Michigan Schools Tout Spots On US News List

Several Michigan schools ranked among the top universities in the nation in US News & World Report's 2012 edition of "Best Colleges."

Michigan Technological University, Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and Western Michigan University were all included in US News' list of the nation's top national universities.

Now ranked 115, Michigan Tech continues its climb on the list, a spot it shares with Washington State University, Howard University in Washington, D.C., and the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota.

Kettering University and Grand Valley State also said they were pleased with their showing on the list.

Among the nation's public universities, Michigan Tech was ranked 57, the same as in 2011.

Also, Tech joins MSU and UM on the "Best Colleges" list of top U.S. engineering schools whose highest degree is a doctorate. Tech was ranked 66, up from 74 in 2011.

"We're in very good company," said Tim Schulz, Michigan Tech's dean of engineering. "It's gratifying to be recognized by our peers as one of the leading engineering programs, both within Michigan and nationwide."

In addition, Tech was included among the "A-Plus Schools for B Students," a category comprising top-quality universities that also admit a significant proportion of students with ACT scores between 20 and 30.

"This speaks to the attention our undergraduate students are receiving," said Seel. "It highlights the level and quality of our education and is an important indicator of student satisfaction."

Rankings don't tell the whole story, he added.

"While we appreciate the recognition from US News, we know that the best measure of our success is the success of our graduates," Seel said. "We already have 225 companies signed up to recruit our students during the upcoming fall Career Fair, up from 160 a year ago, so we can expect to surpass last year's placement rate of 87.5 percent."

As for Kettering, its overall rankings in the 2012 edition of schools that didn't offer doctorates were No. 1 in industrial-manufacturing engineering, No. 2 in mechanical engineering, No. 16 in best regional universities in the Midwest, and No. 27 in best undergraduate engineering.

Kettering Provost Robert Simpson said the Best Colleges list is a moving target year by year: "This Best Colleges ranking edition is controversial at best, relying so heavily on peer review from around the country. In spite of that, Kettering fared well this year."