U.S.News & World Report ranks New Paltz 7th among top public colleges with master’s degrees

NEW PALTZ — The State University of New York at New Paltz is 7th among the best public universities in the North with master’s degree programs, according to U.S.News & World Report’s 2008 America’s Best Colleges guidebook.

The college rose from 8th place last year. In the 2008 edition, which will be published in the magazine’s Aug. 27 issue, New Paltz was also ranked 38th – up from 44th in the 2007 list – among public and private universities in the North with master’s degree programs.

The annual rankings, in which U.S. News categorizes schools based on criteria created by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, provide a resource for parents and students contemplating entering the competitive world of higher education.

The guide looks at how schools stack up based on 15 widely accepted indicators of excellence including quality of the incoming class, student/faculty ratio and graduation rates.

The college’s graduation rate continues to improve. U.S. News reports New Paltz’s six-year graduation rate at 58 percent this year, up from 52 percent as reported in 2005.

L. David Eaton, vice president of enrollment management at New Paltz, said, “It is encouraging to note that we continue to rise in the rankings each year, consistent with our maturation as an institution with an extraordinary breadth of programs and high quality academics, rigorous standards for admission and performance, and an engaging and robust social environment.”

Last week, New Paltz was named the “Hottest Small State School” in the country in the “How to Get into College” Guide published by Kaplan and Newsweek. In addition to being named one of the 25 “hottest” schools in the nation, the college’s popularity is reflected in the fact that New Paltz has led all SUNY colleges in total number of applications received for the last 17 years. The number of freshman applications received by the college has risen 40 percent since 2000.

With an acceptance rate of 32 percent for first-year students and 36 percent for transfers, New Paltz remains one of the most selective universities in the Northeast. From an applicant pool of almost 16,000, New Paltz received 12,545 freshman applications for this year’s incoming class, a 5 percent increase over last year, and 2,993 transfer applications.

College guides, like U.S. News, can be very useful tools for families in the initial steps of the college search process by using the information to narrow their search from thousands of prospective institutions to a manageable number, Eaton said.

“Then the real work begins where families must travel and visit campuses, talk to students, faculty, and staff to get an accurate feel of the personality and fit – factors which are difficult to extract from the more formal descriptions contained in college guides,” he said.