Drexel moves up in WSJ ranking | The Triangle

Drexel moves up in WSJ ranking

Drexel University has placed 84th out of 1,054 colleges and universities in the U.S. in the new annual college rankings report by the Wall Street Journal & Times Higher Education.

The new placement is nine places up from the previous year’s listing.

Data collected for the rankings were from a variety of sources including the U.S. Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid center, the THE US Student Survey, and the THE Academic Reputation Survey. The overall methodology was broken down into four areas: resources, engagement, outcomes and environment. Each one represented a portion of the overall score used to place each institution in the rankings.

The outcomes area represented 40 percent of the overall score. Within this area, the scores of colleges and universities were based on student success after graduation. The resources area represented 30 percent of the score where schools were scored on whether they had the resources to teach effectively. The engagement area represented 20 percent of the score where schools were scored on how well they engaged with their students. Finally, 10 percent of the score is represented by the environment area where schools were scored on whether or not they provided a diverse learning environment for their students.

Drexel University’s overall score was 70 out of 100. For outcomes, Drexel scored a 25.7 out of 40 and for resources a 20.3 out of 30. For engagement, the University scored a 17 out of 20 and for environment a 6.9 out of 10.

“In addition to securing our strong overall standing, the Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education report also reaffirms the critical value of the Drexel Co-op placing Drexel among the top 10 schools in the nation for career preparation,” said Drexel President John Fry according to DrexelNow. “What’s more, we placed 38th overall in the nation among all private research universities.”

At 84th, Drexel tied with Denison University (Ohio) and College of Holy Cross (Massachusetts). The University also placed higher than local schools like Pennsylvania State University (125) and Villanova University (120). Just like the 2017 rankings, Drexel made the top eight percent of ranked institutions in the country and was in the top 400 out of 1,102 top international universities. The university ranked No. 6 in the student’s list of top schools for career preparation this year.

Students were given a survey as part of the rankings and asked to answer questions on a scale from zero to 10. Zero was the weakest agreement and 10 was the strongest. When asked about Drexel’s career preparation, respondents gave the university 9.39 out of 10 overall. Drexel also received 8.54 out of 10 from students when asked if they would choose Drexel if they had to start their college career all over again. Students gave Drexel 8.17 out of 10 when asked if the school provided an inspirational and motivating environment.

More information about the rankings can be found on https://www.wsj.com/graphics/college-rankings-2018-tool/ with a WSJ subscription.