<p>BandTenHut: I think your post is a bit self defeating because if you’re arguing that “scientific papers published” is a meaningless metric for most undergrads, one could use the same logic on the only ranking that USC is rated above UCLA (USNWR). What exactly does “faculty giving/donation rate” have to do with undergrad experience? You can argue that the more money they give the more USC can reinvest in their undergrads. Then someone can argue that the more reputable UCLA’s scientific papers are the more rep they gain and the more valuable a UCLA degree. </p>
<p>My main point is, it’s kind of a tricky argument to try to say something is meaningless to undergrads if there isn’t empirical or statistical proof that it’s true - you’d just be speculating. </p>
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<p>SeattlesTW: I can’t tell if you’re a ■■■■■ or real, but you make me laugh quite hard. Are you really trying to suggest ETH Zurich being ranked higher than Brown, Dartmouth, Emory, Rice etc discredits THE Rankings? I hope that’s not what you are suggesting because then you’d really make USC students/fans look like completely uneducated football fanatics who are completely ignorant about the world around them. You do realize Zurich is where Einstein studied and taught, it is where a bulk of mankind’s physics and chemical discoveries were made, and is one of the most prestigious universities on the planet in terms of reputation? No, I guess all you know about is 'Merica’s Ivy league and small private schools and that they should be higher in ranking than anything you haven’t heard of. Thanks for keeping the stereotypical USC student characterization alive. Please keep posting so I can keep laughing. </p>
<p>Direct from ETH Zurich Wikipedia:
ETH Zurich has produced and attracted many famous scientists in its short history, including Albert Einstein. More than twenty Nobel laureates have either studied at ETH or were awarded the Nobel Prize for their work achieved at ETH. Other alumni include scientists who were distinguished with the highest honours in their respective fields, amongst them Pritzker Prize and Turing Award winners. Academic achievements aside, ETH has been Alma Mater to many Olympic Medalists and world champions.</p>
<p>Nobel Prize in Physics
1901 Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (graduate)
1920 Charles-Edouard Guillaume (graduate)
1921 Albert Einstein (graduate and professor)
1943 Otto Stern (lecturer)
1945 Wolfgang Pauli (professor)
1952 Felix Bloch (graduate)
1986 Heinrich Rohrer (graduate)
1987 Georg Bednorz (graduate)
1987 Karl Alexander Müller (graduate)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
1913 Alfred Werner (graduate)
1915 Richard Martin Willstätter (professor)
1918 Fritz Haber (graduate)
1936 Peter Debye (professor)
1938 Richard Kuhn (professor)
1939 Leopold Ruzicka (professor)
1953 Hermann Staudinger (lecturer)
1975 Vladimir Prelog (professor)
1991 Richard Ernst (graduate & professor)
2002 Kurt Wüthrich (professor)
Nobel Prize in Medicine
1978 Werner Arber (graduate)
1950 Tadeus Reichstein (graduate)
Other Nobel Laureates directly affiliated with the ETH include
1912 Nils Gustaf Dalen (working with Aurel Stodola)
1943 George de Hevesy
1945 Artturi Ilmari Virtanen (working with Georg Wiegner)
1954 Max Born (working with Adolf Hurwitz)
1964 Konrad E. Bloch (working with Leopold Ruzicka and Vladimir Prelog)
1968 Lars Onsager (working with Peter Debye and Erich Hückel)
1968 Har Gobind Khorana (working with Vladimir Prelog)
1969 Max Delbrück (working with Wolfgang Pauli)
1987 Jean-Marie Lehn</p>