The UA squeezed itself into the 2002 U.S. News and World Report "Top 50 public doctoral universities" last week, coming in at No. 50.

And although the UA fell 11 spots from last year, the numbers should not be alarming nor should they deter prospective students. Many of the criteria used to manifest the report mask many UA highlights.

Hidden behind the crude general ranking are exceptional departments that are outstanding within their peer programs.

U.S. News and World Report threw UA a 50, but at the same time it has also ranked the UA graduate programs of hydrogeology first (1999), business management information system fourth (2001), social psychology fifth (2001), anthropology sixth (2002), analytical chemistry sixth (2002), pharmacy seventh (2001), Latin American history 10th (2001) and teacher education 14th (2001). And these are only the tip of the excellence iceberg.

While the report admittedly spotlights aspects of the university that could use improvements, including student/faculty ratios and professor salary, the specific report measures should not paint the UA a mediocre gray in comparison to the some of the nation's better-ranked public institutions.

For example, the UA only has a 77 percent freshman retention rate, which is far below that of the University of California at Berkeley or the University of Michigan. But political science department head William Mishler points out that the magazine's ranking is biased toward rewarding more exclusive admission standards and penalizing universities that choose to take risks with students who come from marginal backgrounds.

It should be recognized that the U.S. News and World report makes too much out of much too little with its general university rankings. The No. 50 simply cannot describe the experience that the students, faculty and staff enjoy at the UA.

Rather than fretting over the rankings drop, students and faculty should use it as an opportunity to reflect on the university's strong points and focus on areas that still need improvement.