2008 Woodie Awards
Administrators ambivalent about ratings, and that's fair
By: Alex Park, News Editor
Issue date: 9/7/07 Section: News
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Well it's that time of year again. After the dust settles, community members of all the freshly declared "new" and "emerging Ivies" can revel in their glory and count their bragging rights as they sift through the glossy pages of Newsweek's latest college issue, filled to the brim with color photos and words of praise. Copies hit news stands on August 20.
This year, the magazine kept with its 2005 model by assigning individual colleges the title of "hottest" in various categories, from "hottest technical college" to "hottest for sports fans," with 25 colleges in all receiving the recognition.
Macalester won for "hottest liberal arts college" in 2005, prompting a surge in positive recognition from parents and college advisors, and (some have said) applications for the following year.
So what about this year? Did Macalester outshine the best and rise to the top of its class? Not quite. In fact, the winner for the liberal arts category for 2007 was none other than … Princeton University?
To its credit, the magazine did split the category into two separate ones: "Hottest Liberal-Arts School You Never Heard Of" and "Hottest for Liberal Arts." Princeton, not being a liberal arts college in anyone's, except perhaps its own definition, apparently qualified for the latter category (the winner in the former was Centenary College of Louisiana in Shreveport, La.). Princeton was one of three Ivy League schools to make the cut out of 25 total in a guide that has ironically promoted itself in the past as one that looks beyond the Ivy League to find choice schools.
"The demand for an excellent education has created an ever-expanding supply of big and small campuses that provide great academics and first-rate faculties," the 2005 guide stated. The guide heralded 25 schools, including Macalester, as "the New Ivies" - institutions that were already ahead of the curve on higher education, beating the nation's dusty old elites at their own game. True as these sentiments may be, however, such a highly publicized commitment to less-known schools went unheralded this year.
This year, the magazine kept with its 2005 model by assigning individual colleges the title of "hottest" in various categories, from "hottest technical college" to "hottest for sports fans," with 25 colleges in all receiving the recognition.
Macalester won for "hottest liberal arts college" in 2005, prompting a surge in positive recognition from parents and college advisors, and (some have said) applications for the following year.
So what about this year? Did Macalester outshine the best and rise to the top of its class? Not quite. In fact, the winner for the liberal arts category for 2007 was none other than … Princeton University?
To its credit, the magazine did split the category into two separate ones: "Hottest Liberal-Arts School You Never Heard Of" and "Hottest for Liberal Arts." Princeton, not being a liberal arts college in anyone's, except perhaps its own definition, apparently qualified for the latter category (the winner in the former was Centenary College of Louisiana in Shreveport, La.). Princeton was one of three Ivy League schools to make the cut out of 25 total in a guide that has ironically promoted itself in the past as one that looks beyond the Ivy League to find choice schools.
"The demand for an excellent education has created an ever-expanding supply of big and small campuses that provide great academics and first-rate faculties," the 2005 guide stated. The guide heralded 25 schools, including Macalester, as "the New Ivies" - institutions that were already ahead of the curve on higher education, beating the nation's dusty old elites at their own game. True as these sentiments may be, however, such a highly publicized commitment to less-known schools went unheralded this year.
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