<p>I think Forbes is extremely correct in their ranking. Michigan definitely is not a top 100 and I would say it would barely touch the academic wealth of most private schools. People need to remember that its the money is the true reason for college. The college that can provide the most money for the best professors, and recruits only the richest of students should be able to consider itself good. </p>
<p>Yeah im jk… Forbes is BS. I mean… its Forbes what else do you expect</p>
<p>Not to mention they put Hood College above Michigan. </p>
<p>Also, their sports teams are called the Blazers…</p>
<p>From now on I’m going to make stupid jokes about this place whenever possible.</p>
<p>I bet students there can’t wait till fall so they can go blaze up in the 'hood.</p>
<p>^Hahaha 
</p>
<p>But honestly, Forbes is ■■■■■■■■ in their methodologies. The top schools have hard professors whose tests and gradings are harsh. What does that mean? On ratemyprofessor.com their going to get a bad ratting because the students we’re happy with their grade. And that is suppose to show how good a college is? Wrong</p>
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<p>There is actually a interesting article of Forbes top rank university:</p>
<p>[America’s</a> Best College on Shine](<a href=“http://shine.yahoo.com/event/backtoschool/americas-best-college-497708/]America’s”>http://shine.yahoo.com/event/backtoschool/americas-best-college-497708/)</p>
<p>Along with other ranking by Forbes near the bottom of the article.</p>
<p>Forbes is kinda like Fox News: If the GOP doesn’t support it, neither will they. Anyways, note the fact that more conservative schools are closer to the top like Centre and Wabash while more liberal schools like the U of M and Brown got the shaft. Still suprised that Vandy got as low as it did, but they did base 25% of their rankings on BS Ratemyprofessors.com and other things that were obvious s**t, so yeah, thank god everyone realizes this thing is a complete joke.</p>
<p>Now off to go torch their headquarters LOL… (jk) (although it is tempting…)</p>
<p>Umm…actually Hood College does exist. I used to teach there. :l</p>
<p>I know it’s a real college. It just sounds fake, it has a funny name, and a funny name for the sports mascot.</p>
<p>Now for the stupid joke… Do they have craftsman type majors as well? Like pipe and bong making? </p>
<p>And please don’t get offended.</p>
<p>Lol. I don’t know about the craftsman majors. It’s traditionally an all-girls school so…maybe not. I taught piano there many moons ago.</p>
<p>LOL, go Kalamazoo College!!!</p>
<p>Although i’ll admit they are really lopsided in their rankings. K-college is a damn good school. I think it’s the hardest Michigan School to get in to. HArder then UM I believe. But still UM and KC are damn good either way.</p>
<p>Wow really? I knew K College was a pretty good college, but I didn’t think it could compare to even MSU…</p>
<p>Kalamazoo is not harder to get into than U of M no matter how you look at it. Kalamazoo’s acceptance rate is 66%. Even Michigan’s in-state acceptance rate isn’t that high. KC’s middle 50% ACT range in 26-31. Michigan’s is 28-32.</p>
<p>I have a friend that attended Kalamazoo the first quarter of freshman year and then transferred to UM; he feels the academics are easier at UM. Its smallness seems to concentrate and magnify difficulty. BTW, I’m considering transferring to UM too! K is no joke.</p>
<p>I am a parent of a student a Kalamazoo and plenty of son’s friends are at MSU or UofM. Kalamazoo does not get the respect it deserves. His friends at MSU and many at UofM couldn’t handle the work load at K.</p>
<p>They’re not totally wrong. They’re just lousy.</p>
<p>One of the things that has people at U-M annoyed is the way they measure “affordability.” They look at the loan averages, but just for the people who have loans. This automatically disadvantages every single public institution out there (except for the ones with no fees, like the service academies, most of which did very well in the ranking). </p>
<p>If you’re going to measure affordability, you should look at some measure of tuition, and also possibly consider the number of families who get through without any debt. Of course, U-M’s high non-resident tuition and enrollment would still work against it, but it would be more fair than their current measure.</p>
<p>There are other things wrong with the Forbes ranking, but I won’t bore you.</p>
<p>The Center for College Affordability & Efficiency, which developed the ranking, is led by a man who advocates against public support of colleges & universities. He thinks fewer students should attend college, and he believes that investing in higher education does not help economic development.</p>
<p>Affordability is probably why Hood college did better than UMich. It’s cheap to live in da 'hood.</p>
<p>Let’s blaze up G.</p>
<p>bbkitty don’t give it a thought. The UofM/K rivalry is as old as time. The kids are virtually identical in academic capacity - the ones that want small go to K, the ones that want big go to UofM. K is academically intense because of the quarter system which adds it’s own perceived pressure.</p>
<p>Rolling on the floor laughing. You just supported my point with “since I know very little about Kalamazoo.” Michigan probably is the better choice for you, but take it from someone who knows both schools quite well, kids that can succeed at one can succeed at another and vice versa, statistically they are not very different and the choice is curriculum and size, not ability.</p>
<p>I don’t think difficulty necessarily correlates to the strength of an academic program. From what others have stated, Kalamazoo might be harder in terms of the quarter system and size, but Michigan definitely has better programs, faculty, and resources available. Michigan’s student body is slightly stronger than Kalamazoo even if they are generous to in-state students. I think Michigan is obviously a better university overall and I think the Forbes rankings are totally meaningless.</p>
<p>“I do know that most of Kalamazoo’s departments are considered inferior (by peer institutions and the rest of the academic community) to Michigan’s”</p>
<p>Wolvy13, I’d love to know where you got this tidbit. You have no clue about K, do you?</p>