NSUREDD

June 11, 2010

Undergraduate rankings are an interesting beast. Beyond the broadest strokes (1, 2, 3, and 4 tier rankings, the private-public breakdown, liberal arts v comprehensive universities, etc.), undergraduate rankings are pretty blah. They celebrate some tangibles, such as the size of library collections, publishing frequency and quality of faculty and students, as well as the school's financial endowment (essential for special programs, scholarships and grants) -- but more often than not, rankings for undergraduate institutions emphasize one overarching factor: a name. Harvard. MIT. Stanford. Princeton -- those schools will always have a slot in the top 15 because of the ordering of the letters in their name more than any of the other noteworthy, meritorious factors surrounding them.

For graduate programs -- and especially for those individuals pursuing jobs as professors vis a vis graduate and professional programs -- rankings are extremely important. Hiring and tenure-track decisions often hinge upon the ranking and reputation of the individual's alma mater. I'm going to Penn State for a graduate degree in Political Science and, although it is an exceptional school, a so-called "public ivy," and consistently ranks (as a program) in the top 30, that is still no guarantee of a tenure-track job for me in 5 or 6 years. CNU's hiring policies, for example, tend to rely upon professors coming out of top-20 programs, explicitly (and their actually hiring history matches -- my professors in my field over the last 3 semesters came from Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania [postgraduate fellow], UCLA, and Michigan, respectively). Thus, even though I will (hopefully) be receiving a PhD from Penn State, I may need to leverage that with programs at other CIC/research universities, or a postgraduate fellowship. Rankings are dumb, but for better or worse they also matter.

For a school's ranking to change, perception and physical assets are key. George Mason has a very young law program, for example, but it now ranks on-par with William and Mary's law school (our nation's oldest law school - est. 1779 - exactly 200 years older than GMU Law). Mason brought together a core of extremely talented faculty, kept class sizes relatively small, and utilized its resources in the DC metro, including membership in the regional consortium of schools. Similarly, if ODU's program in Engineering is to move up through the rankings, it should endeavor to heighten the "perceived prestige" of its faculty (although I must say my friends who are Engineering students there have enjoyed their professors for the most part and "prestigious" professors don't always make the best teachers... or people) and partner with other area research centers (see: NASA, J-Lab, etc.) and other universities. Their participation in Virginia Tech's forthcoming initiative in Hampton will assuredly help, as it will bring ODU together with big-name schools and their brightest minds (Virginia, Maryland, Georgia State, etc.).

I wouldn't worry too much about ODU, though, over the long-run. It has incredible potential that it is pursuing aggressively and rapidly. Its programs are quickly becoming known, it's transforming its campus even more, and its students are becoming increasingly competitive in graduate/professional schools and as leaders in their respective fields. Such superficial (yet, tragically as aforementioned, necessary) changes in reputation and ranking take awhile... but they will happen.

Thanks!!

June 10, 2010

As I figured, UFL is checking out NSU and ODU's football stadiums...
http://hamptonroads.com/2010/06/united-football-league-checking-out-nsu-odu-stadiums

Foreman, with last year's renovations and luxury boxes, would be a great selling tool. NSU has a higher capacity (30,000 to about ODU's 19,000+), but I think for the start-up league, ODU's stadium is ideal, esp. with those luxury boxes. I know we have enough minor-league sports, but I think this one could be a better tool to lure a pro team to Norfolk (not NFL of course).

Can I get a little help, Norfolk State hosted Virginia State in 1997 in the annual Labor Day Classic the attendance was listed at 34,000. A friend of mine told me that this was the largest football game ever played in Hampton Roads. I believe that there was a game with a higher attendance. Please help and give reference. Thank you!!!

June 10, 2010

Interesting view of Norfolk. Very nice pictures.

June 10, 2010

Why do they need to be? Who is "graduateshotline.com"? How about the authoritative ranking source for US colleges? US News lists ODU as 121 on its list of best engineering schools, which is relatively high.

I just think it would be great for a school in our area to be rated in the top 100 best engineering schools. The higher the better.

I have no idea who "graduateshotline.com" may be. Maybe someone on this site could provide us some insight. They seem to be an online site that ranks graduate schools.

June 9, 2010

How can we get ODU into the top 100 engineering schools in the country?

Today we are publishing the list of the top 100 engineering colleges in United States of America. As many of the universities have started admission process for the next batch of 2010, students all over the world are looking for the top colleges. US News Corp and World report has recently published their list of the top 10 engineering graduate schools in the USA. This year’s list contains most of the usual contenders but there are several other newcomers into the list. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts is the top engineering institute in USA.

MIT’s endowment and annual research expenditures are among the largest of any American university. 75 Nobel Laureates, 47 National Medal of Science recipients, and 31 MacArthur Fellows are currently or have previously been affiliated with the university. MIT is followed by Stanford and University of California at rank 2 and 3 respectively. The complete list goes as follows:

1) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

2) Stanford college of Engineering

3) University of California – Berkeley

4) Georgia Institute of Technology

5) University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign

6) Carnegie Mellon University

7) California Institute of Technology

8] University of Southern California

9) University of Michigan – Ann Arbor

10) University of Texas – Austin

11) Cornell University

12) Purdue University–West Lafayette

12) University of California–San Diego (Jacobs)

14) Texas A&M University

14) University of California–Los Angeles

16) University of Wisconsin–Madison

17) University of Maryland–College Park

18) Harvard University

18) Princeton University

18) University of California–Santa Barbara

21) Columbia University (Fu Foundation)

21) Northwestern University (McCormick)

23) Pennsylvania State University–University Park

23) University of Minnesota–Twin Cities

25) Johns Hopkins University (Whiting)

25) University of Florida

27) Ohio State University

27) University of Pennsylvania

27) University of Washington

27) Virginia Tech

31) North Carolina State University

31) Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

33) University of California–Davis

34) Rice University (Brown)

35) Duke University (Pratt)

35) University of California–Irvine (Samueli)

37) University of Virginia

38) University of Rochester

39) Vanderbilt University

40) University of Colorado–Boulder

40) Yale University

42) Boston University

42) Iowa State University

42) Lehigh University (Rossin)

45) Arizona State University (Fulton)

46) Case Western Reserve University

46) University of Delaware

46) Washington University in St. Louis

49) University of Pittsburgh (Swanson)

50) University of Massachusetts–Amherst

51) Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey–New Brunswick

51) University of Arizona

51) University of Notre Dame

54) Brown University

54) Dartmouth College (Thayer)

54) Drexel University

54) University at Buffalo–SUNY

58) Michigan State University

58) University of Iowa

60) Northeastern University

60) SUNY–Stony Brook

62) Colorado State University

62) New Mexico State University

62) University of California–Riverside (Bourns)

62) University of Dayton

62) University of Utah

67) University of Illinois–Chicago

68) University of Tennessee–Knoxville

69) Auburn University (Ginn)

69) Polytechnic Institute of New York University

71) Colorado School of Mines

71) Illinois Institute of Technology (Armour)

71) University of Connecticut

71) University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill

75) University of Cincinnati

75) Washington State University

77) Missouri University of Science & Technology

77) Stevens Institute of Technology (Schaefer)

77) Tufts University

77) University of New Mexico

77) University of Texas–Dallas (Jonsson)

82) Michigan Technological University

82) Oregon State University

82) Syracuse University

82) University of Missouri

86) Mississippi State University (Bagley)

86) University of California–Santa Cruz (Baskin)

86) University of Central Florida

86) University of Houston (Cullen)

90) Clemson University

90) Louisiana State University–Baton Rouge

90) Rochester Institute of Technology (Gleason)

90) University of Kansas

90) University of Kentucky

90) University of Nebraska–Lincoln

96) Alfred University–New York State College of Ceramics (Inamori)

97) Brigham Young University (Fulton)

98) CUNY–City College (Grove)

99) California State University–Long Beach

100) Catholic University of America Washington, DC

This list is based on the Survey of US News. Find the details here.

June 9, 2010

How can ODU get on this list?

Top Engineering Colleges

Ranking by graduateshotline.com 2009

S.No University/College

1 Massachusetts Inst of Technology

2 Stanford University

3 University of California-Berkeley

4 California Institute Technology

5 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

6 Georgia Institute of Technology

7 University of Michigan

8 Cornell University

9 Carnegie Mellon University

10 University of Texas at Austin

11 Purdue University

12 University of California- San Diego

13 University of California- Los Angeles

14 Texas A&M University

15 Princeton University

16 Pennsylvania State University

17 University of Wisconsin-Madison

18 University of Maryland College Park

19 Harvard University

20 University of California-Santa Barbara

21 University of Southern California

22 University of Minnesota

23 Northwestern University

24 Johns Hopkins University

25 Virginia Polytech Inst & State University

26 Ohio State University

27 University of Virginia

28 Columbia University (FU)

29 University of Pennsylvania

30 Duke University

31 Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst

32 North Carolina State University

33 Rice University

34 University of Washington

35 University of Florida

36 University of California-Davis

37 Washington University -St. Louis

38 Yale University

39 University of Massachusetts at Amherst

40 Michigan State University

41 Iowa State University

42 University of Arizona

43 University of California-Irvine

44 University of Colorado-Boulder

45 Case Western Reserve University

46 Rutgers State University-New Brunswick

47 University of Notre Dame

48 Lehigh university

49 Northeastern University

50 University of Rochester

51 University of Delaware

52 University of Iowa

53 Brown University

54 Arizona State University

55 Drexel University

June 8, 2009

I need your help. Please do not take this the wrong way (only serious replies please) I took a senior level geography course (for teacher recertification points) years ago at ODU where the final exam was name the states and capitals. Although I thought this to be well under college material the class was very popular and the professor was well known. I have forgotten his name and would like to know anyone who can give his name to me. Also I would like to know the name of the satistics professor who was not allowed to fail any students because he had to failed to many students prior. This was also a very popular course and well known among students at that time. The professor was a good man who did a fine job, that was underappeciated. I need to contact them for personal reasons. Please, no jokes.

May 26, 2009

Top 5 Virginia Colleges and Universities by Student Population

1. George Mason University

This university is the largest of Virginia's top colleges and universities. Its main campus is located in the city of Fairfax, in Northern Virginia. The school was established in 1957 as part of the University of Virginia school system, before breaking off in 1972. The university comprises numerous schools and colleges, among them the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study, School of Computational Sciences, College of Education and Human Development, and the School of Law.

Student Demographics and Tuition