Letter to chancellor of Syracuse University.

If I wrote a letter to the chancellor of Syracuse University, it would go something like this:

Dear Nancy Cantor,

     As a Syracuse University undergraduate freshman, I am concerned. Prior to coming to the university, I knew Syracuse University had a great academic reputation. It's great that SU had a great academic reputation, but the problem is it "had", meaning it may not be the case today.

     In fact, Syracuse University has fallen in terms of rankings in the U.S. News and World Report. Hearing that SU was ranked in the high 40s in the late 1990s and now ranked number 62 concerns me. Furthermore, the university has dropped out from the Association of American Universities (AAU) this year knowing that it was going to be forced out. News about the declining ranking of Syracuse University not only concerns me, but more importantly, potential undergraduates and graduates. What can explain this change in ranking? Well, from the 2007-2011 academic years, administrative costs have increased by 22.3 million. Meanwhile, costs for academics have only increased by 5.7 million. As great as it is to help revitalize the city, our main focus should be the education being given. For my entire freshmen academic year, my parents have to pay around $36,000 for me to attend Syracuse University. Meanwhile, if I went to a SUNY college, I would pay around $20,000.  The fact is, the main focus of students is their academics, not revitalizing the city. As great as the city may be, it is worthless if students do not get the education they expected. The education being given at Syracuse University affects not only current students, but also alumni.

     I'm not saying that the quality of education at Syracuse University is bad; what I am trying to say is that the education at Syracuse University could be better. We should start improving our rankings in the U.S. News and World Report and the AAU because it will essentially attract more students in the top ranking of their secondary schools to attend SU. To improve SU rankings, we could start with making admissions more selective, which include admitting students with higher SAT scores and averages. Since the Ivy League schools are so selective, students strive to attend those schools. If a school is not selective, students are less attracted to it because they believe anyone can get into that school and it's not much of an accomplishment by attending that school. In fact, I was one of those students. Since I was rejected from Stony Brook and Binghamton University, I wasn’t left with too many choices. I was stuck between Syracuse University and Fordham University. I ended up choosing Syracuse University because it was ranked slightly higher and I would be able to explore other places such as the city of Syracuse instead of staying in New York City.

     Despite the fact that this year's admission acceptance rate is dropping back down to 50 percent, I believe it is not enough. Since Ivy League schools have a low acceptance rate of about 10 percent, I think SU should have a 40 percent acceptance rate, similar to Stony Brook University. Along with a more selective criteria and lower acceptance rate, SU should spend more money on the academics. With academics being notable and selective admissions criteria, Syracuse University would be higher in rankings in no time. I hope you will consider my thoughts into your decisions.

Sincerely,
Angela Tong (Class of 2015)