I found the Carnegie Classification System very interesting. Despite working in higher education, I had never heard of it previously, and we typically used terms such as “four-year institutions” and “community college” to refer to programs without breaking down the distinctions even further. ODU falls under a few categories. We are described as “four-year, large, primarily nonresidential” as well as doctoral with “high research activity.” Another listed category is “high undergraduate” which refers to our large population of students pursuing bachelor degrees.
I believe this system is effective for getting into the weeds of a program, but I think it is too complex for the average user. The only time I can think of that an institution would use such specific distinctions is when when it plans to apply for outside funding or during accreditation, but these distinctions may be more confusing than helpful for prospective students and parents.
I’m curious how useful these categories are. I took the liberty of looking up a few institutions, and even colleges and universities without the best reputations have distinctions similar to ODU for areas such as “research doctoral.” I’m curious if a rating system would be more effective because I’m not sure how useful these would be for determining a school’s status without using additional information.
