By Stacy Hinojosa
Brigham Young University has once again been ranked among the top universities and colleges. BYU received high marks from annual rankings by Princeton Review and U.S. News & World Report.
Princeton”s “The Best 357 Colleges” placed BYU at the top of some familiar lists, including stone-cold sober for the sixth time. But BYU also placed No. 1 on an unfamiliar spot — great college library.
Placing ahead of Princeton (second), Harvard (fourth), Yale (seventh) and Stanford (eighth), the Harold B. Lee Library received the highest ratings among student”s assessments of library facilities.
“The library tries to focus on serving the students well,” said Randy Olsen, director for the library. “We measure our success on whether we meet student”s needs.”
One explanation for the No. 1 ranking, Olsen said, might be the library”s new information commons, a multi-media work center on the second floor in February.
“We see the information commons as a tremendous success,” said Olsen, who said there are plans to place more information commons on other floors of the library.
“It”s a nice alternative when there are no study rooms available,” said Christine Baker, a graduate student from Loveland, Colo. “And the resources are phenomenal.”
According to Olsen, the library is continuing to make adjustments and improvements to keep its No. 1 spot, including a new online search tool called Web Feed, which will allow students to search multiple databases simultaneously.
“The library is here to help students succeed in their studies,” he said.
In order to help students excel, Olsen said the library relies on student recommendations from BYUSA.
“If we have the best college library, it”s because the students here have told us what they want,” Olsen said.
In total, BYU received seven No. 1 placements from Princeton Review and ranked second in favorable city and campus relations.
Provo City Council Chairman Dave Knecht said he was surprised by the No. 2 ranking and said there is room for improvement in the relationship between the city and campus.
“We would love to have a better relationship with BYU,” Knecht said.
For example, Knecht said, at the beginning of the school year, students from Utah Valley State College met with the Provo City Council. Students from BYU, he said, have never met with the council. Knecht also said the city never talks to anyone from BYU who has an authoritative position.
U.S. News & World Report ranked BYU as the 74th best university in America. Part of the high score is attributed to high scores in the areas of freshmen retention rate, 92 percent, and graduation rate, 75 percent. The amount of freshmen at BYU who were in the top 10 percent of their high school class was also high at 51 percent.
The report listed BYU as 25th in “Great schools, great prices,” and 9th in “Least debt,” studied that compared the average debt carried by recent graduates.
Only 39 percent of 2003 graduates left the university with debt from loans and financial aid. The average amount of debt BYU students accumulate was $11,301.
The Marriott School of Management”s undergraduate program placed 38th in “Best Business Programs,” and received a 9th place ranking for their accounting specialty. The Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering undergraduate program ranked 82nd.
BYU”s J. Reuben Clark Law School placed 34th in top schools of law and the Marriott School of Business placed 39th in top schools of business. In the category of health disciplines, BYU”s nursing graduate program ranked 59th.
BYU-Hawaii placed number one in the category of diverse colleges in the West. BYU-Hawaii has a 33 percent Asian-American student population. The college also ranked high on the least debt list.
Extra information:
Source: Princeton Review, “The 357 Best Colleges”
1- Great college library
1- Stone-cold sober school
1- Students pray on a regular basis
1- Got Milk (beer use reported low)
1- Scotch and soda, hold the scotch (hard liquor use reported low)
1- Don”t inhale (marijuana use reported low)
1- Future Rotarians and Daughters of the American Revolution
2 – Town-Gown relations are good (city and school coexist)
5. Students most nostalgic for Ronald Reagan (dominant republican affiliation)
6-Best Quality of Life
7 – Happiest students
7- Alternative lifestyle not an alternative (low acceptance of gay community)
12 – Everyone plays intramural sports
19 – Jock Schools (intramural and intercollegiate sports highly popular)
Source: U.S. News & World Report “America”s Best Colleges”
74 – America”s Best Universities
38 – Marriott School of Management
25 – Great schools, great prices
9 – Least debt
6 – Marriott School, accounting specialty
82 – Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering
“America”s Best Graduate schools”
Top Schools of Law
34 – J. Reuben Clark
Health Disciplines
59 – Nursing
Top Schools of Business
39 – Marriott
