In the last decade, Stevenson has almost doubled its full-time enrollment to 2,700, going from a largely commuter school to one with 1,500 students living on campus and expanded its recruiting up and down the East Coast.
"As a school that has been evolving, it does matter to us to be on these lists," said Stevenson President Kevin J. Manning. "I believe that students and parents do look at them. It's a validation for us."
Among other Maryland schools, the Johns Hopkins University moved up one spot to No. 14 in the magazine's ranking of national universities. The University of Maryland, College Park held steady at No. 53 on the same list and ranked No. 18 among public universities.
Harvard and Princeton tied for the top spot in the widely criticized yet widely quoted rankings. Yale finished at No. 3.
Loyola also ranked No. 3 in the North region among master's universities. Towson University finished No. 43 on the same list.
The U.S. Naval Academy ranked No. 19, up three slots, among liberal arts colleges. St. Mary's College of Maryland ranked No. 92 and Goucher College ranked No. 105 on the liberal arts list.
Among historically black colleges, Morgan State University ranked No. 15 and the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore finished No. 31.
Though many administrators express ambivalence about the rankings, Hrabowski and UMBC students sounded ecstatic for the recognition.
Scott Gautney, a junior from Thurmont, recalled how professors reached out to encourage his research. The linguistics major will spend this fall in France, studying cultural differences in the ways men talk about sexuality.
"It's really unique that professors would seek out a student, not just as a research assistant but to encourage me to do my own research," Gautney said. "That's actually one of the things that's most impressive when you compare UMBC to other places."
The up-and-coming designation might catch the eyes of high school seniors who would otherwise take UMBC for granted, Dix said.
She would know. As a senior, she applied to larger state schools and treated UMBC as one of her safeties, an afterthought really. "I overlooked it," she said. "It was like, 'Oh, it's just in Catonsville. It can't be that special.' But then I got on campus and I was just so impressed."
Hrabowski loves to promote UMBC's two undergraduate journals, its academically themed residence halls, and the opportunities the university affords to work with elite researchers and to intern for leading employers.
That's not just brochure talk, said Dix, a double major in American studies and political science. When she arrived, she found faculty and students striving to forge an identity for a school that had just celebrated its 40th birthday.
"It struck me as a terribly romantic idea," she said. "Now, I tell people, 'You're going to regret not choosing UMBC when it joins the Ivies some day.' "
U.S. News' top five up-and-coming colleges
1. University of Maryland, Baltimore County
2. George Mason University in Virginia
2. Northeastern University in Massachusetts
4. Drexel University in Pennsylvania
5. Arizona State University
