Peer institutions

The Eagle reports

The American Council of Trustees and Alumni rated course offerings for 100 colleges, and Texas A&M was one of only seven to earn an "A."

The council based its rankings on how many of the institutions had general education requirements that include composition, literature, foreign language, U.S. government or history, economics, mathematics and science.

Texas A&M was among seven institutions that included six of those categories in its general requirements. None of the 100 schools required courses in all seven general education categories. Texas A&M requires study in all of the covered areas except economics. Just two universities in the sampling -- the University of Alaska-Fairbanks and West Point -- require economics.

Along with Texas A&M, the group's highest ranking went to Baylor, West Point, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Arkansas, City University of New York-Hunter College and City University of New York-Brooklyn College.

Like Vision 2020, Vision 1920 is about making A&M a top 10 pubic university. We just plan to do it by use different criteria. BTHO Baylor! BTHO Arkansas! Whoop!

There are always critics, of course:

Critics of the ACTA review, however, said the group's methodology and criteria were inadequate.

"They have basically just looked at the course catalogs of 100 colleges, and that's it," Debra Humphreys, vice president for communications and public affairs at the Association of American Colleges and Universities, told the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Others might note that universities above us in other rankings expect students to have had this stuff in high school.