Article Written By: Chase Wilson
Former Admission Counselor, Loyola University Chicago
When you evaluate schools by academic reputation, it is helpful to consider numerous factors in your review. These factors can be broken down into several categories. In this article, I will highlight a few of the most common categories: faculty, rankings, research, and the quality of students and programs offered.
Faculty
The faculty of the institution you are interested in attending serves a crucial role in determining if that institution is the right fit for you. The quality of faculty can be contingent upon:
Credibility in their field
Highest degree obtained
Publishing success
Real-world experience
Credibility in their field means that they have received the proper education and are recognized by their peers for the subject they are teaching.
Some institutions guarantee that their faculty have earned the highest degree possible for the subject they are teaching (For example A biology professor has obtained a Ph.D. in Biology).
A requirement of receiving a Ph.D. involves writing works around the field you study. Many people go on to publish the work(s) they wrote during their schooling. I know several professors that continue to publish works on new research they have done and even create the textbooks that will be used in the classes they teach at the institution.
Real-world experience involves going on to practice the work they have studied during their time of schooling through part-time or full-time roles at companies, schools, and other organizations. Being able to teach things when you have done it and/or still do it, provides faculty with more credibility and respect from the students they are teaching and peers they are working alongside.
Rankings and Research
Other components of academic reputation are rankings and research. It is nice for institutions to have credible rankings like being recognized in the US News and World Report or Niche for things such as “Best Value”, “Business Program”, “Most Diverse”, “ Best College Athletics”, and more.
When a school is recognized for rankings as those mentioned above, this brings school pride internally, while also providing more awareness and pull for future students and their families externally. Recognition like this can bring grants and scholarship opportunities to the institutions as well. Being recognized for research can be displayed in rankings.
Research strength can impact how institutions are received and can indicate how strong their programs are. When research is published on relevant topics, it can serve as a pull for future students, faculty, media, grants, philanthropy, or donations. Quality research shows that there is effective teaching and learning occurring in and out of the classroom. Research done at institutions can even be picked up by government agencies to be developed further.
Quality of Students and Programs Offered
The quality of students that are admitted and attend the institutions you are interested in matters. Student quality can be determined by the admission criteria, like test scores and grade point average (GPA) and the retention and graduation rates of the institution. These both show how selective an institution can be. Admission criteria may include a minimum test score and GPA, essays, letters of recommendation, a resume, and even a portfolio. You always want to look at admission requirements while doing your research on schools you are interested in attending.
A retention rate calculates the number of first-year students that return to the institution the next year. Graduation rate is the percentage of students who graduate from their program within a specific amount of time; usually, institutions calculate the 4-year and 5-year graduation rates of their students. Both of these rates show how valuable students find the institution to be to them. A student may leave if they are not satisfied with what they are being offered at a particular institution or if they are not performing or fitting in well.
Programs that are offered at a particular institution are another major piece of developing a reputation. As a student, if you are interested in studying Architecture for example, please be sure to check if the schools you are applying to offer that specific major. I have come across students that apply to a school without knowing what is offered to them. If you are set on a particular major, make sure to look around at what schools offer in that particular program:
Does this school offer scholarships for this major?
Are there internships?
Is tutoring in this major offered?
Are there research opportunities?
If the answer to most of these questions is no for a particular school, you may want to consider exploring other schools or if you are set on this school, you may want to consider a different program or major that has more opportunities for you.
