Missouri S&T again ranked a top 10 ‘best value’
Posted by Andrew Careaga
Missouri S&T students interact with recruiters during a recent Career Fair. Photo by Mike Pierce/Missouri S&T
Missouri S&T is once again one of the nation’s best value universities, according to the latest rankings from the financial technology firm SmartAsset.
Missouri S&T is ranked sixth in the nation and first in the state of Missouri, according to SmartAsset’s Best Value Colleges ranking. Previously, S&T was ranked seventh nationally.
The study compares universities based on a variety of financial factors and data sets, including starting salary, tuition, living expenses, student retention rate, and scholarships awarded. The average starting salary for Missouri S&T graduates is $72,600, the highest among all universities in the state.
“Our graduates and the employers of our graduates know all about the remarkable return on investment a Missouri S&T education provides,” says Dr. Mo Dehghani, Missouri S&T chancellor. “This ranking, as well as many others, provides further evidence of the value this university brings to our students, our alumni, and the economy of our region, state, and nation.
“The companies that hire our graduates also recognize this value, as year after year record numbers of employers register to attend our career fairs and compete for our students,” Dehghani says. He adds that this year’s Fall Career Fair, scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 26, has already broken the previous year’s record, with 481 employers registered.
SmartAsset joins several other media outlets and rankings organizations that have recognized Missouri S&T’s value in recent years. They include:
- The New York Times, which published an online tool last March that identified Missouri S&T as one of the country’s top 10 “high value institutions.”
- The Wall Street Journal and College Pulse, which ranked S&T the No. 1 university in Missouri and No. 18 best public university in the nation.
- The Princeton Review, which ranked S&T third in the nation for career placement and 24th among public universities for return on investment.
- Money, which ranked S&T as No. 5 for engineering majors in the U.S. and one of the nation’s top universities.
About Missouri University of Science and Technology
Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) is a STEM-focused research university of approximately 7,000 students. Part of the four-campus University of Missouri System and located in Rolla, Missouri, Missouri S&T offers 101 degree programs in 40 areas of study and is among the nation’s top 10 universities for return on investment, according to Business Insider. S&T also is home to the Kummer Institute, made possible by a $300 million gift from Fred and June Kummer. For more information about Missouri S&T, visit www.mst.edu.
Even better is the Princeton Review, which lists us as #24 among public institutions, and unlike the “SmartAsset” listing, includes an academic component to the ranking. It is rather strange that we would be ranked below Webb Institute, which has no departments and no actual university structure, on a list that we would celebrate. If you check the Princeton Review listing for public schools and for private schools, you will see that Webb Institute is not listed at all. Being ranked #6 on a list that puts Webb Institute at rank 5 is embarrassing. Even more embarrassing is having the campus news celebrate that fact.
An international list (https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2024?&page=6&tab=indicators®ion=North%20America&countries=us&sort_by=rank&order_by=asc) has us at 480, but when you limit the region to the United States, we are ranked by them above some notable schools like RPI and Stevens Institute of Technology. In that list, Webb Institute does not appear at all. I guess that means we rank above Webb in that international ranking. Here is what they point out about their methodolgy:
“The 20th edition of the QS World University Rankings features 1,500 institutions across 104 locations and is the only ranking of its kind to emphasise employability and sustainability.
This year, we’ve implemented our largest-ever methodological enhancement, introducing three new metrics: Sustainability, Employment Outcomes and International Research Network.
The results draw on the analysis of 17.5m academic papers and the expert opinions of over 240,000 academic faculty and employers. Massachusetts Institute of Technology celebrates twelve years at the top, the University of Cambridge retains 2nd place while the University of Oxford (3rd) climbs one position. ”
That first paragraph shows that academics is a major part of the criteria, unlike the “SmartAsset” methodology, which apparently ignores academics entirely.
Even US News ranks us but does not rank Webb Institute at all. I’m not that impressed with US News as a ranking for universities, but at least their methodology includes academics, unlike “Smart”asset”.
Apparently, Niche (https://www.niche.com/colleges/search/best-value-colleges/s/missouri/) ranks us #41 in America, but #2 in Missouri. It does list Webb Institute, but ranks it #87 in America in Engineering, and it’s not terribly highly ranked by Niche in the state of New York’s Engineering schools.