President Sorensen mapped out his vision for the University's next five years in a Feb. 23 Board of Trustees presentation that targeted each of USC's major operations and compared the University with other Top 50 public universities.

Sorensen's presentation included current and future snapshots of student enrollment, budgeting, research, fund raising, and academic ranking. If those goals come to fruition, the University of 2009-10 would look like this:

• a freshman class of 3,975 students (about 3,600 are expected for this fall) with SAT averages of 1100 in the 25^th percentile to 1300 in the 75^th percentile (about 50 points higher in each category than the current class)
• a 90 percent retention rate from freshman to sophomore year (currently 83 percent)
• a six-year graduation rate of 70 percent (currently 64 percent)
• a student to professor ratio of 14:1 (currently 16:1)
• $266 million in sponsored awards and research (was $166 million in fiscal year 2005)
• an alumni giving participation rate of 26 percent (currently 22 percent)
• the law school would be ranked No. 70 (currently No. 90); the Moore School of Business rankings would climb to No. 32 for undergraduate (currently No. 40) and to No. 55 for graduate (currently No. 68).

USC is currently ranked No. 52 among all public universities, but a close comparison with five more highly ranked universities reveals that USC surpasses most of those institutions in several benchmarks. Provost Mark Becker selected five flagship public universities--Iowa (No. 21), Indiana (No. 30), Colorado (No. 34), Arizona (No. 45), and Kansas (tied No. 45)--in states with similar population sizes to South Carolina. Like USC, each of those five institutions is in a state that also has a land-grant institution.

"This was not cherry picking--we consider these to be peer or peer aspirant institutions," Becker said.

Examining such criteria as SAT averages, retention rates, graduation rates, and class sizes, "we compare quite favorably," Sorensen said, "but our ranking is not as high. My hope is that in next year's [U.S. News & World Report] rankings, we'll be No. 50 or better. But there is a lag in perceptions."

3/06