Portland State: U.S. News Giveth, Then Taketh Away

  • By Paul McCloskey
  • 04/10/07
When U.S. News and World Report announced its annual college rankings recently, Portland State University was on the list as one of the top-10 electrical engineering schools in the United States. Students and faculty were ecstatic, for a couple of days anyway. That's the length of time it took for the magazine to realize that a computer glitch had incorrectly ranked the Portland State program in the top 10 instead of 126th, its actual rank.

U.S. News caught the mistake, according to U.S News officials, when the University of Texas at Austin called to report its ranking (No. 10) had been incorrectly replaced by the University of Texas at Arlington. PSU, it turns out, had taken Carnegie Mellon's spot at No. 9.

Such errors occur "very infrequently," a U.S. News official said. "We're deeply sorry for this."

Read More:

About the Author

Paul McCloskey is contributing editor of Syllabus.

Featured

  • open laptop in a college classroom with holographic AI icons like a brain and data charts rising from the screen

    4 Ways Universities Are Using Google AI Tools for Learning and Administration

    In a recent blog post, Google shared an array of education customer stories, showcasing ways institutions are using AI tools like Gemini and NotebookLM to transform both learning and administrative tasks.

  • illustration of a human head with a glowing neural network in the brain, connected to tech icons on a cool blue-gray background

    Meta Launches Stand-Alone AI App

    Meta Platforms has introduced a stand-alone artificial intelligence app built on its proprietary Llama 4 model, intensifying the competitive race in generative AI alongside OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and xAI.

  • three main icons—a cloud, a user profile, and a padlock—connected by circuit lines on a blue abstract background

    Report: Identity Has Become a Critical Security Perimeter for Cloud Services

    A new threat landscape report points to new cloud vulnerabilities. According to the 2025 Global Threat Landscape Report from Fortinet, while misconfigured cloud storage buckets were once a prime vector for cybersecurity exploits, other cloud missteps are gaining focus.

  • Stylized illustration showing cybersecurity elements like shields, padlocks, and secure cloud icons on a neutral, minimalist digital background

    Microsoft Announces Security Advancements

    Microsoft has announced major security advancements across its product portfolio and practices. The work is part of its Secure Future Initiative (SFI), a multiyear cybersecurity transformation the company calls the largest engineering project in company history.