WU-hoo!

WU-hoo!

WashU is still ranked 11th among national universities by US News and World Report in their 2006 America's Best Colleges ranking.

This news comes from Student Life, the WashU student newspaper.

The full ranking lists the Harvard-of-St. Louis just below Ivy League Dartmouth College, with which WashU was tied for 9th place in the 2004 rankings. Dartmouth is still tied for 9th - but now tied with Columbia U.

The Med School does even better - in the 2005 Best Graduate Schools rankings it was listed at #3 among research-oriented programs.

WashU PR has a press release about the ranking as well. WashU did slip from 12th to 20th in the "best value" category.

Other local or nearly local institutions ranked:

National universities

--St. Louis University - three-way tie for #78
--UM-Columbia - eight-way tie for #85
--UM-Rolla - six-way tie for #109

National universities - tier three -- none from the St. Louis area (note: tier two national universities rankings are not available online)

National universities - tier four

--SIU-Carbondale - ranked #189
--UM-St. Louis - ranked #201

Liberal arts colleges

--Principia College, Elsah IL - four-way tie for #84 (Principia, a Christian Science school, also ranks #3 among liberal arts colleges in the percentage of international students, at 15%)

Midwestern masters' universities

--Truman State University, Kirksville MO - ranked #8
--Maryville University - three-way tie for #22
--Webster University - ranked #25
--SIU-Edwardsville - three-way tie for #58
--Fontbonne University - five-way tie for #64
--Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau MO - part of the same five-way tie for #64

Midwestern Comprehensive Colleges

--McKendree College, Lebanon IL - tied for #20
--Columbia College, Columbia MO - three-way tie for #35

So, if you buy the US News methodology - not saying that I do - then that suggests my path has been as follows:

- #48 high school in the nation - Metro High in the SLPS.
- #201 national university - UMSL.
- #11 national university - WashU, for grad school.
(#16 among political science PhD programs)