The College of Business and Administration has added another award to SIUC’s list this semester.

In September of this year, The Princeton Review named SIUC as one of 163 “Best Midwestern Colleges” and as one of “America’s Best Value Colleges” for 2007. It was also announced as having moved to the third tier of the U.S. News and World Report rankings.

In October, The Princeton Review again tapped SIUC by honoring its business college as one of the nation’s “Best 282 Business Schools” for 2007.

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Numbers such as 163 and 282 may impress some people, but J. Dennis Cradit, dean of the college, is not impressed.

“I don’t want to downplay us, but to some extent, I’m not particularly happy. While I am pleased that we are ranked among 282, I am by no means satisfied,” Cradit said.

The Masters in Business Administration (MBA) program is getting all of the college’s attention and praise. SIUC attracts students from throughout the world for the MBA program who aspire to become tomorrow’s business leaders.

Lisa Bentley, a graduate student from Schaumburg in the MBA program, said the program has offered her a lot of choices after she graduated with a bachelor’s degree.

“Carbondale is not the place you want to be for eight years, but because of the MBA program, I decided to stay here and further my career with SIU,” Bentley said.

Cradit said some assets of The Princeton Review are that it includes student comments and the ranking is based upon the student reviews. This year, COBA enrolled 140 students in the graduate programs and approximately 1,500 undergraduate students.

“The student comments on The Princeton Review is clearly applauding the professors who teach the class and the manner in which the classes are taught,” Cradit said.

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Another attraction to the college is the Master of Accountancy program.

Mike Johnson, a senior from Peoria studying accounting, said the school should be proud of its accomplishments.

“I have had thoughts about attending graduate school, but with all of the great job connections that I have through COBA, I may go straight into a job after this,” Johnson said. “The school should be proud of its ability to connect people with jobs, even without a master’s.”

Although Johnson’s words may be true, Cradit said the college has a lot of work to do because of The Princeton Review’s ranking.

“Higher rankings do not produce genuine value,” Cradit said. “That’s the tail wagging the dog.”

Aerial McCall can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 263 or [email protected].