Despite Boston University receiving a “C” in What Will They Learn’s rankings of core requirements, a number of students and officials said the review does not accurately reflect the quality of BU’s education.
The website, WhatWillTheyLearn.com, graded colleges by the number of core subjects they required students to take. An “A” was awarded to schools with six to seven mandated subjects, a “B” to those with four to five, a “C” to those with three, a “D” to those with 2 and an “F” to those with one or none, according to the site.
“Requirements are not necessarily meaningful, but who knows what’s meaningful?” said BU Writing Program lecturer Karen Pepper. “It’s simply one criteria out of a zillion.”
The American Council of Trustees and Alumni launched the site to examine requirement satisfaction at colleges and universities across the country.
“Students are graduating with great gaps in their knowledge — and employers are noticing,” the site stated.
The site lists BU as having requirements in only English composition, foreign languages and science.
However, BU mathematics professor Glen Hall said this information is misleading.
“[College of Arts and Sciences] does have a mathematics requirement that must be met by all students,” he said in an email interview. “Most students satisfy this by SAT score. We should certainly not be penalized for recruiting good students.”
Hall said the makers of the website do not properly take computer sciences into account.
“It is rather quaint that the writers of the web page do not consider computer science a mathematical subject — it is certainly one of the mathematical sciences,” he said.
BU biology professor John Finnerty said the website’s rankings are at odds with more popular and accurate rankings.
“This is a ranking scheme that rewards curricular rigidity over breadth and the opportunity for genuine scholarship,” Finnerty said in an email. “It is telling that this ranking scheme is so clearly at odds with better known, more thorough and more reputable college ranking schemes.”
He said BU’s requirement flexability is a strength, not a flaw.
“Whereas this ranking scheme considers U.S. History a ‘core’ requirement, a BU student could satisfy their social sciences divisional studies requirement with a course in world history, international relations, anthropology [or] sociology,” Finnerty said.
He said the website assumes certain subjects are objectively more important than others. While U.S. history is important, he said, it is not necessarily more important than other social sciences.”
“Indeed, there are aspects of U.S. History that can only be understood in light of world history, international relations, anthropology or sociology,” Finnerty said.
Finnerty said the rankings do not properly credit level of education.
“Another important strength of BU overlooked in this flawed ranking scheme is that the instructors of our courses are likely to be internationally recognized scholars in the same topical area in which they teach,” he said. “BU undergraduates have ample opportunities to perform independent research for credit under the direction of faculty mentors.”
Students said they do not see a “C” grade as accurate.
“I don’t see how that grade does justice at all, said CAS sophomore Ayesha Malik. “Only students who go here know what BU is really worth.”
Malik said it is unfair to rate BU as a whole when the departments differ by great margins.
“I have friends in various schools and classes,” she said. “Within each school we have different programs that alter in degree of rigor.”
Omar Yassin, a CAS and School of Management junior, said requirements are not always helpful for students with an established academic plan.
“Requirements help those who are undecided to give them a wide perspective of what their possibilities are,” he said. “However, they can be burdensome if you know what you’re going into.”
Tony Sim, a College of Engineering freshman, said BU’s diversity and staff are more helpful to students than requirements graded on the site.
“Our college is more diverse, which helps us focus for later years,” he said. “The professors know what they’re doing, so it makes the transition a bit easier.”
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