Many organizations rank universities. Rankings of two-year colleges are rare. In a recent post I mentioned the Aspen Institute has twice ranked Snow College in the top 10% of all two-year colleges in America. Last week another ranking was just published. CNNMoney ranked Snow College 6th in the nation. Not top 6%--number 6. (There are approximately 1,200 two-year colleges.)
According to CNNMoney “Not all community colleges are created equal. Figuring out which school will give you the best chance of transferring to a four-year college or university can be difficult . . . . But here’s a good way to start. College Measures, a join venture of the American Institutes of Research and Matrix Knowledge Group, has created a chart for CNNMoney to help students find the best options. Based on the percentage of students that graduated within three years or transferred to four-year colleges, they compiled a “success” rating for each community college in the U.S.” And then for 22 pages CNNMoney listed the ranking for various colleges. Snow College is on the top of the pile.
For a little comparison, U.S. News and World Report ranks universities. Five universities tied for the 6th place spot, including California Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford, University of Chicago and University of Pennsylvania. Snow College is in the world of community colleges what CIT, MIT, Stanford, Chicago and Pennsylvania is in the world of universities.
Not bad!
This ranking is another great tribute to our faculty and staff who have created a very supportive, learning environment at Snow College. You can see the CNNMoney article at http://money.cnn.com/pf/college/community-colleges/?iid=EL 6/9/12
It is impressive to be ranked so high based on quality instruction and transferability. To add to that however, let me share a firsthand account. Snow has a long tradition of excellence. I attended Snow College in 1990. I was always so impressed by how caring the faculty was. They seemed to genuinely care about each student. Later in my life, I spent a couple years seeking out opportunities to change careers and was very picky in the process. That process ended when I was offered a dream job at Snow College. Not long after my first day at work I sat in on a Business Division meeting. During the course of the meeting, one professor spoke fondly, with tears in his eyes, of a student for whom he was greatly concerned. At that moment I recalled how impressed I was as a student by their caring approach to really helping students succeed… and I could now see, from the other side, that it was no facade. Combine quality academic programs that put you at 6th in the nation with caring, individual attention that is second to none and you've got an incredible college experience that can point any earnest student on the path to success in life.
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