Prospective students give Elon top rankings

Project Connect 2003, a nationwide survey by Carnegie Communications, included input from nearly 4,000 college-bound high school students. They answered questions about where they planned to apply, what the most important factors were and what schools they believed were the highest quality.

Carnegie found that students pay attention to a different set of factors than those measured by conventional college rankings, such as U.S. News & World Report. Among the most important qualities to students in the survey were the student-faculty ratio, opinions of their peers, the average SAT/ACT scores of enrolling students, the proportion of faculty who are full-time teachers and the four-year graduation rate.

Using these criteria, Carnegie developed a list of the top universities in each region of the country. Among all colleges and universities in the South, Elon ranked #2 in the ranking of schools to which students planned to apply. Here is the top 10 “popularity” ranking:

1. University of North Carolina – Charlotte
2. Elon University
3. University of North Carolina – Wilmington
4. James Madison University
5. Stetson University
6. Appalachian State University
7. University of Richmond
8. Winthrop University
9. Rollins College
10. College of Charleston

The Carnegie ranking of Southern schools based on the overall criteria defined by the prospective students ranks Elon #4. Below is a list of the top 10 Carnegie schools followed by their U.S. News 2004 ranking in parentheses:

1. University of North Carolina – Charlotte (26)
2. The Citadel (10)
3. University of Richmond (1)
4. Elon University (9)
5. Xavier University of Louisiana (31)
6. James Madison University (3)
7. University of North Carolina – Wilmington (18)
8. Appalachian State University (12)
9. Loyola University New Orleans (6)
10. Stetson University (4)

Carnegie Communications is a market research and creative services firm that specializes in higher education. It is based in Westford, Mass.