CC College Ranking system

Parents Forum
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<p>"Anyone have any factual information regarding this?"</p>

<p>The OP asked for factual evidence to obviously support some kind of blatant injustice. SInce the listing of the schools is an exact mirror of the USNews 2006 ranking, the allegations contained in her original posts are simply unsupported. </p>

<p>On the other hand, if she has an objection about the cutoff having "harmed" Tufts, she should simply send a message to the administrator of the site. I would suggest to attach a little note expressing that the school is indeed tied with UNC and also make references to the dynamism of the Tufts forum. </p>

<p>I believe that this board is responsive to requests that represent facts objectively. Making unfounded allegations based on erroneous facts is not the best way to gain support or find satisfaction.</p>

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<p>marite raises an excellent point....given the fact that Tufts has a 'disease' named after it, perhaps it should have it's own category....LOL</p>

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<p>I have noticed there are 29 schools listed in the "CC Top Universities" category, whereas 30 in the "CC Top Liberal Arts Colleges". Perhaps the site administrator should add one more school to the first category? And should it be Tufts? Just a thought.</p>

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<p>I think a case can be made for adding Tufts; whatever the "rankings" may be, most people do perceive it to belong to this company.</p>

<p>OTOH, echoing Xiggi, the approach by the OP was unnecessarily confrontational, and continued through several posts (I really dislike when someone is belligerent, and then no matter how calm is the answer, they then attack the other person by saying "I guess I touched a nerve.") I think Obiwan has been very patient.</p>

<p>A simple private request would seem to be the more efficient approach.</p>

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<p>Wow, I’m sensing some pent-up anger!!! My original post was a question, not an accusation. Being relatively new to this site, I did not know that questions could be directed to Roger Dooley, in fact I had to Google the name to see who he was, ( no offense Roger for not being up on your claim to fame). Not knowing the history of this site I did not know how it came to be or as my original post asked how the criteria for the “Best List” was established. All I did was ask a question, and I believe it was other posters who came up with the responses.</p>

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<p>"Wow, I’m sensing some pent-up anger!!! "</p>

<p>Nice confirmation of my previous post.</p>

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<p>If popularity is the key here are a few criterea to look at:</p>

<ul>
<li>Number of posts to the schools message board on CC</li>
<li>Number of applications to the school</li>
</ul>

<p>The second one would skew the boards toward the state schools, not a bad thing.</p>

<p>(PS - monydad, my son is one of those who applied to ND)</p>

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<p>The U.S. News and World Report rankings just seem so far removed from the way that students and parents, who are spending their hard-earned dollars for educational services, seem to rank them. For example, Washington University is ranked 11th by the U.S. News and World Report, but doesn't even crack the top 50 on the revealed preference survey put out by NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research) which looks at the actual decisions that students made when admitted to multiple colleges. Duke is ranked above Stanford, Columbia, Dartmouth, MIT and Brown in the U.S. News and World Report survey. On the NBER survey, it's 19th, close to University of Virginia and Georgetown. It seems to me that the NBER survey is much more rooted in the real world. Maybe CC should use it instead of U.S. News and World Report.</p>

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<p>sorry, mensa, but there have been numerous posts that show that the afore-mentioned study wouldn't even pass statistical validity with AP Stat students -- it's basic conclusion is that east coast kids (and others from select prep schools) prefer east coast colleges....</p>

<p>btw: I don't fault the authors since they clearly footnote their (un?)intended biases.</p>

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<p>tuftsmom I would just like to say that I have read and reread your first post and I can't understand why it has generated a few nasty responses. I see your post as the straightforward questions you asked. Not sure why some take affront to it. Just for the record, I don't think you intended to insult anyone on CC.
andi</p>

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<p>Mensa, USNews publishes a ranking and calls it the best colleges; College Confidential simply offers a listing of schools that is organized for easy retrieval. In this case, it follows an alphabetical "ranking" and offers a number of easily identifiable categories. </p>

<p>Let's not debate an issue that does not exist nor invent a case of discrimination. On this precise issue, I do not think that anyone is syaing that Tufts does NOT belong in the same that is listed under TOP colleges. It is for that reason that I suggested an approach that MIGHT work to correct a perceived problem. </p>

<p>Tuftsmom, inasmuch as I respect your "newness" to this site, may I point you to the Terms of Service and other helpful advice that every member is suposed to read before joining. For the record, long term posters have now addressed your requests several times but you continue to prefer to answer with equally challenging, "Wow, I’m sensing some pent-up anger!!!" and "sounds like I hit a raw nerve." </p>

<p>I believe that you will find many members ready and willing to answer an endless list of questions, but you can also expect some of us to recognize the difference between a factual question and a negative and leading one.</p>

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<p>Maybe there <em>is</em> a sponsorship issue. Maybe Tufts paid CC not to be in their "Top Universities" group so that they wouldn't get more applications. Cf., Tufts Syndrome.</p>

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<p>"tuftsmom I would just like to say that I have read and reread your first post and I can't understand why it has generated a few nasty responses. I see your post as the straightforward questions you asked. Not sure why some take affront to it. Just for the record, I don't think you intended to insult anyone on CC."</p>

<p>Straightforward questions and nasty responses? Are we reading the same thread?</p>

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<p>FWIW, I think she had an innocent enough question at root, but the problem was in implying that CC was paid off or something.
It's best not to come into one's house and start laying down accusations like that. The question would perhaps have been better received without this implication attached.</p>

<p>And yes, there was an underlying concern of hers that prompted her inquiry: ie where is Tufts on this list? But so what. The question is still legitimate at root. And I think she's got a point with respect to the particular underlying issue as well.</p>

<p>But understandably some longtime posters took affront at the distasteful payola implication. (Is this it?)CC is a pretty darned fair playing field, which I think anyone who's been here a while would recognize.</p>

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<p>ut understandably some longtime posters took affront at the distasteful payola implication. CC is a pretty darned fair playing field, which I think anyone who's been here a while would recognize.</p>

<p>Which is why I havent' added my $.02 till now.
I admit I don't know alot about Tufts or frankly many of the Universities- we have concentrated on LACs.It seems reasonable that Tufts would be on the list- although I don't see many asking about it- not as much as about Johns Hopkins or WUSTL , but I suppose it goes in spurts.
I don't usually go to the colleges and universities threads- those seemed to skewed towards " will I get in"?
And I have no way in heck of knowing that ;) so I stay away.</p>

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<p>


Hahaha, this is the best response given so far.</p>

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<p>Why not start a new category called "Ivy League Safety", with Tufts and Trinity at the top of the list. Other candidates would be Hamilton, Colgate, and the Cornell cooking school.</p>

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<p>I actually agree with Andi--I don't see anything wrong with the OP's questions. I see why some might get offended about the implications that CC is getting money etc. Still, it's good to know why a system is in place and the implications it has for students looking at different schools--she brings up a good issue in the second post about the fact that the placements influence students. </p>

<p>When you've worked hard on your applications and don't get into your top choice(s), it's painful to be reminded that your next options are on the Other page with the title in tiny type. (My top choice 'top LAC' list school waitlisted me.) There are schools that I had never heard of before that are on the list of top liberal arts schools, but I know that they're ranked highly in some way because they have a main cc page. </p>

<p>And when my uber-safety didn't have a CC page at all, that had its own implications as well. </p>

<p>It's not a good way of ranking college choices, but I know that other students out there are influenced by this as well. If you've gotten into one of the schools on the Top lists and one that's just listed on the alphabetical list, some small part of you might very well be influenced by the ranking, even if you paid no attention to rank when looking for schools and wouldn't have looked up the US News rank otherwise. </p>

<p>Someone else admit it! The ranking system and large vs tiny bunched type for the two lists do influence the way we see these schools, even in the smallest ways.</p>

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<p>We add schools all the time. For instance, TCNJ ("The College of New Jersey") will be added as soon as a technical glitch is resolved. If you want a college added, anyone has but to ask. </p>

<p>This thread has prompted discussion among the Mods. So far there is no compelling argument for moving Tufts. Granted, the placement is arbitrary. However, whatever N schools we have listed, partisans of schools N+1 and N+2 will always feel shortchanged and others will feel affronted that schools N or N-1 are on the list at all.</p>

<p>As a matter of record, the OP did not hit a nerve due to other requests being made in the past. After some queries when the system was initially set up, there has been no question since then. There have been many posters, however, who always want CC to be something other than it is. </p>

<p>While we believe CC to have been intelligently designed, it has also certainly evolved over time. For the colleges themselves, we've broken out, in succession, the Ivies, the Top Universities, the LAC's, and the Service Academies. The others have at least been compiled into an alphabetical form so that they're not buried in one undifferentiated glop. We've added Forums for Law and Medicine, even something with a low traffic count like Home Schooling. We've also added Cafes that posters where posters may either participate or avoid various off-topic threads as they choose.</p>

<p>The point being that CC is not being non-responsive if they don't take a suggestion. They simply disagree with the suggestion. Next case.</p>

<p>As the redoubtable Xiggi has demonstrated, the underlying US News ratings, while a very coarse tool to the point of uselessness for determining "quality" for a college, is remarkably stable and widely used and was thus as good a good guideline for a rough cut as any.</p>

<p>Finally, if anyone is seriously going to be affected by whether their school is listed in large type or small type, then they are disregarding all the excellent advice on this board about "fit" and have more problems than the CC staff can deal with in any event.</p>

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<p>Finally, if anyone is seriously going to be affected by whether their school is listed in large type or small type, then they are disregarding all the excellent advice on this board about "fit" and have more problems than the CC staff can deal with in any event</p>

<p>well we are just out of the box thinkers I guess- cause when my D applied to colleges- I think her top two weren't even in the Us News top tier!
Oh NOES!
( Reed college- that hippie commie school and Evergreen State College- ditto)</p>