U.S. News and World Report ranked AU 84th in its annual National Universities Rankings released Aug. 20th.
AU's standing on the U.S. News list puts it above Catholic University at 121st and Howard University at 96th. The George Washington University and the University of Maryland-College Park ranked above AU, both with a ranking of 53rd. Georgetown University ranked 24th.
The rankings, however, face controversy, according to a recent article in The Washington Post.
One controversial area is the report's reliance on peer surveys. Twenty-five percent of the U.S. News ranking is determined through a survey in which schools receive a score based on opinions given about them by other institutions, according to the U.S. News Web site.
Last Wednesday, however, an article in the online journal Inside Higher Ed revealed that there are "problems, such as haphazard responses and apathetic respondents," with the U.S. News peer survey.
Greg Grauman, the AU acting director for Undergraduate Admissions, declined to comment on the methodology of the U.S. News rankings but said he would not direct prospective students to the rankings.
"I would encourage them to visit the schools that they are interested in," Grauman said. "I think that's a much more effective way to assess an institution than rankings."
Colleen Hannum, a freshman in the Kogod School of Business, said that although other aspects of AU -- such as its location in D.C. -- were more important to her, she did consider Kogod's ranking in her decision process.
AU had sent Hannum a flyer about Kogod's standing as 28th in BusinessWeek's "Best Undergraduate Business Schools" list.
"I looked at the individual rankings of the business schools I was applying to," Hannum said.
In last week's U.S. News ranking of undergraduate business programs, Kogod had risen in the ranks by 30 places, moving from 83rd to 57th, according to AU's Web site.
You can reach this staff writer at mfowler@theeagleonline.com.
