Originally Posted by
The Historian
We haven't dropped 108 to 200 spots in quality in 6 years. In 2018 the "National University" Carnegie classification was expanded to include a group of schools - many private - that were previously classified in the "Regional University" classification. I believe it went from 296 schools to 389 schools. That's what comprises USNWR's "National" category.
Many of those privates are ranked higher than Tech for a variety of reasons. For example, Loyola-New Orleans is ranked 196. Its academic endowment is three times that of Tech despite having roughly one-third of the undergraduates as Tech. Loyola moved into the "National" category a couple of years ago. That hurt Tech and others who are lower on the National list.
At the same time I believe some of the changes USNWR has made in how it ranks schools has hurt Tech. One example appears to be the high school guidance counselor assessments (25,000 guidance counselors participated), which was dropped as part of their formula in 2018. I heard for years how well we did in that category.
Tech was in "Tier 1" and was given a ranking for 7 or 8 straight years. After the changes we fell out for a year or two, got back in, and have now fallen out again. I suspect, just like 10 or so years ago, we are right on the line between the ranked schools and the bottom group in the National category.