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Washington Monthly magazine has listed the University of Memphis among the top 100 schools in its 2010 universities rankings. The U of M comes in at No. 100, right behind the State University of New York at Stony Brook and the University of Connecticut, and ahead of the University of Massachusetts, Boston University and the University of Tennessee.  

Washington Monthly rates schools based on their contribution to the public good in three categories: social mobility, i.e., the ability to help students move up the income ladder; how well the university fosters scientific and humanistic research; and how well the university promotes service to country. The rankings also use a method that is based on a comparison of the college’s actual graduation rate to the predicted rate based on its students’ socioeconomic backgrounds.

Washington Monthly started its list in 2005 in response to other national rankings that place emphasis on an institution’s reputation. “When reputation plays a large role in college rankings, the universities we see playing football on television every Saturday have an advantage,” said Dr. Andrew Meyers, U of M vice provost for research. “And where the Washington Monthly rankings value educating students from working- and middle-class backgrounds, other college ranking systems punish universities like ours whose students take longer to graduate because they must juggle classes and jobs.

“The Washington Monthly rankings are based on objective measures rather than subjective judgments such as reputation, and their measures value a university’s contributions to its students, community, and the nation.”  

The complete list of rankings is available online at
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/rankings_2010/
national_university_rank.php