Carleton students receive excellent mental health services, high quality residential living, and are pleased with the steps taken by the university to prevent sexual assault.
That’s according to the student feedback found in this year’s edition of Maclean’s annual university rankings, published ahead of the next crop of post-secondary students beginning to apply for university and college admissions later this fall.
Citing the all-time highest admissions grade average of 84.1 per cent, Maclean’s said Carleton students were “very pleased” with their university experience, especially in terms of student services.
Among Canada’s comprehensive universities—those having a significant focus on research, and professional programs offered at the undergraduate and graduate levels—Carleton received a top 5 ranking out of 15 schools.
In terms of overall rankings, Maclean’s placed Carleton 24th on the list of Canada’s 49 large-size universities, a small decline from the school’s 23rd place on the list last year.
Carleton’s computer science, engineering and mathematics programs ranked in the top 10.
Maclean’s calculated its rankings based on feedback from students (accounting for 28 per cent of the score), faculty calibre (24 per cent), resources allocated towards programs (20 per cent), reputation (15 percent), and student support offered (13 per cent).
While rankings like these don’t necessarily affect university funding, they remain integral to important decisions made around admissions season, said Carleton public affairs manager Beth Gorham.
“They are one tool that prospective students and their parents use to evaluate their choices for post-secondary education,” Gorham told the Charlatan.
For fourth-year student Anyaeleh Aryee, however, rankings like these don’t represent the views of a university’s entire student body.
“We have super high tuition,” said Aryee. Services at Carleton “are there, and they promote it. But I feel like could be better.”
Carleton president Benoit-Antoine Bacon said Maclean’s rankings are show the school’s momentum “to improve in both student satisfaction and research.”
“The future is bright for Carleton,” Bacon said in a statement.
Feature image from file.
