2012 U.S. News Undergrad Rankings, Predictions?

<p>Just for fun.</p>

<h1>1 Harvard University</h1>

<h1>1 Yale University</h1>

<h1>3 Princeton University</h1>

<h1>4 Stanford University</h1>

<h1>5 Columbia University</h1>

<h1>6 Massachusetts Institute of Technology</h1>

<h1>7 University of Pennsylvania</h1>

<h1>8 California Institute of Technology</h1>

<h1>9 Dartmouth College</h1>

<h1>9 Duke University</h1>

<h1>11 Brown University</h1>

<h1>12 Northwestern University</h1>

<h1>13 University of Chicago</h1>

<h1>14 Johns Hopkins University</h1>

<h1>15 Cornell University</h1>

<h1>16 Washington University in St. Louis</h1>

<h1>17 University of Notre Dame</h1>

<h1>18 Georgetown University</h1>

<h1>18 Rice University</h1>

<h1>20 University of California--Berkeley</h1>

<h1>21 University of Southern California</h1>

<h1>22 Emory University</h1>

<h1>22 Vanderbilt University</h1>

<h1>24 University of California--Los Angeles</h1>

<h1>24 University of Michigan--Ann Arbor</h1>

<h1>26 Carnegie Mellon University</h1>

<h1>27 University of Virginia</h1>

<h1>28 Wake Forest University</h1>

<h1>29 Tufts University</h1>

<h1>30 University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill</h1>

<h1>31 Boston College</h1>

<h1>32 New York University</h1>

<h1>33 College of William and Mary</h1>

<h1>34 Brandeis University</h1>

<h1>35 Georgia Institute of Technology</h1>

<h1>35 University of California--San Diego</h1>

<h1>37 Lehigh University</h1>

<h1>37 University of Rochester</h1>

<h1>39 University of California--Davis</h1>

<h1>39 University of California--Santa Barbara</h1>

<h1>41 Case Western Reserve University</h1>

<h1>41 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute</h1>

<h1>41 University of California--Irvine</h1>

<h1>41 University of Washington</h1>

<h1>45 University of Texas--Austin</h1>

<h1>45 University of Wisconsin--Madison</h1>

<h1>47 Pennsylvania State University--University Park</h1>

<h1>47 University of Illinois--Urbana-Champaign</h1>

<h1>47 University of Miami</h1>

<p>(Didn't change much after #33.)</p>

<p>Really? No one else?</p>

<p>meh us news is such a stupid source of ranking… I don’t even know why it is the most famous…</p>

<p>I doubt USC will surpass UCLA.</p>

<p>@Stevenf</p>

<p>It already has, check the 2011 rankings (USC #23, UCLA #25).</p>

<p>This looks more like your ranking preferences based somewhat on U.S. News rather than an actual attempt at prediction. How is Columbia going to be passed by Stanford when they received over 40% more applications as a result of switching to the Common App? How is Chicago going to go from 9th to 13th when their acceptance rate has plummeted in recent years? The current data for the 2011 rankings has Chicago’s acceptance rate at 27% - that’s gone down to 15% the last few years.</p>

<p>^ perhaps.</p>

<p>These threads just end up being people ranking schools based on which they like better, with slight lip service to US News patterns.</p>

<p>Unless you anticipate a formula change, figure out the new formula, and run all the schools through it, it won’t match up.</p>

<p>But US News is just a money maker, the rankings don’t really mean anything.</p>

<p>^ I recognize that fact, but it’s still amusing to read.</p>

<p>I doubt that CMU will fall 3 notches.</p>

<p>Stanford will be #1.</p>

<p>Vanderbilt - Admitted class:</p>

<p>Middle 50% SAT (CR + M): 1440-1590
Middle 50% ACT: 32-35
Percent of students in the top ten percent of their graduating class: 93.69%*
Average rank in class (% from the top): 3.48%*
Overall admit rate (as of mailing day): 15.45%</p>

<p>You really think Vandy will drop by five notches?</p>

<p>Acceptance rates aren’t a huge factor. Brown has really low acceptance rates now, but it has dropped for the past few years.</p>

<p>Obviously biased but I doubt Vandy falls 5 spots</p>

<p>I agree with ChicagoBears. I have a strong feeling that Vanderbilt will actually move up in ranking and surpass Rice and other universities as well.</p>

<p>rankings are pointless</p>

<p>When are the 2012 rankings released anyway?</p>

<p>Yeah, the people who usually comment here are novices who know nothing about US News.</p>

<p>I only have four bold predictions, and they’re founded well on statistics.</p>

<ol>
<li>Chicago will rise at least 1 spot to #8, but likely will rise further to #6 or #7.
Reasoning: In the year in question, </li>
<li>The acceptance rate (15%*10%=1.5% of the total ranking) fell from 27% to 18%. </li>
<li>The % of students in the top 10% of their high school class (15%*40%=6% of the total ranking) rose from 85% to 89%. </li>
<li>SAT CR+M (7.5% of total) rose by 30 points.</li>
<li>Professor pay (7% of total) rose more than any other university last year, except for Stanford.<br></li>
<li>High school counselor ranking (7.5% of total) cannot go any further down at 4.5/5.0, and will almost certainly rise to 4.6 or higher this year, especially since Nondorf has had time to perform his magic with counselor relations.</li>
<li>Graduation rate (27.5%) cannot go any lower at 91% and likely rose to 92% or 93%.</li>
</ol>

<p>All of these are indicators that Chicago will do great in this year’s rankings. Not only are the rises significant, they’re significantly better than Chicago’s peers’ rises. </p>

<ol>
<li>Caltech will go the opposite direction, down to #8 at the highest, perhaps lower.</li>
<li>Professor pay (7%) went down when peers’ salaries are going up.</li>
<li>SATs (7.5%) went down when peers’ SATs are going up.</li>
<li>6-year graduation rate (27%) doesn’t seem to be performing, despite its abysmal 89% grad rate. This is despite the fact that its US News peers are improving in that regard, esp. MIT and Chicago.</li>
</ol>

<p>Ultimately, Caltech’s problem is that it’s been stagnant whereas its peers have been improving.</p>

<ol>
<li>Columbia will stay put at #4.</li>
<li><p>Columbia’s SATs rose this year quite a bit. This will be enough to keep distance between itself and Stanford/Penn.</p></li>
<li><p>Stanford will break its tie with Penn.</p></li>
<li><p>As I mentioned, Stanford was #1 with regard to pay increase for its faculty. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>My predictions for the top 10:

  1. Harvard
  2. Princeton
  3. Yale
  4. Columbia
  5. Stanford
  6. Penn
  7. MIT
  8. Chicago
  9. Caltech
  10. Dartmouth</p>

<p>For LAC rankings, anyone willing to predict whether Williams or Amherst will take top billing? Amherst is more selective, but Williams has come out on top before.</p>

<p>@LegalShark: Those Vanderbilt stats don’t show much about the entering class… key word – ACCEPTED student stats. Notice how Vanderbilt’s yield is only 40 percent. </p>

<p>All of those stats are significantly lowered for the ENTERING student profile:
SAT Critical Reading 670 - 760
SAT Math 690 - 770 (so instead of 1440-1590, it would be 1360-1530)
SAT Writing 660 - 750</p>

<p>ACT Composite 30 - 34 (instead of 32-35)</p>

<p>And, most significantly – Percent in top tenth of HS graduating class 84.6 (not 93.7)</p>

<p>Vanderbilt it not as selective as it seems… though, it is still an excellent school.</p>