The U.S. News & World Report ranked Wake Forest No. 47, down 18 spots from 29 in 2023, on its list of 2024 U.S. News Best National Universities released today. This is the first time the university has been ranked out of the top 30 since 1996 and its lowest ranking since joining the National Universities list.
Wake Forest tied with five other universities for the No. 47 spot — Lehigh University, Texas A&M University, University of Georgia, University of Rochester and Virginia Tech.
According to Vice President of Communications & Chief Communications Officer Brett Eaton, 17 of 19 measures used in this year’s list are different from last year.
U.S. News did not consider small class sizes, instruction by professors with a terminal degree, alumni giving average, graduate debt and students’ high school standings in this year’s ranking. These five measures had a collective weight of 18% in last year’s algorithm.
“Private universities that prioritize undergraduate teaching, small class sizes and faculty who are top scholars and experts in their fields, like Wake Forest, lost ground in the rankings,” Eaton told the Old Gold & Black.
Many public universities saw significant improvement in their ranking. More than a dozen public schools rose at least 50 spots, and 21 of the 29 top-50 universities whose ranking improved are public.
“U.S. News no longer takes into account some of the key features of the Wake Forest experience. It would be a mistake to confuse ranking with quality,” Eaton said. “We know we can improve in some areas but we won’t change to chase the rankings.”
The algorithm added seven new indicators — four related to faculty research, two related to first-generation graduation rates and one related to graduate income.
It also considered the number of students who received Pell grants. With 10% of the freshman class receiving Pell grants, Wake Forest is ranked No. 271 of 287 schools on the New York Times’ Top U.S. Colleges With the Greatest Economic Diversity. The list average is 21%. According to the Times, the share of Wake Forest students receiving Pell grants has decreased by four percent since 2011, compared with a two percent average decrease among schools on the list.
Vice President for Enrollment Eric Maguire voiced concerns in the press release about U.S. News’ new methodology.
“Wake Forest has a long-standing commitment to social mobility and serving Pell-grant eligible and first-generation students, through programs such as Magnolia Scholars and First in the Forest,” said Maguire. “The new U.S. News indicators fail to recognize our commitments. Enrollment size appears to disproportionately benefit larger institutions. Wake Forest is very focused on increasing access and affordability for all students, and lowering barriers to access for low-income students especially.”
Wake Forest President Susan Wente reiterated in a press release that the university’s decisions will not be affected by U.S. News.
“Wake Forest has never made decisions or determined University strategy based on chasing rankings such as those from U.S. News. We do not intend to start now,” said Wente. “We will remain steadfast in our stated commitments, goals and vision for the university, and continue striving to provide the best possible educational opportunities. We are committed to providing real data and success metrics to demonstrate the value of a Wake Forest education and its impact on the lives and careers of our students.”
The U.S. News annual college rankings have long been used by high school students to determine the quality or status of a university, and it often influences their decision of where to apply or attend. Wake Forest University has long touted its top 30 ranking in promotional and admissions material.
Before the complete list was published, each university’s profile page was updated with their new ranking late Sunday night. Students quickly voiced their concerns on the anonymous social media app Fizz. Posts ranged from humorous to serious in tone, but a vast majority of users voiced the concern that their degree would no longer be as valuable or that their tuition was no longer worth it.
One of the top posts on the app right now is a screenshot of Wake Forest’s U.S. News profile with a caption that reads “How the fuck we become #47 on us news.” That post received 1,700 upvotes at the time of publication.
“If the ranking goes down, tuition should follow,” another post read.
Other students were more sympathetic, like this Fizz that read:
“Wakes (sic) the same school. US News just tweaked the algorithm to completely screw private schools. We are the epitome of a private school.”
The U.S. News and World Report, in an explainer on its new methodology, said that the shift in algorithm was made explicitly to center outcomes and to focus more on data that is “universally reported” by schools.
Some changes were made to offset the removal of certain categories — for example, the weight of student-faculty ratios increased from one percent to four percent because class size is no longer considered.
Wake Forest was also ranked in the following categories:
- No. 64 in Best Value Schools (23rd last year)
- No. 31 in Best Undergraduate Teaching (21st last year)
- No. 88 in Economics
- No. 301 in Top Performers on Social Mobility
- No. 25 in Accounting
- No. 38 in Undergraduate Business Programs
- No. 34 in Undergraduate Psychology Programs
On other top ranking lists, Wake Forest is also ranked outside of the top 30. Wake Forest currently sits at No. 61 in the Wall Street Journal’s 2022 rankings and No. 86 in Forbes’ 2023 rankings.
The Old Gold & Black will continue to report on this story.
Christa Dutton contributed reporting to this article.
Steven Plaxco • Sep 22, 2023 at 3:43 pm
To blame this slide on an algorithm that rewards public universities and punishes private ones is disingenuous. The vast majority of the top 20 are private. Wake has been losing ground for a few years, it was ahead of neighboring Vanderbilt not long ago. The administration downplaying the importance of this is a public, face-saving reaction but I imagine-and hope-that they are taking it seriously. Alumni blaming the “outside influences “ and such are sucking on sour grapes.
Hank Laxton • Sep 19, 2023 at 10:46 pm
Personally, I feel as if the article is written incredibly well. (Props to the writers for attempting to stay unbiased and report facts as facts) That being said, this whole issue revolves around current college rankings not putting much weight on the things that make Wake Forest great. Thus, Wake Forest continues to slide down the rankings. While a statement from Wente is nice, action is what is needed. We either need to join many law schools in boycotting such lists as they do not adequately rank us or we need to adapt to these new lists to increase our ranking. Both solutions have pros and cons but one thing is for certain. If we change nothing, then prospective students will see us as nothing more than a borderline top 50 university.
Ms. Wright • Sep 19, 2023 at 11:16 am
They were looking for a woke culture. Remember now, 2+2=5 now.
Whit Jr. • Sep 18, 2023 at 3:03 pm
This may be judgment for throwing out the Baptists, who sent their smartest children to Wake Forest while subsidizing tuition to the point Wake Forest cost no more than UNC to attend. Ironically, its greatest, world-class geniuses were products of that podunk “Baptist college.” Of course, that didn’t keep modernity from framing even a token of Baptist orthodoxy on campus in terms of North Korea. So out with the Baptists and in with—cachet? Well, for at least as long as the new regime approves (aka The U.S. News and World Report College Rankings). Its specialty torture: Burial alive in an algorithm. Good luck escaping this North Korea!