<p>No penalty for the Emory for its numbers debacle?</p>
<p>And will Wake Forest maintain its head-scratcher of a slot?</p>
<p>Emory’s misreported data didn’t affect it’s overall rank once Morse recalculated it with the “correct” stats (I put correct in quotes since most highly ranked colleges fudge the numbers).</p>
<p>For other reasons, Emory’s PA might slightly decrease, but that barely means anything. It’s still a good school that can offer even the brightest students an outstanding education.</p>
<p>Exactly. Which can be said of ANY school in the top 30/ 50. So why the obsessive parsing of the USNWR rankings every year if this is true and when little things like misreporting scores “barely means anything”? </p>
<p>And how does one know most of the top schools “fudge” their numbers?</p>
<p>Solipsism alive and kicking on CC.</p>
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</p>
<p>I couldn’t have said this any better myself.</p>
<p>re-JuniorMint</p>
<p>“This year, I expect Michigan to form a four-way tie with them, each make it for this year’s top 25.”</p>
<p>should be </p>
<p>This year, I hope Michigan to form a four-way tie with them, each make it for this year’s top 25. </p>
<p>Both Michigan and UNC were frequent visitors on the USnews top 25 lists for the 80s and 90s. With their recent efforts spending in improving their student selectivity and quality of teaching, which is not so easy for any public institute, I am impressed and would love to see them resume their previous glories at top 25.</p>
<p>That is what happened to UCLA for the past three years.</p>
<p>modelingliao, Michigan did not drop in the rankings as a result of selectivity. Michigan’s drop out of the top 25 was merely a result of the fact that when you plug in the data submitted by each university, at least 25 others did better on the USNWR formula. Whether or not the data is accurate or relevant, or whether the methodology accurately depicts institutional quality is up for debate, but selectivity on its own did not drop Michigan out of the top 25 and will not restore it back to the top 25.</p>
<p>Based on current USnews formula, with their recent efforts spending in improving their student selectivity and quality of teaching, UCLA made it back to the top 25 for the past three years. So can Michigan and UNC do it.</p>
<p>I can see Vanderbilt rising to about 13 considering their decreasing acceptance rate and increasing SAT scores, these two factors (based on US News’ formula) should be critical</p>
<p>Yes, but the data lags a year behind. It’s also a rising tide since other schools have seen increased selectivity as well. </p>
<p>I think Vanderbilt’s PA could be higher for a school ranked about #13. JHU and NU, for example, are reputation powerhouses. (Although WUStL is a counter-example.)</p>
<p>And thank you, modelingliao, for explaining your prediction. Michigan is an excellent school, at least as good as UCLA, but as Alex points out, the current methodology doesn’t augur a top 25 spot for Michigan. </p>
<p>If you mean based on pure reputation, as in the old USN, then Michigan is safely in the top 25.</p>
<p>Btw, does anyone know when the rankings are released?</p>
<p>It looks like they came out on 9/11 last year.</p>
<p>New rankings out Sept. 10th!</p>
<p>[Best</a> Colleges 2014 Rankings Coming Soon](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/college-rankings-blog/2013/08/15/best-colleges-2014-rankings-coming-soon]Best”>http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/college-rankings-blog/2013/08/15/best-colleges-2014-rankings-coming-soon)</p>
<p>How much does the number of applications and admit rate help? UCLA received a record # of apps, curious to see the impact. [10</a> Colleges That Get the Most Applications - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/the-short-list-college/articles/2013/01/08/10-colleges-that-get-the-most-applications]10”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/the-short-list-college/articles/2013/01/08/10-colleges-that-get-the-most-applications)</p>
<p>Well spotted, SMC! Thanks for linking the announcement. </p>
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</p>
<p>I could be wrong, but I think increasing applications only helps by decreasing the acceptance rate and, in that respect, increasing UCLA’s selectivity index. Selectivity itself is only 15% of the criteria. [USN</a> Methodology](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2012/09/11/methodology-undergraduate-ranking-criteria-and-weights-2]USN”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2012/09/11/methodology-undergraduate-ranking-criteria-and-weights-2).</p>
<p>You might recall that UCLA has a slightly lower acceptance rate than Berkeley now, but the edge is slight. Last year’s data was in Berkeley’s favor. UCLA’s 25th percentile isn’t very compelling and I doubt its selectivity index is going to be better than Berkeley’s for another two or three years.</p>
<p>This year selectivity has dropped in importance so that may actually help UCLA. </p>
<p>If we’re really talking about the quality of undergraduate education shouldn’t we be focusing on the National Liberal Arts Colleges - where the best undergraduate educations are found?</p>
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<p>Says who?</p>
<p>There are plenty of Unis that are highly rated for undergraduate teaching…and quite frankly, LACs can have extremely limited curricular offerings, particularly upper division classes; thus, the “best undergraduate education” is a personal preference and personal interest/need.</p>
<p>But if you look at all the Universities rated “best undergraduate teaching,” they’re mostly schools that are very LAC-like, small in size while wide in scope (i.e Princeton, Dartmouth).</p>
<p>Not really Jwest. As the ranking below suggests, several universities on the list are heavy-duty research universities, like Cal, Michigan, Stanford and UNC.</p>
<ol>
<li>Dartmouth College</li>
<li>Princeton University</li>
<li>Miami University of Ohio</li>
<li>Brown University</li>
<li>Yale University</li>
<li>College of William and Mary</li>
<li>University of Michigan-Ann Arbor</li>
<li>Duke University </li>
<li>University of California-Berkeley</li>
<li>University of Chicago</li>
<li>University of Maryland-Baltimore County</li>
<li>University of Notre Dame</li>
<li>University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill</li>
<li>Wake Forest University</li>
<li>Stanford University</li>
</ol>
<p>I am surprised the rankings didnt leak out sooner this year. LOL. Normally they leak. This year not. Guess we have to wait until tomorrow.</p>
<p>^ Actually, they usually go live on the US News site shortly before midnight the night before, so probably around 11PM EDT or so tonight.</p>
<p>And as of this morning, in addition to the top 10 LACs, we also know what the top 25 national universities (in alphabetical order) will be:</p>
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</p>
<p>[2014</a> Best Colleges Preview: Top 25 National Universities - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2013/09/09/2014-best-colleges-preview-top-25-national-universities]2014”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2013/09/09/2014-best-colleges-preview-top-25-national-universities)</p>