<p>ok so here is this link i found ....it ranks all the colleges/unis in order of their graduate placement....and i was just wondering why i dont see names like davidson, carleton, hamilton and colgate??? i mean these college are really really good...so why arent they on this list??? does this mean that davidson under grads dont go to top grad schools??</p>
<p>This is a ridiculously awful survey if all you're doing is judging a school's ability to get its students into general grad schools. Its a good survey for... I quote another CCer "presitige whores". The survey only looks at the 15 top graduate programs in Medicine, Law, and Business. So lets assume the top 5 in each of the 3 categories.
First of all, Davidson doesn't offer courses in business or law. If you attend a big university undergrad you can take courses in their business or law or med grad school and show that you can do the work. This is essential to getting into a top 5 program.
Secondly, the survey doesn't include going to grad school in the arts! Davidson sends many kids to graduate programs in their majors be it a phd program in english or history or math or biology, it seems this survey doesn't find these pursuits good enough.
Thirdly, geography. The top five programs in each of these areas, 3 of them are at Harvard, 2 at Yale, 2 at Columbia... I'm too lazy to look it up, but none of them are remotely close to Davidson unless Duke sliped in somehow. Thus Davidson might have a good reputation but maybe distant Harvard is more familiar with Ivy league applicants, also as a somewhat regional school Davidson students aren't likely to want to move across the country, and our international students attending graduate programs abroad aren't included in this survey.
Fourthly, Davidson students aren't ultra competitive. Someone planning on attending Harvard Business doesn't choose Davidson. Many Davidson students turn down Ivy league schools so we don't only look at prestege, Davidson students are more well rounded and good at many things, not speacialized enough to get into a top 5 program. You chose Harvard if you want to be the best at one thing (somewhat of an exageration but some truth as well), you chose Davidson if you want to be a varsity athelete, perform in a play, do community service, and then go to a top 25 med school.<br>
I was as surprised as you that we weren't in the top 50, but when I realized it was more about the very very top programs I understood. Even so, we might be in the top 100. I'm iterested in other's thoughts on this.</p>
<p>I would be interested as to how they run their statistics. As a current student I know graduates that are going to Harvard for law and business that graduated from here. I turned down Ivies to come to Davidson for undergraduate but plan on applying to top graduate schools including Ivy leagues for graduate school. The top schools for getting people into graduate schools could be based on strict quantity instead of per-capita values, so in that sense Davidson doesn't have a chance. Plus, if it only considers business, law, and medicine then Davidson also suffers because as someone mentioned before students here go to a variety of graduate programs. As well as a lot of students here realize that as much as prestige seems to be regarded...you should go to law, business, or medical school where you want to practice.
I would disagree with orangelights though, Davidson is competitive, and I think students here are just as capable of getting into the top programs. As an Econ major I have seen many graduates go to highly prestigious graduate programs and even more get fantastic jobs straight out of college.</p>
<p>how much more/less does a davidson undergrad earn as compared to another top school grad e.g williams, amherst, dartmouth etc??</p>