Postby Oklahoma Mike » Wed Oct 24, 2007 2:05 pm
I have looked at Chapman specifically. While their reputation may in fact be getting better, and while they may in fact be a much better school than their reputation scores indicate- they are well below the 4th tier average. They fall right in the middle for peer reputation score and they are tied for third worst with Texas Wesleyan and Appalachian.
Of course they are doing things to improve their ranking, but so are other schools. My big question is who they would displace. The schools floating at the top of third tier and bottom of second are all fighting hard to be in the top 100.
If they raised their employment rate from the high 80s to the high 90s AND increased their UGPA and their expenditure per student they could bump up to third tier without a huge difference in reputation scores (they would have about the same numbers as Florida international) The challenge with raising their UGPA or their median LSAT is that they already give scholarships to a third of students with the average aid being about 15 grand.
If they do all those things short term to move to tier three and then the reputation scores take a few years to catch up with the improvements it probably still wouldn't be enough to bump up to the top 100 within a decade. They would have to move from a 1.6 in both categories to an average over 2.5 The only school in the top hundred with reputation scores below that is Pacific, and their reputation has been improving as well so it is unlikely their scores will remain that low. Even if they are bumped out of the top 100, you've got Syracuse, Albany, Howard, Arkansas, Mississippi, Michigan State, Vermont, Gonzaga and others that are all just shy of being top 100. Some of them may not be working to crack the top 100, but I'm betting most are.
While it is certainly possible for Chapman to crack the top 100 in the next decade, it doesn't seem likely as there is a lot of competition doing the same things to move up that Chapman is doing, but they are starting from a better position.