Since last year, the University rose from 184 to 181 in the U.S. News and World Report’s annual ranking of national universities.

The University has also moved from 103 to 101 in the rankings of public universities.

The list compares schools based on factors such as high school counselor rating, retention and graduation rates and cost.

The University has made efforts to improve, but not for the purpose of gaining a higher ranking, said Rodney Rogers, provost and senior vice president of Academic Affairs.

“What we’re most focused on is ensuring that we’re providing a quality education for our students and that each year we get better and better,” Rogers said.

Rogers attributes the University’s jump on the list to a variety of factors, including higher selectivity of incoming freshman and an improvement in faculty resource ratings. These take into consideration ACT scores and high school class rankings of freshmen, faculty compensation and class size.

“What we’re wanting to do is to make sure that we are bringing in students that we know can be successful here at Bowling Green and will strive here at Bowling Green,” he said. “We continue to do very well with our six year graduation rate relative to our predicted graduation rate and that continues to be a strong point for Bowling Green.”

Vice Provost of Academic Affairs Sue Houston echoed a similar statement about the University’s priorities.

“Fundamentally, what it’s trying to do is really look at the good qualities of universities, so I think that most universities, and certainly BGSU, want to focus on student success,” she said. “And those are also the things that are valued in this U.S News and World Report ranking.”

However, Houston recognizes some problems in the report.

“There are certainly some shortcomings to the rankings as well, and a lot of it is self reported data,” she said.

While Rogers and Houston said that the University’s main concern is not in outside rankings, they recognize what impact they can have on admissions.

“It is certainly something that we use in our recruitment material and we talk to parents and students about it,” Houston said.

University sophomore Taylor Maibach has noticed the more obvious, positive changes around the University.

“[McDonald Hall] is a lot newer, which is where I live so it’s nice,” he said.

Maibach’s main focus, though, when choosing to attend the University, was on his intended major.

“I didn’t even look at rankings, I just came because of the aviation program,” he said.