2015 USNWR predictions

College Confidential Community
41

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<p><em>hears the voices in the room slowly quiet down to a silence, all eyes turned towards you, with stern facial expressions…</em></p>

42

<p>why is everyone thinking usc will decline? It’s only been going up no?</p>

43

<p>Stanford and Duke are perhaps the best overall schools considering weather, academics, athletics, and school spirit.</p>

44

<p>That is correct. For the first half of the 1900’s Columbia and Chicago generally alternated at #1, and Harvard was usually third. Most early Nobels and inventions came out of Columbia and Chicago, as both schools still have (arguably) the most Nobels of any institution in the world. Yale and Princeton did not really rise until the second half of the century. Princeton became uber desirable in the 70’s as people were leaving cities. Standford really did not really hit the scene until the last quarter of the century with the rise of computer technology.</p>

45

<p>My guess:

  1. H, P
  2. Y
  3. S, Col, UChi
  4. Penn, MIT
  5. Duke, Caltech
  6. Dart
  7. NW
  8. JHU
  9. Brown
  10. Cornell</p>
46

<p>^ I see that someone has altered their predictions</p>

47

<p>What happened? A couple years ago, there were unending pages of comments, led by someone named Alexandre, with thousands of posts.</p>

48

<p>He got found out by an employer he wasnt working very hard and spending his days on CC. LOL.</p>

<p>The rankings come out Sept9. Its a ruse to sell magazines. Advertising dollars in a business that is dying faster than someone with hemorragic fever. Not to be crude or insensitive to those suffering. </p>

<p>Schools DONT change year to year. Only their ATTITUDES do about rankings. </p>

49

<ol>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>Harvard</li>
<li>Yale</li>
<li>Columbia</li>
<li>Stanford</li>
<li>Chicago</li>
<li>MIT</li>
<li>Duke</li>
<li>Penn</li>
<li>Dartmouth</li>
<li>Caltech</li>
<li>WUSTL</li>
<li>Brown</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>Northwestern</li>
<li>Hopkins</li>
<li>Vanderbilt</li>
<li>Rice</li>
<li>Emory</li>
<li>Georgetown</li>
<li>Berkeley</li>
<li>Carnegie Mellon</li>
<li>Notre Dame</li>
<li>USC</li>
<li>UCLA</li>
<li>Virginia </li>
</ol>

50

<p>1 Harvard
1 Princeton
3 Yale
4 Stanford
4 Columbia
4 MIT
4 Chicago
8 Penn
8 Caltech
8 Duke
11 Dartmouth
11 Northwestern
11 Washington
14 John Hopkins
14 Brown
14 Cornell
17 Vanderbilt
17 Rice
19 Notre Dame
19 Emory
21 Berkeley
21 Georgetown
23 UVA
23 CMU
23 UCLA
23 USC</p>

51

<p>1). Harvard, Princeton (perennial favorites)
3). Yale, Stanford (and ascendant Stanford will rise to third)
5). Columbia
6). Duke, MIT, Penn
9). Chicago
10). Caltech, Dartmouth</p>

52

<p>Well, you’re quite right. Even if the concept of ranking schools is valid (doubtful), the idea of tweaking the rankings every year to create the illusion of change is a simply a ploy to sell magazines. That’s why it fascinated me a couple years ago to see scores of people so INVESTED in every number from one to fifty or more. And Alexandre leading the way with over 20,000 posts. So I checked in this year, and was surprised to see that the bloom is apparently off the rose. Few people seem to care. We’ll see if that changes when the 2015 rankings come out. </p>

53

<p>I challenge anyone (including Mr. Morse) to provide MEANINGFUL distinctions between U S News’ (say) #1 and #3 or its #10 and #12 (in any category). I suppose I’d be slightly less skeptical if U S News arrayed its conclusions in somewhat broad bands (for example: H, Y, P, and S in band one; Columbia, MIT, Penn, Chicago, Duke, and CalTech in band two; and so forth). </p>

54

<p><a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2014/09/04/2015-best-colleges-preview-top-25-national-universities”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2014/09/04/2015-best-colleges-preview-top-25-national-universities&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Although U S News will release their full 2015 assessment tomorrow, the publication today posted its UNORDERED list of their top 25 National Universities (in alphabetical order, the “usual suspects” include):
Brown University (RI)
California Institute of Technology
Carnegie Mellon University ¶
Columbia University (NY)
Cornell University (NY)
Dartmouth College (NH)
Duke University (NC)
Emory University (GA)
Georgetown University (DC)
Harvard University (MA)
Johns Hopkins University (MD)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Northwestern University (IL)
Princeton University (NJ)
Rice University (TX)
Stanford University (CA)
University of California—Berkeley
University of California—Los Angeles
University of Chicago
University of Notre Dame (IN)
University of Pennsylvania
University of Southern California
University of Virginia
Vanderbilt University (TN)
Washington University in St. Louis
Yale University (CT)</p>

55

<p>Wake Forest, tied for #23 last year, gets dropped from the top 25. Time to take the belt and scissors away from WFU’s president.</p>

56

<p>@toptier I like your banding approach. It would reduce the number of unresolvable arguments about really minor differences.</p>

<p>I like your first two bands. I would make the third band: Cornell, Brown, Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, and maybe Berkeley.</p>

57

<p>^ ^ ^ ^
Thanks; it’s certainly difficult to establish a definitive line between “bands,” but it probably is easier – and more reasonable – than rank-ordering. For example, I am sure some would argue with you, suggesting that Washington/Saint Louis and/or Rice might be in the third band (and I intend no offense to either fine institution). </p>

58

<p>Yes, I am sure that people would argue about whether MIT is in group 1 or 2, or Chicago belongs in the band with Columbia, Duke and Penn or with Darthmouth, Brown and Cornell. </p>

<p>It is not a panacea, there would still be disagreements, but hopefully fewer substantial ones. </p>