<p>The year-to-year variability of the Forbes list is, in my opinion, a sign of how irresponsibly Forbes puts the list together. For example, my school dropped from 18th in last year’s Forbes list to 40ths this year. Other schools are ranked similarly variably. Schools do not change THAT much year to year. It just goes to show how poorly constructed their matrixes are.</p>
<p>I agree. Although my school didn’t jump that much, many others did. Just look at Cornell - it jumped from below the top 200 to in the 70s this year (although I still think that this placement is crazy to begin with). If I’m not mistaken, Duke and Dartmouth made similar jumps. For LACs, last year, Centre and Union were the highest ranked of all, at 14 and 26; this year, 13 out of the top 25 are LACs alone. The lack of consistancy is what makes me question their rankings the most.</p>
<p>The Forbes list and methodology make a lot more sense that the ridiculous USNWR rankings that place so much weight on “peer assessment”.</p>
<p>Forbes’ list is especially bad.</p>
<p>I’m really surprised to see no UC’s on this list. Both Berkeley and UCLA have amazing reputations</p>
<p>Cornell gets smoked by Wofford, but at least it squeaked past Kalamazoo College. Go Big Red!! Ivies RULE!!</p>
<p>Oh waaa, Stop complaining. It’s a ranking of the best colleges, NOT the best UNIVERSITIES, like US news does. Forbes is ranking based on UNDERGRADUATE education, which is totally more relevant than what the grad students are doing. Also, it is Forbes. Their list is based on output, NOT input. They don’t rank as other lists typically do, based on incoming students’ SAT scores, grades, etc. They rank based on the prominence, success of the students after they graduate from that college</p>
<p>Guess why the LACs are ranked so high? because they are top institutions for UNDERGRADUATES!</p>
<p>For example, Harvard Law is just about as prestigious as you can get when it comes to graduate school. But if you want to go to Harvard Law, you’re better off going to another school for undergraduate education (preferably one that ranks high on undergraduate output), than going to Harvard college, as Harvard Law and Harvard college are COMPLETELY irrelevant. And barely anyone stays, or can stay at the same school for undergrad and grad, even when it’s Harvard.</p>
<p>Look at where students from the LACs, west point, etc go for graduate school.</p>
<p>I go to Duke. I don’t care much for the Forbes rankings, but how in the world did we, by their methodology, increase by like 60 places since last year? I thought we were ranked 100-something last year on Forbes? Now we are 40 some. Hm.</p>
<p>Air your criticisms here but offer concrete suggestions also: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/978919-how-can-forbes-improve-its-rankings.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/978919-how-can-forbes-improve-its-rankings.html</a></p>
<p>Why is Bowdoin higher than Colby? I thought Bowdoin was a much harder to get into school.</p>
<p>Why is Forbes embarrassing themselves by creating such stupid rankings? I can’t believe it. They’re so pathetic. I mean there’s got to be a limit for stupidity…</p>
<p>Regarding post #19…</p>
<p>This survey rewards attributes that LACs are best known for. Princeton, of all the Ivy League schools, is most like and LAC in its approach to undergraduate education. That’s why it can hold its own in this survey.</p>
<p>Dartmouth has its own independent student run ranking of courses and profs…no one uses rate my professor. The thing with this list is it gets the top 200 right, but in a very bizarre order…</p>
<p>they have a pretty detailed explanation of their methodology, and they changed their approach somewhat from last year (like dropping 5% for faculty awards, etc), hence the big differences for some schools. All of the rankings have their pros and cons. It’s interesting to compare them. I don’t like the 25% USNWR gives to the deeply flawed PA, but I also don’t agree with Forbes’ 10% for Who’s Who. I don’t really know anyone who takes Who’s Who seriously. Rate My Prof doesn’t bother me so much because my college kids use it all the time. Ranking colleges is almost impossible since no one person can attend them all to compare, and the “best college” is somewhat subjective. I do applaud Forbes for at least trying to focus on output rather than input.</p>
<p>
Go and tell Dartmouth people about it.</p>
<p>
Agree. I think that Forbes this year’s ranking is better than last years though it’s still out of whack. I envision that Forbes will fine-tune its methodology and eventually create a ranking similar to USNWR’s but mixing RUs with LACs together. If they can achieve that, it’s probably a good thing since it will break USNWR’s monopoly and make it harder for schools to game the rankings.</p>
<p>@Sara12</p>
<p>Don’t be fooled by Forbes. Colby is Bowdoin’s [lady dog].</p>
<p>Good luck finding anyone with a triple digit IQ who gives any credence to this garbage list. I could make a more accurate list by throwing sheets of paper with all the names of all the colleges in the air and doing it that way.</p>
<p>Forbes’ ranking is a total joke. RateMyProfessor.com? Please. I just did a quick count of my own department. Half the faculty weren’t rated on RateMyProfessor.com. And roughly 1/3 of the people who were rated and listed under my department are not members of the faculty. Some were former faculty, in some cases gone for 3-4 years already, a few longer than that. One has been dead for two years. Several were visitors or adjuncts who taught a single course, once, at some time in the past. Most of the faculty who were rated had ratings from 2 or 3 students. Obviously the students themselves don’t take this site seriously or more of them would rate. And a self-selected “data” set that small is easily manipulated; a few disgruntled students (or pranksters from a rival school) could cause a schools’ ranking to plummet, or an organized effort by a small number of enthusiastic boosters could cause a school’s rating to soar. Just absurd.</p>
<p>This isn’t just sour grapes by the way. My own department’s overall rating was actually quite good, because the handful of students who rated happened to give the handful of professors (and non-professors erroneously attributed to us) high marks. But to take the ratings of a tiny self-selected few as saying anything useful about the quality of the department, much less to use it as a basis for comparison with another school or to incorporate it into a ranking that purports to get at college quality, is pure folly.</p>
<p>LOL, tzar09. I didn’t know if my love for Bowdoin was obscuring my knowledge of it academically. From all that I’ve heard, it’s one of the best LACs.</p>
<p>The worst college rankings list out there.</p>