VOLUME 13, NO. 1     DEC 1999

WPI tops in its tier

For the second year in a row, WPI was ranked 51st among top universities in the United States by U.S. News & World Report. The magazine's Aug. 30 "America's Best Colleges" annual report once again placed the University at the top of Tier 2 in the "National University" category, which includes 228 colleges and universities, all of which offer a full range of undergraduate majors as well as master's and doctoral degrees; many strongly emphasize research. WPI was also listed among the top-20 national universities cited for having the highest proportion of classes with less than 20 students.

In the magazine's "Best Values" issue, dated Sept. 6, WPI tied for 36th with Brown and Pepperdine universities in the top-50 national universities category. Limited to colleges in the magazine's top tiers, these rankings were designed to provide a realistic measure of where students can get the best education for their money by relating the cost to quality.

WPI came in 52nd (tied with six other universities) out of 182 schools that offer Ph.D.s in engineering in the publication's business and engineering schools rankings. For this category, last published in 1996, deans and senior faculty rate the academic quality of peer institutions in their disciplines.

The University is also among 300 institutions listed in The Fiske Guide to Colleges 2000 and in The Princeton Review, The Best 331 Colleges.