The minute I stepped on Syracuse’s campus junior year of high school, I told my mom this is the place where I needed to be. I loved the school’s atmosphere, the education I would receive and the reputation of the university. The reputation — it meant something to me. Once I was accepted in December, whenever someone asked where I would attend college in the fall, I proudly said Syracuse University; they smiled and congratulated me, for this school has a reputation that has the ability to take its graduates anywhere and everywhere.

After being a student here for only a few months, news started to buzz that the school had plans to move from the Big East conference to the Atlantic Coast Conference and as a sports fan, I was initially livid. But then I thought about why I am really attending this university. I am here for my education, and a very good one at that. When the move was solidified in late September/early October, sources concluded the change in conferences might revive the recently declining SU rankings.

Currently, according to U.S. News and World Report, the university holds a national ranking of No. 62, which is below the ranking the school held in 2005 — No. 52 — and well below the 40s, where SU ranked in the 1990s. The academic slip appears to have caused the school to look into other conferences for stimulation in reputation and value. Many hope the move will bring about a new scholastic surge for the upcoming applicant pools.

In joining the ACC, the university hopes to relay the message that the school is deserving of the best students who can excel academically. SU hopes the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications’ and Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs’ nationally ranked programs remain the most competitive. Moving to the ACC may allow other schools and colleges in the university’s umbrella of education to succeed as well.

Reputation is not the only thing that brought me to SU. It was the love and pride that every student and alumnus I talked to had toward the university. It was Chancellor Nancy Cantor’s mission to make sure the students succeeded by any means. It was the feeling I got when I stepped on campus, and I could sense that the people around me had the drive to become something beyond than the limitations that had been placed upon them. The move to the ACC will not only make a difference in the academic reputation the school carries, but will also make a difference in the quality and quantity of innovators that will go forth and change the world.

Lauren Porter

Syracuse University Class of 2015

Published on October 26, 2011 at 12:00 pm