranked ahead of the military academies, Bucknell, Villanova, and Bradley universities as well as Swarthmore and Lafayette colleges.

The rankings were published in the magazine’s America’s Best Colleges 2002 guidebook. The guidebook is available in bookstores until next September. The complete rankings can be accessed at the magazine’s web site www.usnews.com.

Freshman Class Includes Record Number of Females

Six years after first enrolling women students, Rose-Hulman welcomed its largest freshman class of female students this year. 

Females make up 93 or the 405 freshmen - nearly 23 percent - in the incoming class.  That percentage is slightly more than the national average of female enrollment at engineering colleges (20 percent). Rose-Hulman had 80 female students in the first year of coeducation in 1995 and 73 in last year’s freshman class.

This year’s incoming class is once again filled with National Merit Scholars, valedictorians and students with perfect SAT scores. Freshmen boast a median SAT score of 1300 (680 mathematics/ 620 verbal) out of a possible 1600.

Other statistics of the 2001 freshmen are:

• 20 students earned a perfect mathematics score on the SAT.
• 94% ranked in the top fifth of their high school classes.
• 289 of the 405 students participated in varsity sports in high school.

For the fifth straight year 50 percent or more of first-year students are coming from outside Indiana, showing Rose-Hulman’s growing national reputation.

In assessing the increase in female enrollment, Dean of Admissions Charles Howard said: "We gave special emphasis to our recruitment efforts for female students, introducing several new programs."