<p>I know rankings are overrated and dumb to discuss. But I just went through the best 373 colleges amd its the dumbest thing ever. There academic ratings are completely unfair. 60-99, 99 being the best.
they unfairly rank private schools better then state school. They gave goucher college a way better ranking than university of michigan for example. Ohio state got a rating of 69 for acadmics which is awful while rollins college got a rating of 88. The rankings are pro private and anti state school, every state school was completely bashed academics wise. Not saying privates deserve lower. But come on. Just venting my findings haha. Rollins in a good school not saying its bad, but ohio states a great school too.</p>
<p>You have to admit that private schools offer better education.</p>
<p>someone needs to use spellcheck. ahem…</p>
<p>They didn’t bash state schools. They bashed schools with large classes, high ratios of students to faculty, and large numbers of classes being taught by TAs.</p>
<p>These are very common problems at state schools because of their size, funding, and admission policies.</p>
<p>sorry for bad spelling did it quickly on my phone</p>
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<p>Actually, what anyone who looks at the data has to admit (along with two researchers who analyzed a large number of studies reported in the academic literature over three decades) is that there is no clear indication as to what type of institution offers “better education.” They attribute this at least in part to the fact that “classifications such as public research university, comprehensive college or university, or private liberal arts college are so general that each might include institutions differing substantially on other characteristics that have more immediate and important implications for how students learn.” [Ernest T. Pascarella and Patrick T. Terenzini, “How College Affects Students, Volume 2: A Third Decade of Research.” San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2005, p. 83]</p>
<p>Garbage in, garbage out. Princeton Review’s rankings and ratings are notoriously unreliable. As one example, Centre has a higher study abroad rate than virtually any college that does not mandate it (e.g. Goucher), and yet despite sending 1/3 as many students abroad, colleges like Indiana made the “most popular study abroad” list while Centre did not. The inclusion of a college like UPS (81% of need met, average indebtedness $29K) for “great financial aid” while snubbing Stanford (100% of need met, average indebtedness $16K) is another example.</p>
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Nonsense. There are public colleges far more selective than private colleges; compare Berkeley and Charleston Southern University. There are public colleges far smaller than private colleges; compare William & Mary and Boston U. There are public colleges far more financially stable than private colleges; compare UVA to the until recently defunct Antioch.</p>
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<p>And the same reference I cited in post 6 makes it very clear that there is absolutely no statistically significant difference in the quality of education between colleges based on selectivity, size, or financial resources.</p>