[TDDance234]

Dr. Troy Matthews, assistant professor of Contemporary Issues at Liberty University, has been ranked No. 3 on RateMyProfessors.com’s list of Top Professors of 2008.

HERE.

[mrmacphisto]

That's awesome. Troy's a great guy.

[flamesbball84]

and this is deserving of a press release how? sure, nice accomplishment, but there were only 76 ratings of him, that's a fairly insignificant sample size right there. are they going to write a press release in the future if someone at LU is named in the top 10 for hottest professor on there too?

[Rooster Cogburn]

Negativity is such a nice thing on a Monday
Congrats to the Prof.

[thepostman]

and this is deserving of a press release how? sure, nice accomplishment, but there were only 76 ratings of him, that's a fairly insignificant sample size right there. are they going to write a press release in the future if someone at LU is named in the top 10 for hottest professor on there too?

most of the profs in the top 10 don't have many more reviews then this guy, so its pretty fair assessment I would say...the only time people use sites like this is if they really hate a prof or they really love a prof..

sorry an LC prof didn't make the cut

[Baldspot]

My vote for LC professor during my days there, based totally on his name, would have been for Professor Dick Seman. Statistics professor. Never had him myself but had the reputation of being rather difficult.

[JMUDukes]

lol, not surprising. Look at #1. BYU

[flamesbball84]

sorry, but I'll take the superior academic reputation and admission standards of LC over one professor at LU

[Sly Fox]

sorry, but I'll take the superior academic reputation and admission standards of LC over one professor at LU

[Baldspot]

I have degrees from both. Let's just say both are fine institutions but LC's reputation ends at the James River and as far as admissions - I got in to both.

[flamesbball84]

the numbers and rankings speak for their selves. go look the numbers up on collegeboard.com if you don't believe me. one that sticks out: 94% admission rate at LU - apparently the only requirement is a high school degree/GED and the ability to fill out an applicatipn.

LC's reputation extends far beyond the James River, it's simply blind ignorance to think otherwise:
http://www.lynchburg.edu/awards.xml

[Sly Fox]

Uh, no one outside of Central Virginia has even heard of LC. But it is a cute little campus.

[flamesbball84]

Uh, no one outside of Central Virginia has even heard of LC. But it is a cute little campus.

Really? I think the large number of Richmond, Northern VA, and the 44% of out of state students would disagree. I thought you were more intelligent than that...

Even Poland has heard of us, and unless something has significantly changed with the geography of the Earth, Poland isn't even in the western hemisphere: http://www.washington.polemb.net/index.php?document=541

[Sly Fox]

I guess not.

[ATrain]

Why do people judge the quality of education received based on admission standards? Who cares how someone gets in, its HOW THEY GRADUATE that truly matters.

[Sly Fox]

I'm just pulling your chain, 84. I'm feeling my oats after that incredible victory.

[flamesbball84]

I'm feeling my oats.

Stop playing with your food then! lol

[LUconn]

one thing everybody has always known is that LU is easy to get into. However, to use that data on a school that is trying to grow is fairly retarded. But someone who was accepted to LC should be able to deduce that. Does that data say those dumb kids that get accepted are there for 4 years? Do they get diplomas? No, the information stops at acceptance. LU has had a very poor retention rate. Some may point to the culture, but as someone who knew 4 years worth of kids in a dorm, I've always suspected it was just a process of weeding out the dumb kids who have no place in college. I knew many who failed out.

and LOL at you quoting rankings! Do you know how they come up with those rankings???

http://www.usnews.com/articles/educatio ... l?PageNr=1

Peer assessment (weighting: 25 percent). The U.S. News ranking formula gives greatest weight to the opinions of those in a position to judge a school's undergraduate academic excellence. The peer assessment survey allows the top academics we consult—presidents, provosts, and deans of admissions—to account for intangibles such as faculty dedication to teaching. Each individual is asked to rate peer schools' academic programs on a scale from 1 (marginal) to 5 (distinguished). Those who don't know enough about a school to evaluate it fairly are asked to mark "don't know." Synovate, an opinion-research firm based near Chicago, in spring 2008 collected the data; of the 4,272 people who were sent questionnaires, 46 percent responded.

Retention (20 percent in national universities and liberal arts colleges and 25 percent in master's and baccalaureate colleges). The higher the proportion of freshmen who return to campus the following year and eventually graduate, the better a school is apt to be at offering the classes and services students need to succeed. This measure has two components: six-year graduation rate (80 percent of the retention score) and freshman retention rate (20 percent). The graduation rate indicates the average proportion of a graduating class who earn a degree in six years or less; we consider freshman classes that started from 1998 through 2001. Freshman retention indicates the average proportion of freshmen entering from 2003 through 2006 who returned the following fall.

Faculty resources (20 percent). Research shows that the more satisfied students are about their contact with professors, the more they will learn and the more likely it is they will graduate. We use six factors from the 2007-08 academic year to assess a school's commitment to instruction. Class size has two components: the proportion of classes with fewer than 20 students (30 percent of the faculty resources score) and the proportion with 50 or more students (10 percent of the score). In our model, a school benefits more for having a large proportion of classes with fewer than 20 students and a small proportion of large classes. Faculty salary (35 percent) is the average faculty pay, plus benefits, during the 2006-07 and 2007-08 academic years, adjusted for regional differences in the cost of living (using indexes from the consulting firm Runzheimer International). We also weigh the proportion of professors with the highest degree in their fields (15 percent), the student-faculty ratio (5 percent), and the proportion of faculty who are full time (5 percent).

Student selectivity (15 percent). A school's academic atmosphere is determined in part by the abilities and ambitions of the student body. We therefore factor in test scores of enrollees on the Critical Reading and Math portions of the SAT or Composite ACT score (50 percent of the selectivity score); the proportion of enrolled freshmen (for all national universities and liberal arts colleges) who graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school classes or (for institutions in the universities-master's and baccalaureate colleges) the top 25 percent (40 percent); and the acceptance rate, or the ratio of students admitted to applicants (10 percent). The data are for the fall 2007 entering class. Whether the SAT or ACT was used in making these calculations was determined by which score was submitted most often at that school for fall 2007 admissions.

Financial resources (10 percent). Generous per-student spending indicates that a college can offer a wide variety of programs and services. U.S. News measures financial resources by using the average spending per student on instruction, research, student services, and related educational expenditures in the 2006 and 2007 fiscal years. Spending on sports, dorms, and hospitals doesn't count, only the part of a school's budget that goes toward educating students.

Graduation rate performance (5 percent; only in national universities and liberal arts colleges). This indicator of "added value" shows the effect of the college's programs and policies on the graduation rate of students after controlling for spending and student characteristics such as the proportion receiving Pell grants and test scores. We measure the difference between a school's six-year graduation rate for the class that entered in 2001 and the rate we predicted for the class. If the actual graduation rate is higher than the predicted rate, the college is enhancing achievement.

Alumni giving rate (5 percent). This reflects the average percentage of living alumni with bachelor's degrees who gave to their school during 2005-06 and 2006-07, which is an indirect measure of student satisfaction.

I know you've got to come up with numbers from somewhere but come on. 20% is retention! So hey, if you pass every nitwit you can find to get them back next semester, your score shoots up!

[Cider Jim]

Does LC have a Quiz Bowl or Debate team?

[flamesbball84]

Does LC have a Quiz Bowl or Debate team?

Quiz Bowl is definitely a no. Debate team maybe but probably not since I can't find out anything about it, I know they have sent groups in the pass to do debates at specific events but I don't know if it's a debate team like LU has. I know at one point in time there was an official debate team as a Chemistry Research Endowment fund was added in the 2006-07 year that was named after a former professor who was a debate team coach here at LC.

[flamesbball84]

the US News isn't the only ranking we placed in.

Also, if you are trying to grow, then why is the retention so poor? Wouldn't they want retention to be higher? I know at LC and a bunch of other schools that is costs a lot less money to keep a kid at school than it is to recruit a new one. The key to any business is building loyal customers who will be repeat purchasers (which in this case would mean coming back after the first year)...

[ATrain]

the US News isn't the only ranking we placed in.

Also, if you are trying to grow, then why is the retention so poor? Wouldn't they want retention to be higher? I know at LC and a bunch of other schools that is costs a lot less money to keep a kid at school than it is to recruit a new one. The key to any business is building loyal customers who will be repeat purchasers (which in this case would mean coming back after the first year)...

So you're saying LC passes the dumb kids just to bring them back so they keep paying?

[RubberMallet]

i wish i could defend the education i got at liberty but alas.

[flamesbball84]

the US News isn't the only ranking we placed in.

Also, if you are trying to grow, then why is the retention so poor? Wouldn't they want retention to be higher? I know at LC and a bunch of other schools that is costs a lot less money to keep a kid at school than it is to recruit a new one. The key to any business is building loyal customers who will be repeat purchasers (which in this case would mean coming back after the first year)...

So you're saying LC passes the dumb kids just to bring them back so they keep paying?

Nope, I've known several kids who didn't pan out and never were allowed back into LC...

[Hold My Own]

I said this in another thread about Knuckle...but I think it fits here as well

I refuse to e-fight with you, cause feelings to be hurt...have you leave and then come back as someone else...Ive seen it before and its just not pretty