8-21-98

OHIO STATE RANKED AMONG TOP PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES

COLUMBUS -- The Ohio State University has been ranked the 23rd best public national university in the country by U.S. News & World Report, which also scored Ohio State's academic reputation as the highest among Ohio institutions.

Ohio State is tied with the University of Florida in the ranking of the top 50 public national universities. The results will be published in the magazine's special America's Best Colleges issue scheduled to appear on newsstands Monday (8/24).

"Being ranked among the top public universities in the country is a reflection of the work of our faculty and staff to intensify the focus on academic quality," Ohio State University President William E. Kirwan said. "It's no secret that great public universities strengthen the economy of their regions and states, and that we aspire to become a top 10 public institution by any measure. This ranking demonstrates that we are well on our way." In the guide's analysis of universities' academic reputation, Ohio State received a score of 3.8 out of a possible score of 5.0.

The only other Ohio institution among the top 50 public schools is Miami University, ranked 36th.

All Big Ten public institutions are ranked among the top 50: University of Michigan (fourth); University of Wisconsin (eighth); University of Illinois (10th); Pennsylvania State University (11th); University of Minnesota (17th); Ohio State (23rd); University of Iowa (26th); Indiana University (30th); Michigan State University (35th); and Purdue University (36th).

Categories of universities are based on classifications developed by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

U.S. News combines 228 public and private institutions in its overall "National Universities" category. The top 50 overall are dominated by highly selective private universities. In the overall category, the Big Ten's Northwestern University is ranked 10th and Ohio's Case Western Reserve University is ranked 34th.

In the "Rankings Lite" section of ratings, Ohio State is listed as having the largest freshman class (9,308), is the second-largest school with 35,647 undergraduates (behind the University of Texas with 36,861), and is listed among those universities boasting the best marching band.

The rankings are based on academic reputation (25 percent of the final score); freshman retention and graduation rates (20 percent); class size, faculty salaries, faculty degrees, student- to-faculty ratio and proportion of full-time faculty (20 percent); student selectivity (15 percent); financial resources (10 percent); graduation rate performance compared to expectations (5 percent); and alumni giving rate (5 percent).

The rankings are also available on .edu, the U.S. News Online Colleges and Career Center, at www.usnews.com.

Contact: Malcolm Baroway, executive director of university communications, (614) 292-6895