2010 USNWR America's Best Graduate Schools

[eatsalot]

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To get back to undergrads, which is the real issue for this forum…yes, rankings can be a factor, but ONLY after they’ve already done a great deal of work. A student needs to select whether (s)he wants a big or small school, urban or rural school, single-sex or coed school, northeastern or southwestern school, etc. Once a student has a list of colleges that meet the criteria, then (and only then) should the list be narrowed down still farther based on academic criteria. (Or you could do as I did, which was to read college guides cover to cover and jot down interesting schools…time consuming but effective.) To start with rankings is to go about the process completely backwards and is, I think, shockingly lazy. At the undergraduate level, Columbia and Williams both have absolutely wonderful art history programs, but they could not be any more different, and it’s quite likely that a student thriving at one would despise the other.

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<p>Completely agreed.</p>