On Sept. 12, the 2013 list of Best Colleges was announced, and MSU ranked No. 72 out of about 1,400 national schools.

Last year, MSU ranked No. 71, up from No. 79 in 2011. MSU tied with the University of Iowa for the second year in a row.

The report analyzes various categories, including graduation rate, peer evaluation, faculty resources and alumni funds.

Basso said MSU’s alumni connections, athletics, resources available to students and the Spartan atmosphere as a whole are important aspects of the university that should be taken into consideration in the ranking process, but academics should be the most important rating factor.

“Based on the number of schools in the country (and) given everything MSU has to offer, it might get lost in the rankings,” Basso said. “There’s a lot more here that might not be taken into consideration.”

Robert Morse, U.S. News & World Report’s director of data research and an MSU alumnus, said he is proud of MSU’s No. 72 ranking, but it’s only one measure of the school’s standing.

“Our rankings don’t measure student involvement, volunteerism, the campus atmosphere, campus spirit or anything like that,” Morse said. “The reason why is that they’re subjective and hard to measure.”

Senior Associate Provost June Youatt said MSU is pleased to be positively recognized in a ranking by external organizations, but this ranking is one of many.

“(Rankings) vary pretty dramatically in the kinds of metrics they look at,” Youatt said. “A good deal of (the U.S. News & World Report’s ranking) is based on reputational ratings by other officials at other universities … (so) it’s less about what you are actually doing and more about what (other) people know about what you’re doing.”

Zoology senior Catie Jones said she wonders what ranking MSU would have received if other factors were included.

“I know people at other (colleges) without undergraduate research opportunities,”
she said.