Iowa State University recently ranked in the top 25 percent of all public national universities in U.S. News & World Report’s 2010 edition of its annual “America’s Best Colleges.”

The university’s rankings generally improved from the previous year; Iowa State tied for 39th place, up one spot 2009, among the 164 best national public universities. Iowa State also moved up from 89th to 88th in the 262 public and private universities ranked in the “Best National Universities” category.

Gebre Tesfagiorgis, director of Iowa State’s Institutional Research department, said the rankings are based on several factors determined by U.S. News: a peer assessment, retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, graduation rate performance and alumni giving rate. Tesfagiorgis explained that the Institutional Research department does an annual survey and provides U.S. News with the necessary data for Iowa State’s rankings.

Executive Vice President and Provost Elizabeth Hoffman was pleased with the improvements, as well as Iowa State’s overall standing.

“Being ranked in the top 25 percent is important to us,” Hoffman said.

She explained that Iowa State pays a lot of attention to the rankings because students and parents look at them when they’re deciding where to attend school.

The university was commended in several other areas. For the eighth consecutive year, Iowa State’s learning communities were included among U.S. News’s “Programs to Look For.” Only 25 other colleges and universities were recognized by U.S. News for learning communities.

Hoffman explained that students in learning communities have better graduation rates than students not in similar programs. Graduation rate performance is one of the qualities assessed by U.S. News, although it only makes up for five percent of the total ranking.

“Our students graduate at a higher rate than would be predicted by entering ACT scores,” Hoffman said.

Iowa State’s engineering programs also stood out in the rankings. Overall, among public universities’ engineering schools whose highest degree is a doctorate, Iowa State tied at 22nd with University of Virginia–Charlottesville. The university’s agricultural engineering program was ranked third among top programs in the U.S. at schools whose highest degree is a doctorate. The materials engineering program ranked 11th among public universities, and the aerospace, chemical and civil engineering programs ranked 13th among public universities.

Hoffman noted that Iowa State’s engineering programs always do well, adding that engineering is the university’s “core strength.”

Iowa State’s agriculture, engineering and veterinary medicine programs are the “reasons why students come from all over the world,” she said.

Hoffman discussed the complexity of the ranking system. She explained Iowa State cannot change to meet the U.S. News expectations in some areas — particularly in student selectivity, which, in her opinion, is not necessarily negative.

Hoffman said Iowa State is clear about entrance requirements. All applicants from Iowa who meet these requirements are automatically accepted. Out-of-state applicants generally meet the school’s requirements because they do not apply to Iowa State unless they are fairly certain that the school is right for them. These factors lead to a high acceptance rate, which doesn’t mesh with the U.S. News rankings.

“I think that’s a good thing. We don’t want to become a university that rejects for the sake of rejecting,” Hoffman said.

Alumni donation rate is another assessment category in which Iowa State faces a disadvantage. Hoffman said Iowa State has a “very strong alumni base” who donate. However, by comparing large public universities like Iowa State in the same category as small private universities, the small private schools tend to rank higher.

Hoffman said that the university tracks the rankings every year and pays attention, taking pride in the programs that receive admirable rankings. More important than the rankings, she added, are the leadership opportunities ISU students have.

“The opportunity to grow and mature and find what they’re good at and love doing — that keeps students in school,” Hoffman said.

Top 10 Public

Universities

Rank 1 University of California, Berkeley; Berkeley, Calif.

Rank 2 University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, Calif.

Rank 2 University of Virginia; Charlottesville, Va.

Rank 4 University of Michigan; Ann Arbor, Mich.

Rank 5 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Chapel Hill, N.C.

Rank 6 College of William and Mary; Williamsburg, Va.   

Rank 7 Georgia Institute of Technology; Atlanta, Ga.

Rank 7 University of California, San Diego; La Jolla, Calif.

Rank 9 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Champaign, Ill

Rank 9 University of Wisconsin-Madison; Madison, Wis.

—Information from U.S. News & World Report Web site