The administration building
David Scibilia/The Bona Venture
BY: JULIA BABCOCK, CONTRIBUTING WRITER
St. Bonaventure University received recognition from the U.S. News & World Report, but students and administrators are split on the value rankings provide.
The U.S. News & World Report college rankings recently came out for the 2024 academic year. Some students think these rankings are important to look at, but others do not see the value.
This year’s U.S. News rankings placed St. Bonaventure University at number six for Best Value Schools, number 17 in Regional Universities North and number 14 in Most Innovative Schools.
“We got added to the innovation ranking list,” said Tom Missel, the chief communications officer at Bonaventure. “We had never been on [it] before, so that was encouraging to see.”
The innovation ranking list is set by a group of college presidents, provosts and admissions deans from across the country who were asked to nominate up to 15 colleges and universities. The innovative improvements are based on curriculum, faculty, students, campus life, technology and facilities.
Bonaventure’s focus on innovation is not intended to directly improve the rankings, according to Missel. But the more the school improves, the higher the rankings tend to be.
Not all students are interested in university rankings. Sophomore media studies major Conor Amendola did not spend time looking at rankings while applying to colleges.
“I was not aware of the rankings for the most part. I knew of them but not enough to check them,” said Amendola. “ I don’t think that students should check them just to know what we’re ranked in each category.”
Even as a student, Amendola said he has not been checking the university’s rankings.
Kaylee Grace, a freshman sports management major, was recruited to Bonaventure to play Division I softball. She agrees that the rankings had a positive influence on her decision to attend the university, but they were not something that she spent too much time on.
“Rankings didn’t matter much to me because I got recruited here to play softball,” said Grace.
Upon checking the university’s rankings, she remembers that they were overall positive, giving her the confidence that she would succeed as a student.
“I remember we [Bonaventure] were ranked highly in value, and I definitely think that assessment was accurate.”
Freshman chemistry major Megan Fialkowski spent more time looking at college rankings than either Amandola or Grace.
“I was looking at rankings in order to help me understand what schools to look at that would offer me a good education for the amount of money it would take me to pay for college,” said Fialkowski.
The rankings helped Fialkowski narrow down the schools she applied to, but did not provide her with all the information she wanted.
“I wish there was a ranking for how much of a community the school has, because it really has blown my mind how much a sense of community the school has,” said Fialkowski.
Missel believes that the U.S. News rankings should be utilized in the college decision process, but students have varied opinions on whether the college rankings are beneficial or not.
“We’ve added programs that the market’s demanding,” said Missel. “This ranking [referring to innovation] was based on a survey of peer institutions in our region. They took note of all the steps we were taking; that means more than the value of the ranking itself.”
babcocjl23@bonaventure.edu
