Prospective students should focus on specific programs, not overall rankings

Concentrating on a university’s overall ranking should not be the primary focus of prospective college students. Instead, they should pay more attention to the individual programs they wish to join and the distinct schools in which those programs exist.

Syracuse University was placed on the U.S. News and World Report’s list of “A+ Schools for B Students.” This may be an accurate way to view the university as a whole. However, the individual schools and programs on this campus have different reputations and strengths that are not reflected in this generalization.

Prospective students should make decisions based on specific fields of study and on which colleges or universities cater to those interests. Other factors like cost, faculty, class size, retention rate and job placement after graduation should also play an influential role when deciding what university to attend.

SU’s ranking on this specific list correlates with its placement as No. 58 on U.S. News and World Report’s “Best Colleges” list. Although SU is not one of the most prestigious schools in the country, it is not a designated safety school either. This means more students with B averages in high school can still be accepted into a competitive university, allowing them to potentially excel in new opportunities for academic excellence.

SU is a large institution with countless paths to success from which to choose. This means students’ individual strengths can be recognized by enrolling in challenging programs or choosing to perform well in the classroom and on campus.

Though a ranking is not the most important component of a college, SU should constantly be striving to improve its academic standards, as well as creating consistency across campus concerning class expectations in order to improve the rankings overall.