Forbes Best colleges list

Parents Forum
21

<p>I’m not into any rankings. But this one is amusing. </p>

<p>I think my kids went to pretty good undergrad colleges: Brown and NYU/Tisch. They never saw any rankings. These schools were wonderful for them and were such great fits and honestly that is what matters. I do believe, however, that these schools have pretty good reputations. One is an Ivy and one is considered highly regarded in my daughter’s field and is extremely competitive to be admitted to. </p>

<p>Now, I work in the field of college admissions. I honestly have never heard of some of the colleges that were ranked higher than my daughters’ schools. </p>

<p>Brown is ranked 45. A school ranked higher that I have never even heard of is: Wabash. Some ranked higher, i have surely heard of but can’t imagine many agreeing, such as: Centre, College of Holy Cross, Washington and Lee, Colby, Smith. Well, there are more, but in any case, those schools are quite a bit less selective. </p>

<p>NYU is ranked 173. Some schools considered “better” on this list, but are ones I have never heard of are: Wofford, Doane, Berry, Rockhurst, George Fox, Salem, Westminster (MO), Nebraska Wesleyan, Luther, Westmont.</p>

<p>I am familiar with a very wide array of colleges for all levels of students but I guess I better brush up on these “top ranked” colleges that I have never heard of!</p>

<p>Also, I’m not into evaluating salaries of graduates as a measure of how good a college is. For example, I went to grad school at Harvard (a well respected university) and am in a low paying field.</p>

<p>PS, I never knew Who’s Who was so well regarded!</p>

22

<p>Yes, the post by bclintonk linked to in post #18 above is a great summary. I agree with it. </p>

<p>(I don’t think that HYP need to be at the top at all, by the way, but it is rather amusing to see Wofford, Principia, and DePauw before Cornell or St. Mary’s College of CA and Sweet Briar College before Johns Hopkins ).</p>

23

<p>The article does state in the caption under the heading that it is from “the students point of view” which justifies some of the methodology I guess. I also think it is a goof on the USNWR rankings. But hey, I bet it sells their magazine and that’s their ultimate goal!</p>

24

<p>It doesn’t matter to me that the universities and LACs are mixed together. </p>

<p>But even within the LAC category…it is amusing to see schools like Hillsdale, Houghton, Convenent, Thomas Aquinas, or Austin College BEFORE Bard, for example. </p>

<p>Or within universities to see schools like Southwestern, John Carroll, or DePauw BEFORE Lehigh.</p>

<p>Lots more examples that seem so far from general ideas of reputation of colleges.</p>

25

<p>Even if you want the students’ point of view (a good notion), there are ways to do studies to glean that information. The criteria used here is very odd, and surely not scientific.</p>

26

<p>in general, the list is simply a joke, imo.</p>

27

<p>I think people should pay less attention to rankings and lists and concentrate on a school that feels right for them. Weigh the pros and cons. Is it a good fit? Is it accredited? Does the school have the major or concentration you’re satisfied with? Is it affordable? Sure, we’re all curious to see how a particular college is doing in the ratings and all the other data thrown out at us. But, I think some folks put too much emphasis on numbers and lists and should focus more on the schools which feel right for their needs.</p>

28

<p>“My D refused to even visit Williams once she learned they don’t offer campus tours in the winter. That fact told her all she needed to know”</p>

<p>Since it’s not a fact, I’m not sure what she learned from it. They offer tours November, January, February. It looks like they don’t offer tours in December. I suspect your D didn’t want a small school in a cold climate.</p>

29

<p>A lot of students in my area choose their school based on the football team they want to support, so using a list like this one is certainly no worse.</p>

30

<p>^ I disagree. They may derive a great deal of pleasure from watching a team they like, whereas this list may not relate to anything of value at all.</p>

31

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<p>Maybe, maybe not. The kind of person who studies these lists may derive pleasure from knowing that they got into #57 when their friend only got into #117.</p>

32

<p>I get the methodology, even if it seems like monkeys put it together. Elitist monkeys.</p>

<p>I could argue every one of the factors involved, the pros/cons, the socioeconomic hidden factors, but what’s the point? I can only marvel at the way the Big Ten ranks:</p>

<h1>18 Northwestern</h1>

<h1>92 UMichigan–Ann Arbor</h1>

<h1>97 UIllinois–Urbana/Champaign</h1>

<h1>192 Penn State</h1>

<h1>212 UWisconsin–Madison</h1>

<h1>222 Indiana U.</h1>

<p>Didn’t even go any farther to list the other schools in the conference…</p>

<p>I enjoy Steve Forbes’ views on tax reform, but his magazine has gone 'round the bend on this one.</p>

33

<p>I think retention rates are important as well, and 4 year graduation rates are skewed because there are plenty of universities that have 5 year programs.</p>

34

<p>I see from their website that Williams has tours and info sessions scheduled in the winter. All I can say is that when D was planning a visit in January or February several years ago, there was a note on their website that said tours were suspended until, I believe, mid-March. Perhaps they had had a lot of snow that year?</p>

<p>Regardless, my point was less about my D’s prejudice and more about my contention that it is easier to make smaller numbers of self-selecting students (eg. kids who don’t mind cold and snowy weather) happy than thousands of kids, when among these are students for whom the school may not have been their ideal choice. Anyone who can get into Williams can get into their big state university and thus would have had at least one other choice. The reverse is not true, however.</p>

35

<p>I know us Smithies are pumped to see ourselves at number 35 :D</p>

36

<p>I had rankings. Find them ludicrous. Particularly as the mom of a Barnard grad. Columbia is 13, Barnard 63, and at least half her classes were at Columbia. Not sour grapes. Also a Williams mom.</p>

<p>DonnaL – I hoped you tried some of those restaurants. Glad you had a good time. No, W’town isn’t for everyone, and I doubt Williams is the number one college, but my S did choose Williams over the U of Chicago. Just more his style. He’s an introvert.</p>

<p>As for Who’s Who – great methodology!!! I am in the US as well as the global editions. Just kidding. Really am in them, but in the immortal words of Emily Dickinson, “I’m nobody. Are you nobody too?”</p>

37

<p>“Now, I work in the field of college admissions. I honestly have never heard of some of the colleges that were ranked higher than my daughters’ schools.”</p>

<p>As bad as the Who’s Who and Rate My Professor criteria are, they are light years ahead of the “I’ve never heard of it” criterion. Never heard of Wabash? Get out a little more.</p>

38

<p>Schmaltz, I knew I opened myself up for criticism and thanks for coming through with it! :rolleyes:</p>

<p>But no, I know nothing about Wabash, Wofford, Doane, Berry, Rockhurst, George Fox, Salem, Westminster (MO), Nebraska Wesleyan, Luther, Westmont, Principia, Hillsdale, St. Norbert, Berry, Covenant, Capital, California Lutheran, Ripon, The Masters, Austin, Houghton, Pacific Lutheran, Wisconsin Lutheran, or Troy of the colleges in the top 250 in Forbes. I know of hundreds of colleges. I would have thought I would know about the so called “best” 250, but apparently not on this list. There are 25 there that I have not heard of. I also have never had a student ask me about any of these. </p>

<p>How many of these 25 that I just mentioned have you heard of? These schools are not well known across the country. But I guess I better look into them as they are some of the 250 “best” schools…some were ranked pretty high, in fact!</p>

39

<p>After reading this I think the ranking for Forbes should go down. I would have a hard time believing anything that came from Forbes again. Who the heck even heard of some of these schools and Forbes actually placed these unknowns above other far more known and wonderful schools. This is just absurd and as I said earlier, I would have touble reading anything that came out of Forbes again. The way that they conducted research for this is awful.</p>

40

<p>Troy has a FBS football team, in the sunbelt I believe. And iirc, Wofford beat Appalachian State the same year they beat Michigan. Cal Lutheran sounds familiar. </p>

<p>[url=&lt;a href="http://www.its.caltech.edu/~nwatson/ranks.html]Here’s[/url"&gt;http://www.its.caltech.edu/~nwatson/ranks.html]Here’s[/url</a>] an inferior set of rankings, for those that don’t like Forbes’ effort.</p>