By Zac Estrada, News Staff
Northeastern edged up seven places from last year’s list in this year’s US News and World Report’s Best Colleges 2012 list, and university officials are upbeat on the prospect of advancing even higher next year.
The university landed in 62nd place on the publications annual list, up from 69th last year.
“I’m very proud of Northeastern,” Student Government Association (SGA) President Mike Sabo said. “We’ve gone up 30 places since I’ve been here. I’m very excited about the prospects for next year. We just have to keep going. The sky’s the limit, we can do as well as we want to do.”
US News highlighted the co-op program as one of Northeastern’s defining characteristics, noting that 9 out of 10 undergraduates complete at least one co-op before graduation.
“The US News ranking is not the goal, it’s the byproduct of doing great,” Northeastern Director of Communications Renata Nyul said Wednesday. “The university has been on a roll – admissions, global expansion of co-op, increases in research dollars – to name a few areas where you can see the successes.”
Northeastern’s rise in US News and World Report’s rankings, one of the most coveted lists among US colleges and universities, has already paid dividends. The university hit a record number of applicants this spring. Nearly 43,000 prospective students applied, a 15 percent jump over 2010’s numbers and a 37 percent rise since 2006. Northeastern bested all other private universities for number of applicants in 2011. Boston University, by comparison, had about 38,000 applicants for Fall 2011 admission.
“It’s been a constant trend upward, but the last three years have been marked,” Philomena Mantella, senior vice president of enrollment services said in January. “Although we’ve come really far, this is just a period to optimize. We have to move really fast.”
Still, Sabo said he thinks there’s plenty to do if Northeastern wants to find itself in the Top 50. Boston University was 53rd on the list, Boston College was in 31st place, Tufts was 29th, MIT placed fifth and Harvard secured the top spot for the third time in the last four years.
“It’s definitely great, we’re still one of the top up-and-coming universities,” Sabo said. “We need to keep investing in our students and school, in Boston and global opportunities. It’s something great and needs to be celebrated. There’s still room for improvement.”
Northeastern fell from second to eighth place on the publication’s list of “up-and-coming schools,” tied with six other universities.
