Maine Maritime Academy Named a Top U.S. College in the North
CASTINE, Maine – Maine Maritime Academy (MMA) has been listed in the rankings of the nation’s top baccalaureate colleges for the northern region in the 2010 edition of “America’s Best Colleges” by U.S. News & World Report.
Maine Maritime Academy was ranked for the third consecutive year in the section titled, “Best Baccalaureate Colleges (By Region)”. MMA was placed as 10th overall in the listing of public and private colleges located in the north, a region defined in the publication as spanning from Maine to Maryland. Last year MMA was placed at 10th and the previous year at 14th within the overall regional category.
In all three editions, MMA has held on to the third position within the regional list as a top public college within its regional category. Placing behind two federally run academies, Maine Maritime Academy was the first state-funded college to appear on that list in each of the three most recent editions.
The college was also listed in a number of sub-categories for the region: the 10th ranked school in the category entitled, “Best Values: Baccalaureate Colleges (North)”; a 6th place ranking in the category “Economic Diversity Among Top-Ranked Schools: Baccalaureate Colleges (North)”, moving the college up four spots from its placement last year.
MMA also improved this year in the areas of freshmen retention and graduation rate. The college gained by one step in the category titled, “Average Freshmen Retention Rates: Baccalaureate Colleges (North)”, moving from 7th to 6th place. MMA placed number 10 among its northern baccalaureate colleges in the category “Highest Graduation Rate”.
MMA was founded in 1941 by an act of the 90th Maine Legislature and has no mandatory service obligations for any of its graduates. The college began the 2009-2010 academic year on August 31 with maximum enrollment and an incoming class of 280, one of the largest classes in the college’s history.
According to U.S. News & World Report, the category in which Maine Maritime Academy was evaluated, was defined as “…institutions [that] focus on undergraduate education and offer a range of degree programs - in the liberal arts, which account for fewer than half of the bachelor’s degrees, and in professional fields such as business, nursing, and education.” U.S. News & World Report reported that there were 319 baccalaureate colleges within the four regions that they considered nationwide.
Publishers noted that the new list, marking the 26th edition of the publication, measures up to 15 indicators of academic performance for each college and university. Quantitative data that assess a college's performance in areas such as graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, financial resources, student selectivity, and alumni giving account for 75 percent of a college's score. The other 25 percent is based on a peer assessment survey the magazine sends to top officials at each school asking them to rate the other colleges in their category. Each year, the ranking methodology is reassessed to stay current with developments in higher education. For example, in recent years, U.S. News has incorporated more data about the proportion of low-income students that a school enrolls into its ranking measurements just as most selective colleges have made efforts to recruit more disadvantaged students. The results, along with a complete summary of the methodology used to rank each school, are also online at www.usnews.com/colleges .
Maine Maritime Academy was ranked for the third consecutive year in the section titled, “Best Baccalaureate Colleges (By Region)”. MMA was placed as 10th overall in the listing of public and private colleges located in the north, a region defined in the publication as spanning from Maine to Maryland. Last year MMA was placed at 10th and the previous year at 14th within the overall regional category.
In all three editions, MMA has held on to the third position within the regional list as a top public college within its regional category. Placing behind two federally run academies, Maine Maritime Academy was the first state-funded college to appear on that list in each of the three most recent editions.
The college was also listed in a number of sub-categories for the region: the 10th ranked school in the category entitled, “Best Values: Baccalaureate Colleges (North)”; a 6th place ranking in the category “Economic Diversity Among Top-Ranked Schools: Baccalaureate Colleges (North)”, moving the college up four spots from its placement last year.
MMA also improved this year in the areas of freshmen retention and graduation rate. The college gained by one step in the category titled, “Average Freshmen Retention Rates: Baccalaureate Colleges (North)”, moving from 7th to 6th place. MMA placed number 10 among its northern baccalaureate colleges in the category “Highest Graduation Rate”.
MMA was founded in 1941 by an act of the 90th Maine Legislature and has no mandatory service obligations for any of its graduates. The college began the 2009-2010 academic year on August 31 with maximum enrollment and an incoming class of 280, one of the largest classes in the college’s history.
According to U.S. News & World Report, the category in which Maine Maritime Academy was evaluated, was defined as “…institutions [that] focus on undergraduate education and offer a range of degree programs - in the liberal arts, which account for fewer than half of the bachelor’s degrees, and in professional fields such as business, nursing, and education.” U.S. News & World Report reported that there were 319 baccalaureate colleges within the four regions that they considered nationwide.
Publishers noted that the new list, marking the 26th edition of the publication, measures up to 15 indicators of academic performance for each college and university. Quantitative data that assess a college's performance in areas such as graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, financial resources, student selectivity, and alumni giving account for 75 percent of a college's score. The other 25 percent is based on a peer assessment survey the magazine sends to top officials at each school asking them to rate the other colleges in their category. Each year, the ranking methodology is reassessed to stay current with developments in higher education. For example, in recent years, U.S. News has incorporated more data about the proportion of low-income students that a school enrolls into its ranking measurements just as most selective colleges have made efforts to recruit more disadvantaged students. The results, along with a complete summary of the methodology used to rank each school, are also online at www.usnews.com/colleges .