Ball State moved up eight spots in the US News and World Report’s Best Colleges since last year’s rankings were released.
The study ranks Ball State tied 173 out of 200 national universities in the 2015 edition, compared to placing 181 in the 2014 list.
Terry King, provost and vice president for academic affairs, said the study only predicts factors that go into the ranking, such as graduation rates.
“It’s impressive to note that we achieved a graduation rate 7 percentage points higher than US News’ model predicted,” he said in an email. “Last year [the first time they did this] we achieved 5 percentage points higher.”
Despite the skewed study, King said the university is happy to have moved up in ranks. The university improved graduation rates and the number of incoming freshmen that graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school class and had higher SAT scores.
“It’s not surprising that there is growing interest in Ball State among high-ability students,” King said. “The fact that we rose several steps probably means we are doing so at a faster rate than our national peers. That’s what’s important — much more so than rising eight places.”
Purdue and Indiana universities both received higher rankings than Ball State. Purdue University was ranked 62 and Indiana University was ranked 72.
Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis was ranked 194 and Indiana State University was not ranked.
Ball State’s online scores remained consistent, ranking at 29 for the best online bachelor’s programs and was only out-ranked by IUPUI in Indiana.
