<p>I find troubling the large percentage of posters here who are obsessed with "prestige" and "reputation" instead the actual educational experience that schools offer. Sign of the times I guess.</p>
<p>Probably because they are sophisticated enough to realize that in terms of educational value, almost all colleges offer a motivated student pretty much the same opportunities. </p>
<p>Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using CC App</p>
<p>The one liner is getting a bit old.</p>
<p>The “sophisticated” reader understands that many schools can offer a motivated student a good educational opportunity, but resources, peers and job placement may differ significantly.</p>
<p>A lot depends on the forum you spend time in. Pop over to Financial Aid, and you will find a very different emphasis.</p>
<p>It takes a little effort to dig below the surface and compare data that might be related to college quality. Then when you get to it, you find that many individual metrics are problematic. There are CC threads exploring related issues ad nauseum. Rather than get into all these difficulties … and before they get around to actually visiting schools to make their own observations (if they even do this at all) … many college shoppers want the convenience of a single, more-or-less data-driven ranking like what USNWR provides. In my opinion (which is not annasdad’s opinion), that’s an o.k. starting point. It probably beats cafeteria gossip. The #1-10 schools generally will give you smaller classes, better financial aid, and higher-scoring/harder-working classmates than the #90-something schools. </p>
<p>But then, maybe the rankings are over-fit to the data. So what about “prestige”? Do some colleges (independent of ranking) work brand-recognition mojo that “opens doors” in sectors like investment banking … or government and international affairs? Do real employers perceive that the University of Chicago, despite its high ranking, attracts pale ineffectual nerds who can’t move product? Does a tournament-winning D1 basketball team become a honey pot for jut-jawed job recruiters to meet the kind of rabid sports fans who can move product? If so, maybe a big state u has “prestige” greater than its ranking might suggest. But … what if a scandal hits the news? Will that drive down its reputation, poison the pot, and drive away recruiters? </p>
<p>I think the College Confidential tone you’re observing also is affected by the number of first gens, internationals, and “tiger” parents who frequent the site. Besides the USA, what other country has over 3000 institutions of higher learning? Some have only one or several premier universities (Tokyo University, Oxbridge, Beijing & Qinghua, IIT) linked to prestigious careers in the foreign ministries, IT, or the national finance system. So, many foreigners probably assume the US system must work the same way, at some level. Going to an obscure little LAC to become a more thoughtful participant in a democratic community? That must be a fairly unfamiliar, naive-sounding concept to most Americans, even.</p>
<p>Yeah, it ****es me off as well when I see posts like ‘OMG Terrible stats, I think I’m going to fail in life’ only to see they have a 3.7 GPA and 1950 SAT. If that’s failing in life, I guess about 5-6 billion people on the world have failed at life.</p>