Friday, August 22, 2003

WILMINGTON, N.C. – UNC Wilmington has moved to sixth among public universities in the South in the latest college rankings by U. S. News & World Report.

UNCW is tied for 18th, among the 131 public and private comprehensive universities in the southern region.

“I am extremely pleased to see that the university has progressed in the U.S. News rankings. This news reinforces my belief that UNCW is an outstanding institution. It reflects the contribution of everyone on campus,” said Chancellor Rosemary DePaolo. “This great news is the springboard we need as we work to establish UNCW as the preeminent public university in the South.”

UNCW is in the “universities-master’s” category which includes those institutions that provide a full range of undergraduate and master’s level programs, but few, if any doctoral programs. U.S. News annually ranks 1,400 public and private universities and colleges across the country.

Among the public universities in the South, UNCW is ranked sixth behind James Madison University, Mary Washington College, The Citadel, Appalachian State University and College of Charleston.

A complete report of the rankings can be viewed online at www.USNews.com or in U.S. News & World Report and the newsstand book America’s Best Colleges, both of which go on sale on Monday, Aug. 25.

The ranking system is based on the following indicators:

• Peer assessment (25 percent);

• Retention, which includes six-year graduation and freshman retention rates (25 percent);

• Faculty resources (20 percent), which includes proportion of classes with fewer than 25 students, proportion with 50 or more students, faculty salaries, proportion of faculty with highest degrees in their fields, faculty-student ratio and full-time faculty;

• Student selectivity (15 percent), which includes student SAT scores and proportion of enrolled freshmen in top 25 percent of high school class;

• Financial resources (10 percent);

• Alumni giving rate (5 percent).

UNCW’s reputation for academic excellence continues to improve as it becomes the university of choice for a growing number of high school students; 8,901 students applied for admission this fall. This year’s enrollment is expected to be over 11,000 students. Among the 1,771 new freshmen in this fall’s class, the average SAT score was 1103 and the average GPA was 3.7.

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