Quote:
Originally Posted by chadinhsv
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I read the room and stayed a way for a long time. But I was curious how you guys reacted to the latest USNWR ranking and the annual, "this is the most diverse and academically talented class in UA history."
First, we were already tied with UAB last year.
Second, UA and UAB moved up 3 slots among public universities, however, they remained tied at 137 among ALL universities in the nation. Auburn remained #42 among publics, but advanced to #97 among all universities.
Third, the only way that Stuart Bell could claim that this Fall 22 first time student class was the most diverse first time student class in UA history is that the percentage of new students choosing not to identify with a race ("Unknown") increased dramatically from only 0.6% to over 13%. There was actually a very slight decrease in the percentage of Blacks among first time students, and the percentage of Asians and Latinos seemed to stay the same.
Fourth, the only way he can claim that the Fall 22 class was the most academically talented class is by only paying attention to the total number of top students such as the National Merit Scholars. We had an increase in National Merit Scholars last year, and the top 75th ACT percentile stayed at 31. However, the avg ACT for Fall 21 dropped a full point, from 27.1 to 26.1, and the bottom 25th ACT percentile dropped from 23 to 21.
In fairness to UA, the quality of Auburn's Fall 21 class also dropped dramatically. Its avg ACT dropped almost a full point, 0.9, and its 25th to 75th percentiles dropped from 24 - 31, to 23 to 30. Auburn seems to have also chosen "growth" as the answer to its financial stresses. I have looked at other SEC schools, and have not found similar drops in incoming student quality as we see at UA and Auburn.
As for the percentage of in state students in the first time Fall 22 class, it actually dropped from Fall 21, even as the total number increased given the large increase in the total number of first time students from Fall 21 to Fall 22. Because the total number of out of state students increased even more than the number of in state students, UA is even more of an out of state school this Fall.
Finally, neither UA nor Auburn have released data for actual avg student quality for this Fall's class.
I found the data below at the OIRA sites on both UA and Auburn's websites, and of course the USNWR rankings are from the annual USNWR Best Colleges. I never claimed USNWR rank tells the full story, but it does have mostly very specific, objective criteria. Looks like UA is trying to improve Faculty Resources based on improvement in that ranking from Fall 21 to Fall 22.
I tried to present the data below in a more readable form, but it changed the columns back to the original once I clicked Save.
ACT 25th – 75th percentile UA Auburn
2016 23-31 24-30
2017 23-32 24-30
2018 23-31 25-30
2019 23-31 25-31
2020 23-31 25-31
2021 21-31 24-30
Focus on UA:
UA 2022 2021
First Year Undergrad Enrollment 8037 7593
In state enrollment 2799 2851
In state % 34.83% 37.55%
Out of state enrollment 5183 4693
Out of state % 64.49% 61.81%
White 72.6 84.9
Black 12.2 12.4
Unknown 13.3 0.6
Total Enrollment 38645 38320
Out of state 55.9 55.7
White 78.9 81.7
Black 12.8 12.7
Unknown 3.8 0.6
USNWR Ranking (I was unable to find all of Auburn's rankings in the particular USNWR categories for 2022)
UA 2023 2022 Auburn 2023 2022
Public 64 67 42 42
National 137 137 97 99
Outcomes Ranks 217 199 116
Faculty Resources 198 255 182 176
Financial Resources 286 179
Expert Opinion 3.2/5 3.3/5
Student Excellence 104 100
Alumni Giving 29 30 56
I want to reiterate that I think anyone of high intelligence can earn an excellent education at UA, particularly via the Honors Program. However, the lower end of the student body is dragging the academic reputation down. I don't see how anyone can deny this. DEI is not the direct cause of this. I think the obsession with growth is the main culprit, however, DEI discourages raising of standards, and is a large drain on precious financial resources, not to mention, a big obstacle to free speech and the hiring of academics based on quality. Each UA applicant must prove commitment to DEI. It makes absolutely no sense that Offices of DEI thrive across the so called conservative South. Our leaders are either ignorant about the real nature of DEI, or they are scared of being called racist.
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