<p>I definitely think the USNWR rankings are useless in most respects. The subject rankings and peer assessment scores are pretty accurate, but the ovewrall undergraduate rankings are seriously flawed. They do not represent what academe and the corporate world think. </p>
<p>Penn and Duke are great, but are they really better than MIT and Stanford? Are they really top 5 universities?</p>
<p>Washington University is a fine school, but is it really top 10 material? </p>
<p>Cornell and Chicago definitely get no love from the USNWR. Ranking them between #10 and #15 is ok, but there is no difference between #6 and #15, so it is only fair that those two schools should get top 10 rankings more often than not. </p>
<p>And then, there's Cal and Michigan. Ranking them around #25 on an annual basis is truly a disgrace. </p>
<p>Luckily, with the exception of high school students and poorly informed parents, most of the World takes the USNWR with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>I disagree with most people - I think the US News rankings have very set criteria for undergraduate rankings, and take into account some useful aspects of the University. Of course, some schools manage to manipulate the measures, but I really think the US News is a good gauge for University Quality. Admittedly, there are some schools that are overrated and underrated, but generally most are in the right area.</p>
<p>Also, Cornell is, at least statistically, the easiest Ivy League school to get into - but that is hardly an insult...so the troll dude is right in some aspects though he doesn't realize Cornell is still one of the best Universities and that the quality of students at both schools overlaps</p>
<p>I think they are pretty useful, although perhaps slightly arbitrary. Sure there are some glaring mistakes in my opinion, like Penn and Duke (overrated) and Brown (underrated). But overall they seem to be on target more than any other ranking I have seen because they are undergrad oriented. I do dislike how schools manipulate their stats to climb the rankings, but I guess that is bound to happen with any ranking system.</p>
<p>Thethoughtprocess, you seem to confuse selectivity with quality. It is a common error, but an error nonetheless. The two are not related. Quality is 100% dependent on faculty and influence in World affairs. The quality of a university has nothing to do with its students. All top universities have excellent students and it is up to each individual student to make the most of her/his opportunity.</p>
<p>I know that quality of education and selectivity are different, but disagree that they are unrelated. I think there's a correlation between the two - the most highly selective students pick the best schools academically. Perhaps that choice is too driven by US News rankings and such things, but regardless, the schools that have the best quality of education, prestige, opportunities etc. attract the best students. Plus you can actually measure selectivity for undergrads, while measuring quality of education at the undergrad level is tricky.</p>
<p>Of course, I agree that at the top 10-15 on the US News there's no clear cut order for most schools, though there can be general ideas about how good certain schools are.</p>
<p>Its easy to see that Duke and Penn aren't better, selectivity wise or academic quality-wise, then Stanford. Nor is Brown below Cornell. Having a ranking does help set a general idea of how good schools are.</p>
<p>Not really thethoughtprocess, the best students don't know enough about universities to know which schools are best. They pick their schools using limited and often irrelevant criteria. The best schools academically are the ones with the best professors and the best research. Full stop. That's where the world goes to seek knowledge and it is where the world goes to recruit the students who are at the cutting edge.</p>
<p>I personally think USNews is great. It's a centralized place to get lots of facts on lots of schools and see how they stack up against each other. It's just not perfect and not the be all/end all. It should be used to get an IDEA of which schools are good or not, but honestly, post-grad the difference between 1 2 3 HPY and 13 Cornell is infinitesimally small.</p>
<p>a good fit is a lot more important than who has a smaller percentage of classes under 50 or a greater average yearly alumni donation and other small factors, etc. etc.</p>
<p>US News rankins are not very indicative for the following reasons:</p>
<p>1) They take into acct class size and admission rate...so a place like UMich or Cornell,...which is DARN big, but DARN good...get's underestimated.</p>
<p>2) US News's rankins are more quantitative rather than qualitative.</p>
<p>THES is an even more BS set of rankings. I think they ranked one of our lowerest tier universities- like ones that accept you if you're in the top HALF of your class, over a place like Dartmouth. And seriously- do you really think at the % of intels is a good measure of education standard? I've worked at our uni office here ... the only reason we have a ton of intels is because our tuition is darn cheap and we still offer this mystical "Australian" degree for people who probably can't even get into uni in their own countries.</p>
<p>Having said that- there is no really accurate and reliable set of rankings. Every ranking has its pros and cons. If anything- the only data you really need is the peer rec score and once you chosen a group of uni's its really a matter of which uni you like the best and which one is the best fit. </p>
<p>Hey arjun- why do you think THES is better? Does it rank Cornell higher?</p>
<p>You know arjun- if there was a universal law stating that if you talk bs, you'd get fined- you'd be the worlds most in-debt boy.</p>
<p>Where is any (emphasis on ANY) proof that USnews does it only for money and that the THES isn't trying to make money out of it either. What well-rounded analysis arjun? Stop making stuff up.</p>
<p>hey...thast my opinion, kjoodles.
I FEEL THES IS BETTER!!!!
u can't hang me by my thumbs for that...u know iof trhere was a universal law fining people for stopping people from having their opinions, u would be VERY much in-depth</p>
<p>Nobody is denying your right to your opinion arjun. Did I say "Arjun- shut up. you are not entitled to an opinion?". Did I?</p>
<p>All I'm trying to say for sake of any poor soul that reads this thread later is that your opinion may not be correct and that if they are- you should provide more evidence. Just imagine if the next poor kid reads your post on how frats have only 5 people in them and actually believed you. We all have a responsibility to keep whats discussed as accurate and factual as possible.</p>
<p>So you going to explain and elaborate your "opinions" with any facts or are you going to try and change the subject again? And there a difference from stating an opinion and making a claim.</p>
<p>I DID MENTION.."i think...correct me if i'm wrong' in the frat thread</p>
<p>reason for my opinions:</p>
<p>1) US news ( from what i c) ranks only within US (correctme if i'm wrong)...so a guy from say, Timbuktu applying couldn't possibly gauge at the pros and cons...
using THES he could rate the colleges etter wrt the places in his country...for instance, i used THES to rate IIT and Cornell
my observations: while IIT's #3 in world for eng, its #53 as a whole while cornell's #13 whole...so, since i want a broad-base education, Cornell's nore sauited for me</p>
<p>Yeah Arjun, you are 16, you have seen very little of the world. THES isn't an undergraduate ranking system. Undergraduate is very different than graduate. Dartmouth and Brown for example have an undergraduate emphasis, along with the finest students in the world. These students form a tremendous network, have access to some of the best career services, have one of the best placements into graduate school, and have scores of satisfied alumni. As a student at a top 5 MBA, I see as many Dartmouth students as Princeton, my friend at Harvard Business said Dartmouth was the sixth most represented school in his class, remarlable given Dartmouth's size.</p>
<p>Would I go to Brown for grad school, for the most part no way. But for undergrad its one of the top.</p>
<p>by makng a good advisor to a ood politician, u mean i'm ur advisor!!!
u seem incompetent to me anyways and a politicians a perfect troll, just like u. :p</p>