<p>how accurate are the US News rankings? are there any other good, accurate and up-to-date rankings out there? thanks, this would help me a huge deal.</p>
<p>No. Us News is the BEST ranking system out there for overall ugrad schools without all the flaws of the other ones.</p>
<ol>
<li>College *******: No "real" ranking. Relies too much on students.</li>
<li>Laissez: A bit inconsistent and definitely more flaws than Us News (some schools do not pass the "common sense test".) </li>
<li>That other thingy CC has that benefits state universities too much. Definitely does not pass the common sense test and has HUGE biases for state universities.</li>
</ol>
<p>Overall for Ugrad, go with Us News.</p>
<p>However realize that the "number" does not always mean better. #10 for example can be no better than #12.</p>
<p>As Alexandre says, there is a clear top (such as Harvard/Princeton/Yale/Stanford/etc.) and then a big list of schools that are all comparable, etc.</p>
<p>You can find Alexandre's "ranking" in the Us News Top 15 schools thread (in the first pages or so). This ranking system which uses gray areas is better than using numbers (since numbers lead students to believe #20 > #21 and so on).</p>
<p>Finally, you can always go by lumping the Top 3, then the Top 10, then the Top 25, then the Top 50, then the Top 100, and then it doesn't really matter once you hit below that.</p>
<p>So to summarize, use Us News as your main guideline and lump colleges instead of using PURE numbers.</p>
<p>Edit: #1 was college prowl +er</p>
<p>2006 is the latest. 2007, I believe, is coming out very soon.</p>
<p>The USNWR rankings are the most popular, and do generally have some resemblance to how well a school does. But note that these rankings are all a matter of opinion, and each set of rankings utilizes a different method to rank schools. I personally think they are useful (though not completely accurate...nothing is), but I also use the semi-old NRC Rankings at Texas A&M as well, since I find their analysis by major useful. I haven't found any other rankings as accurate or useful, but that's just me. AcceptedAlready makes a good point...USNWR is useful, but don't look at rank by itself. A college ranked #25 is not necessarily better than #28...it's just a number and ranks can fluctuate. Plus, the 3-rank difference might not be very significant at all...or even accurate.</p>
<p>It's also useful to just ask around and see what people think about the colleges in general. Consult many points of view. Some people believe the rankings put forth are absolutely wrong, while others think the opposite. Take what you get out of them.</p>
<p>Didn't we already establish that US News college rankings are crap?</p>
<p>No. They are not crap. Alexandre's list is based on Us News but it lumps colleges instead of using pure quantitative rankings.</p>
<p>AA, first of all, even if I personally like the USNWR, that does not make it good! LOL Secondly, I do not like the USNWR. I like the Peer Assessment score because it at least tells you what the experts think, but other than that, I find the USNWR to be misleading. However, of all the rankings, I think it is the most accurate. At least they get 80% of their universities ranked within 50 spots of where they should be and that's impressive. </p>
<p>Although not a ranking, I really like the Fiske guide. I think it is more telling than the USNWR.</p>
<p>Is this the list, Alexandre?</p>
<p>That's right Neo Yoyo.</p>
<p>That list looks accurate to me. Thanks.</p>
<p>"However, of all the rankings, I think it is the most accurate."</p>
<p>That's all I'm saying. It is the best overall ugrad ranking out there.</p>
<p>The Gourman Report provides undergrad rankings by major. Rugg's Recommendations has lists of top colleges by major, by selectivity, and by size.</p>
<p>thanks for the help so far! could anyone give me the web address of the laissez rankings? i know there's a link on cc but it seems like an older 2000 ranking. is there an official site?</p>
<p>Alexandre is pretty accurate except he rates his alma matter, Michigan, too highly. Although I am not sure I want to get into this again so I'll leave it at that.</p>
<p>^ Haha agreed.</p>
<p>Slipper, very little separates each group. I see nothing wrong with any university (Michigan included) in group II being knocked down to group III or with any university in Group III being bumped up to Group II. Let us face it, one can make a strong argument for any of those universities, one way or the other. It is opinion and personal preference that determines which schools belong in group II and which one belongs in group III. Group I is pretty clear, but groups II and III are not so clear.</p>
<p>I bet if we had a vote over 3/4 people would say Michigan doesn't belong in group 2.</p>
<p>I bet you're right Slipper. I would not argue that point.</p>