Community Corner
UMD: Slightly Less Desirable Than Really Good Schools
Newsweek's rankings put UMCP at 15th most desirable school, but it really doesn't mean anything.
FINALLY! The recognition we deserve! Newsweek just released a new installment in their lists-that-don't-really-mean-anything series, this one ranking "most desirable large schools," and the ol' University of Maryland ranks number 15 on the list, right behind Harvard, UPenn, Cornell, and... um... GW?
There are some curious choices on the list, which was compiled, apparently, with a bunch of pictures on a wall and a nice set of darts. I've never met anyone, for example, who was heartbroken they couldn't go to Brigham Young (14) or the University of Central Arkansas (23).
Come to think of it, someone needs tell me who actually wants to go to Central Arkansas in the first place. Their main selling point, if Newsweek is to be believed, is that "our town is swarming with college students because University of Central Arkansas is not the only college around. We have two other college campuses, Hendrix and Central Baptist College." That's great. Let's just turn that into an article saying everybody wants to go to this school no one has ever heard of because it is close to two other schools no one has ever heard of.
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But maybe I'm overdoing the snark. We should probably take Newsweek's word for this, because somebody obviously did a lot of research for this. It looks like he spent at least 15 minutes on CollegeProwler.com before writing this.
It also appears that whoever wrote this thing doesn't really understand what "numbers" are — in the list of reasons UCA (do they even get an abbreviation?) is a great school, the "reporter" writes that the school has a 41 percent overall graduation rate. That is horrible. I'm not sure if UMD uses different metrics, but College Park had a 77 percent graduation rate a few years ago, and that included the basketball team.
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And that 72 percent retention rate for first year students? That's also just as bad as it sounds — it means more than one in four UCA freshmen either transfer or drop out some time during their first year, and it's WAY below average: Georgia has a 91 percent retention rate, and the national average, according to a report put out by UGA, is 87 percent. Looks like Central Arkansas might not be the dream school Newsweek says it is.
The bottom line, I guess, is that it's nice to be on lists. But it doesn't mean much when the list is really, really stupid.
