Aug. 22, 2003

Rose-Hulman Ranked No. 1 for Fifth Straight Year in U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges"

For the fifth consecutive year, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology is ranked first by engineering educators as the nation's best college that offers the bachelor's or master's degree as the highest degree in engineering, according to new rankings released Aug. 22 by U.S. News & World Report.

A banner announcing the college's fifth straight ranking was unveiled during a campus breakfast Friday, August 22.

For the fourth year in a row, all the engineering programs at Rose-Hulman that are among those ranked in the magazine's survey were selected as the best in their category. Retaining their top ranking were degree programs in chemical, civil, computer, electrical and mechanical engineering.

The rankings are published in the magazine's 2004 edition of U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges" which will be on sale Aug. 25. The results of the national survey are also available via the magazine's Web site.

The rankings are based on the opinions of deans and senior faculty who responded to the annual survey sponsored by the magazine.

Fifty-four percent of the faculty surveyed returned rankings of the institutions in Rose-Hulman's category. The survey asked faculty to rate each program they're familiar with on a scale of one to five, with five indicating distinguished status. Rose-Hulman's peer assessment score is 4.4. The rankings of the individual engineering programs were determined by the programs receiving the most mentions in the survey responses.

"The results of the national survey are a wonderful testament to the quality of our programs and the outstanding abilities of our faculty, students, staff and alumni," said Rose-Hulman President Samuel Hulbert.

"Rose-Hulman is only the second private college or university to earn a No. 1 ranking for the past five consecutive years in any U.S. News ranking category," he noted. "The fact that our individual engineering programs that were evaluated were each ranked the best is a remarkable indication that Rose-Hulman has earned a reputation as a national leader," he stated.

A capacity crowd including students, faculty, staff and members of the Terre Haute community attended a breakfast announcing the honor.

The magazine's editors note that while the rankings and related data are a useful resource in the college selection process, a prospective student should not make a college choice solely on a school's ranking. Hulbert agreed that high-school students should use the rankings as one of several useful sources of information.

"Visiting campuses is essential to making a good college choice," Hulbert said. "Our No. 1 rankings in U.S. News have benefited our student recruitment in many ways such as increasing the number of academically talented students who visit Rose-Hulman. Our chances of enrolling students improves greatly after they've had the opportunity to talk with our faculty and students, tour our facilities, and learn about the successes of our graduates,." he noted.

Rose-Hulman Dean of Admissions Chuck Howard said Rose-Hulman's No. 1 ranking has created more interest in the college from students living outside the Midwest.

"The ranking has increased national awareness about the quality of our programs," Howard stated. "This summer, we've hosted almost 800 students which is half the number that visited during the entire previous recruiting season," he remarked.

Ranked behind Rose-Hulman were Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, Calif. and Cooper Union in New York City. Other colleges ranked in the top 10 in the same category as Rose-Hulman included the United States Air Force, Military and Naval academies, Bucknell University, Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, Swarthmore College and Villanova University.