College Ranking lists: US News, PR and Atlantic Monthly

The Ranking lists of the 3 big publications ranking undergraduate programs:

US News

<li>Princeton</li>
<li>Harvard</li>
<li>Yale</li>
<li>University of Pennsylvania </li>
<li>Duke University (NC)
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology
Stanford University (CA) </li>
<li>California Institute of Technology </li>
<li>Columbia University (NY)
Dartmouth College (NH) </li>
<li>Northwestern University (IL)
Washington University in St. Louis </li>
<li>Brown University (RI) </li>
<li>Cornell University (NY)
Johns Hopkins University (MD)
University of Chicago </li>
<li>Rice University (TX) </li>
<li>University of Notre Dame (IN)
Vanderbilt University (TN) </li>
<li>Emory University (GA) </li>

Atlantic Monthly

<li>MIT</li>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>Cal Tech</li>
<li>Yale</li>
<li>Harvard</li>
<li>Stanford</li>
<li>Columbia</li>
<li>Penn</li>
<li>Brown</li>
<li>Swarthmore</li>
<li>Washington University</li>
<li>Amherst</li>
<li>UC Berkeley</li>
<li>Duke</li>
<li>Dartmouth</li>
<li>Pomona</li>
<li>UCLA</li>
<li>Rice</li>
<li>Williams</li>
<li>Georgetown</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>Claremont McKenna</li>
<li>Harvey Mudd</li>
<li>William and Mary</li>
<li>Middlebury</li>

Princeton Review (anyone have 10 -20)

<li>MIT</li>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>CalTech</li>
<li>Yale </li>
<li>Harvard </li>
<li>Penn</li>
<li>Stanford</li>
<li>Swarthmore</li>
<li>Duke
10.Columbia</li>

<p>I hate people that post the same thing over and over in every forum...we got your point the first time.</p>

<p>Don't underestimate the value of these postings to people who spend far less time than you on these boards.</p>

<p>Dude...I don't need to spend time on these boards...I'm trying to help other people who are trying to get into colleges...and believe me, those rankings are completely useless and arbitrary. They all come with random results!</p>

<p>screw off Xanatos...I'd never seen the atlantic list so this interests me.</p>

<p>Why isint Chicago on the atlantic monthly list?</p>

<p>USNWR has different lists for colleges and universities, while the Atlantic list includes both. The top ten USNWR colleges are:</p>

<p>Williams
Amherst
Swarthmore
Wellesley
Carleton
Pomona
Bowdoin
Davidson
Haverford
Wesleyan</p>

<p>So here are the Princeton Review ACTUAL rankings, an addition of their own scores for selectivity, academic quality, campus life, and scholarships/financial aid. In other words, this is what happens when they rely on their own ranking system. Make of them what you will (I'm sure you will ): (highest possible score is 396)</p>

<p>Carleton - 391
Amherst - 390
Smith - 390
Pomona - 390
Haverford - 390
Williams - 388
Stanford - 388
Mount Holyoke - 388
Reed - 388
Princeton - 387
Middlebury 387
Davidson - 387
Dartmouth -387
Swarthmore - 387
Bryn Mawr - 387
Wellesley - 387
Bowdoin - 386
Grinnell - 386
Chicago - 384
Harvard - 382
MIT - 381
Washington U. - 381
Brown - 380
Yale - 379
Wesleyan 379
Columbia - 377
Caltech - 376
Vanderbilt - 374
Cornell - 373
Northwestern - 372
Duke - 371
Penn - 371</p>

<p>HYPS, MIT, and Caltech don't break the type five.</p>

<p>Take out the selectivity rank and focus only on academic quality and campus quality of life, and the list hardly changes - here's a sample:</p>

<p>Carleton - 195
Smith - 195
Pomona - 194
Middlebury - 194
Haverford - 194
Amherst - 193
Mount Holyoke - 192
Stanford 192
Dartmouth - 192
Princeton - 190
Harvard - 187
Brown 187
Yale - 186</p>

<p>No matter how you slice it, Princeton Review doesn't place ANY of the HYPS MIT Calt schools in the top 5. Carleton turns up as the top college both ways, with Pomona, Smith, Amherst, and Haverford rounding out the top five.</p>

<p>It's not my list. It does conform to my experience.</p>

<p>Here's how they came up with their Academic Quality rating:</p>

<p>"Academic Rating
How hard students work and how much they get back for their efforts, on a scale of 60-99. This rating is calculated from student survey results and statistical information reported by administrators. Factors weighed include how many hours students study outside of the classroom and the quality of students the school attracts. We also considered students' assessments of their professors, class size, student-teacher ratio, use of teaching assistants, amount of class discussion, registration, and resources."</p>

<p>And Campus Quality of Life:</p>

<p>"Quality of Life Rating
How happy students are with their lives outside the classroom, on a scale of 80-99. We weighed several factors, including students' assessments of: their overall happiness; the beauty, safety, and location of the campus; the comfort of dorms; the quality of food; the ease of getting around campus and dealing with administrators; the friendliness of fellow students; the interaction of different student types; and the quality of the relationship with the local community."</p>

<p>Yup. Princeton Review Top Five: Carleton, Smith, Pomona, Amherst, Haverford.</p>

<p>"those rankings are completely useless and arbitrary. They all come with random results!"</p>

<p>Random results? Given the hundreds and hundreds of universities out there, I think it's amazing how consistent the results are (even when employing different criteria).</p>

<p>The only ranking that should really matter is what school is your first choice as being able to give you the best undergraduate experience possible</p>

<p>You are missing the point alpha, Xanatos is completely correct. Why does our society always need to "rank?" And why should rankings come into play at all. Time and time again people have stated the uselessness of USNWR. Indeed, many think it is doing a positive harm to the education system. And Xanatos is right, it gets a little old reading about rankings for the 8 millionth time...</p>

<p>I feel like the people who get the most bugged out by rankings are those who go to schools that arn't highly ranked...Take that for what you will.</p>

<p>oftentimes, that is the case, curtisny.</p>

<p>As a CC veteran (of the old forum, of course), I can tell you that this exact conversation happens multiple times every year. And every year, it boils down to this:</p>

<p>Are the rankings useless? More or less, yeah. The best college isn't any place on a national magazine list, it's the one that you go to, and it depends wholly on what you do there. That being said, if you consider the fact that you quibble over such matters on this forum, you just might be anal enough to actually think it matters. Sort of like the nerds who argue over minor plot holes and camera mis-angles in Battlestar Galactica or what not. I only say this because I was like that myself until I got here to college, and I realize what a pointless task it is.</p>

<p>Bottom line: Rankings simply do not matter. They are the worst things to happen to college admissions since the open-ended personal statement. It may be a fun way to pass the time till May 1, but for the love of God, don't base your matriculation decision on it in any way, shape, or form.</p>

<p>Just my $0.02.</p>

<p>well said pookdogg. I think i've read this type of conversation like 20+ times. Grow up people. ranking really don't matter - go to the school that you like best even if it's not ranked in the top 10 ;) .</p>

<p>Rankings are a tool. They should never be the sole determinant of what makes a college good or bad. They are one tool among many.</p>

<p>But if you think rankings don't matter then you're ignoring reality. Law schools, med schools, major corporations, presitigious professional firms all have in-house college rankings to help assess the quality of their applicants. For example, look at any of the major Wall Street Investment firms and see what colleges dominate the culture. It may not be fair but it is reality.</p>

<p>Ah, but you see, you're trying to rationalize it. Sure, prestige plays a role in grad school decisions, but compared to the importance of what you actually do in college, no matter where it is, the role of prestige in grad school admissions and corporation hirings is actually negligible.</p>

<p>When you say that rankings should never be the sole determinant of what makes a college good or bad, I would agree with you. I would disagree with the inference that they are a determinant at all. Sure, rankings will tell you that Harvard is better than (name of third-tier college here), but is even that general statement truly accurate? Perhaps you want a more social atmosphere, perhaps you want a smaller class size, perhaps you want to major in East African Studies. And when you start to quibble over which first-tier school is better, it just becomes increasingly impossible to compare.</p>

<p>As I said before, if it will help you pass the time, I suppose I can't stop you. But once I got to college, I realized how much time I wasted trying to gauge who would win in a heavyweight boxing match between Harvard and Princeton (sounds like a crappy metaphor, but you know you think of things that way).</p>

<p>Let me guess, pookdog...you got turned down by the Ivy's and still have a bitter taste in your mouth. While I do see your point, I think making blanket statements like "Are the rankings useless? More or less, yeah." just show your insecurities. Again, the people who get so jumpy about rankings are the ones who attend college's that arn't highly ranked. I'd put money on the fact that you are one of these people, pookdog. Tell me if i'm wrong...</p>

<p>
[quote]
screw off Xanatos...I'd never seen the atlantic list so this interests me.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Let me reiterate, for the morons...he posted this in two different forums...I never said he shouldn't be posting this, I said there's no need to clog up TWO perfectly good forums with this thread.</p>

<p>
[quote]
I feel like the people who get the most bugged out by rankings are those who go to schools that arn't highly ranked...Take that for what you will.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Too bad I go to Dartmouth and your theory goes to hell...</p>

<p>too bad i go to penn (wharton)...curtisny you are just immature and insecure. Seriously don't post on this forum until you buck up.</p>