SUNY New Paltz earns high marks in 2003 college rankings

NEW PALTZ — SUNY New Paltz has shown strong results among SUNY schools in two college guides, Barron’s and the Princeton Review, and has moved up in the national rankings in Kiplinger’s magazine and the U.S. News & World Report, college surveys that acknowledge the institution for its quality, selectivity and value.

In Kiplinger’s exclusive biennial ranking of the 100 best public schools in the United States, New Paltz moved up the list from 85 in 2000 to 76 in 2002. The report selects colleges and universities from across the country that combine great academics and affordable tuition.

L. David Eaton, New Paltz’s vice president for enrollment management, said he was pleased that New Paltz was faring so well in the 2003 college surveys.

“We feel that it acknowledges the high quality programs that we offer here,” said Eaton. “College lists are very controversial and their measurement criteria are open to debate, but we are very happy that we have an upward trajectory.”

New Paltz also ranked strongly in selectivity ratings among SUNY schools, making the top three along with Binghamton University and Geneseo in the Princeton Review 2003 college guide. Additionally, New Paltz ranked as “very competitive” along with the SUNY university centers in Albany, Buffalo and Stony Brook in Barron’s 2003 college guide for selectivity.

In the U.S. News & World Report’s rankings for America’s Best Colleges 2003, New Paltz placed among the top 90 universities in the North that provide a full range of undergraduate programs and some master’s level programs. U.S. News also placed New Paltz in the top 50 in the Best Values: Great Schools at Great Prices category.

This year, 83 percent of New Paltz’s accepted freshmen came from the top two SUNY quality groups, up from 75 percent last year. This year’s freshman class has an average SAT score of 1130 and a high school average of 89. The new freshmen and transfer classes were selected from a pool of more than 13,500 applications – a 12.5 percent increase over last year’s record-breaking pool of 12,000 applicants. New Paltz received more applications than any of SUNY’s 12 other colleges.

With an acceptance rate of 41 percent, New Paltz remains one of the most selective universities in the Northeast and among the 5 percent of campuses across the country who accept less than half of their applicants.