Hofstra Hall, Hofstra’s original school building, is located on the university’s South Campus and is seen by thousands of students and faculty each day. // Photo courtesy of Annie MacKeigan
Every year, U.S. News and World Report publishes various lists ranking colleges and universities around the country. The 2024 “Best Colleges” listing, released on Sept. 18, showed Hofstra University dropping 20 places from last year’s list. Universities are ranked on “their performance across a set of widely accepted indicators of excellence,” according to U.S. News. Currently ranked at No. 185, many students feel that the ranking does not properly reflect everything Hofstra has to offer.
“I just kind of wonder why [Hofstra] dropped,” said Dahlia Palacio, a freshman exercise physiology major. Much of the observed drop was due to recent changes in U.S. News’ ranking methodology. Many noticed that the changes that led to a decrease in the ranks of private institutions and a general increase in the ranks of public universities.
In response to the 2024 list, the office of marketing and communications on campus shared a statement with Newsday. Their statement read, in part, “Hofstra University prides itself on its academic quality and on providing an environment that supports student learning through personal attention, including small class sizes, a metric that was removed from the rankings this year.”
“U.S. News and World Report made refinements to this year’s rankings formula by dropping five longstanding factors, modifying the weights of several other factors, and introducing a few new ones,” Robert Morse and Eric Brooks of U.S. News wrote.
According to U.S. News, there has been more emphasis on evaluating student success from more socio-economic backgrounds, data that has just recently been made available. In 2023, “class size” was set to make up for 8% of the total ranking, which has fallen to zero percent in the aggregate ranking for 2024. Hofstra has an average 13:1 student-to-faculty ratio, and the lack of inclusion of this metric could contribute to this year’s radical drop.
This is just one of many important metrics removed from U.S. News’ methodology this year. For some students, small class sizes are the difference between a positive college experience and a negative one. “The professors are really personable; they really want you to succeed,” said Gabby Sultan, a freshman exercise physiology major. “[Hofstra] is one of the few D1 schools that would allow me to do pre-med … I didn’t want to be just a number.”
Sultan plays softball at Hofstra and couldn’t be happier with her athletic experience. Sultan also loves her small class sizes and thinks the drop in Hofstra’s ranking is outrageous.
Hofstra’s office of marketing and communications also mentioned that some schools saw a drop as large as 60 places due to U.S. News’ “logic-defying fluctuations in the quality of national universities from one year to the next.” Many students don’t feel that the updated ranking is at all relevant to Hofstra’s success.
“It is one thing if a school has a bunch of silver medals for research, but if you don’t feel like you can grow into a better person there, is it really worth it?” asked Dallas Jackson, a junior journalism major who is also a Pride guide at Hofstra. “The whole college experience should be more about making sure that you’ll be supported and that you’ll be taken care of.” Showing Hofstra’s support systems is a large part of Jackson’s job of being a Pride guide.
Students find that support in many different places. Cameron Elwell, a sophomore geography major, appreciates Hofstra’s welcoming community over its national ranking. “I value the acceptance of the campus; there’s a massive queer community [here],” Elwell said. “I’m glad to be able to express myself.”
The office of marketing and communications mirrors a similar sentiment. “Hofstra stands by its recent success and will continue to evaluate its progress against the highest standards,” they proclaimed in their statement to Newsday.
