The phrase of this phase of Northeastern’s history may be “Top 100” rather than “NU Shuffle.” A new rule of thumb seems to be slowly but surely slinking its way into the culture of the NU administration. Fresh, enthusiastic, professionals have come onboard to reinvent the way things are done at the university, be it customer service, applying to the university or retaining students, it is all in the process of changing. But back to the rankings. The result of this tally seems to keep the university on edge, waiting to see if we “did it” this year. And we didn’t. This year NU was still ranked in the third tier, awarded no actual figure, but according to US News and World Report, the university was close, vying competitively with other schools for slots in the second tier. Rankings for the top tier range from one to 50 and the second tier ranks schools from 51 to 126. What’s in a number anyway? Peer assessment, retention of students, faculty resources (i.e. class size), student selectivity, financial resources (endowment), alumni giving and graduation rate performance. Those are the basic basis of the rankings. What’s next? “If Northeastern University reduces its class size, it also improves classroom experience; it offers first-year seminars and builds state-of-the-art residence halls, it represents a better overall experience for freshmen and retention rates rise as a result; when it offers scholarships to students with strong SAT scores, the quality of classroom learning and peer dialogue too becomes strong;” said University spokesperson Ed Klobzier. “When alumni are generous with financial resources, it reflects the quality of their educational experience in tandem with their desire to provide still more educational resources to students today.” Bottom line, our alumni do not give back — unless you are George Berhakis, Richard Egan or Roger Marino. Not nearly as often as , Boston College, who from the beginning recruited a more elite group of students, whereas Northeastern was more geared to the blue-collar student. As Frank Palmer Speare, former president of Northeastern, once said, “We started with an eraser and two sticks of chalk.” What Northeastern should consider doing is bringing our alumni back to the campus, and show them how much the university has grown. Maybe their contributions would be the edge that NU needs. Retention rates are up, but there is still room to grow. Peer assessment, name recognition, national status — that’s where we have room to grow. Despite the number one co-op ranking, people still do not know of or about NU. Blame it on largely unknown sports teams, lack of promotion, confusion with Northwestern or whatever you want, we’re just not getting out there. There is something to be said for self-promotion. If those are the defining factors of the rankings, then Northeastern does not deserve to be in the top 100– at least not yet.