UA has several things that will likely prevent it from rising much in the rankings for a while. First, a huge part of the US News ranking comes from evaluations by high school counselors, and peer institutions. I think UA suffers from perceptions that overlook current progress. Even in the state of Alabama, high school counselors still give Auburn a higher academic rep rating (Auburn received a 3.9 from high school counselors, while UA received a 3.7). See
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandre...-1051/rankings for the data.
Clearly, UA needs to do a better job of selling UA to high school counselors in the state of Alabama. Maybe the emphasis has been so much on out of state recruitment, that the in state recruitment has suffered. Last Fall, Auburn enrolled more in state students than UA. That had not happened in quite a long time. Auburn just had another record enrollment this Fall, with 59% coming from within state. UA has yet to release its numbers. Of course, UA still enrolls far more out of state students. So for whatever reason, UA is now enrolling fewer in state students than Auburn. Does the emphasis at UA on Greek life (see the swank Greek mansions) reduce interest among in state students? Has UA, relative to Auburn become too snobby for many in Alabama?
Secondly, it still enrolls too many lower scoring students, which makes it look less selective, and hurts its six year graduation rate. While UA is now enrolling freshman classes with extraordinary test scores (25 % or more of freshman last Fall had an ACT of 32 or higher), it still enrolls too many lower performing students ( 25 % or more of freshman last Fall an ACT of 21 or less). While Auburn does not enroll as many or even as high of a percentage of the top students (ACT of 32 or higher), its bottom 25% have an ACT of a higher number, 23 or less. Other schools, like FSU, have a smaller percentage of the top students but far fewer of the bottom scoring students than either UA or Auburn. And schools like UGA, UF, etc. are like UA, enrolling many of the top students, but very, very few of the bottom scoring students. Since the lower scoring students are less likely to graduate within 6 years, UA has a lower six year grad rate than virtually all major schools in the top 100 of the rankings.
That graduation rate had been improving, but last Fall, it declined slightly. I know UA has implemented programs to address this problem, but it will take time for the results to manifest as this is a lagging indicator. But recruiting fewer of the lower scoring students might be crucial now, to overcome this rut over the long term.
Third, it still has less financial resources than most other schools, at least in terms of state funding and even the tuition it is able to charge. UA still has a lower tuition rate than most other schools. The huge out of state enrollment surely is helping, but UA has had to spend a lot of money up front to accomodate the higher enrollment. The coming capital campaign could help this situation. Auburn just launched theirs. They have a goal of 1 billion! They have already raised almost $ 800 million in pledges.
So to repeat, I think UA needs to increase its admissions standards, enhance its in state recruitment efforts, and get the state to foot more of its bills. I am sure Dr. Bell will see this and move on my recommendations.
