Interesting to say the least
UF(32)
USC(35)
Carnegie Mellon seems WAY too low.
Where is BYU on this list?
Are these lists searchable? Anything below 300 schools? I prefer the user-friendly database format of other rankings systems that include more schools.
It has the top 120 each of Us and LACs, and you can sort each list by name to find a specific school. I don’t see BYU.
@OHMomof2, when there are over 3000 schools in the US, 240 is fairly limiting don’t you think?
It is one more tool for families looking beyond the dominance of UW News rankings. WaPo list takes into account other ranking systems, which include student outcomes and, for the universities, research. Interesting to see how the different formula moves some schools way up or down and some really don’t change much at all.
Surprised not to see University of Alabama anywhere on this list
I believe BAMA is more popular on CC due to OOS scholarships
@Portercat yes it is fairly limiting. It only ranks the “top” schools that are also ranked by the other ranking systems. I think it can’t rank all colleges as it is based on other rankings and they don’t all rank them all either…
Well, this new ranking list is great for my kid’s college, so I am all in favor:-)
This is an average of 6 other rankings. At least 5 of them place Alabama outside the top 100.
Well, this new ranking list is great for my kid’s college, so I am all in favor:-)
Ditto for my D’s LAC!
Prime Meridian had an interesting take on the USNWR rankings, http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1920377-nyt-why-college-rankings-are-a-joke-p2.html. I tend to think anything that looks at outcomes, whether that’s getting a good job or getting into a desired grad school, would be an improvement over what we have now.
Yes, Lehigh should be in top 50. Acceptance rates and SATs/scores, and most important, outcomes beat those of many on this list
There are no “ties” on this list, so schools with the same score (or whatever factor they use) will look better than another school with the same score.
I am astonished that people make a decision about where to send their child to school based on a list, no matter what list it is.
Why is that surprising @Proudpatriot? I bought a car with the help of lists of “most reliable” and “best value”. I didn’t buy the car solely based on that but they did give me cars to look at that i hadn’t considered, and if college lists are used that way I think they’re useful.
With any ranking system, you want to look at its methodology. We sort of blindly accept the US News and World Report as the ultimate ranking system. See this blog on why it’s problematic: https://blog.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/us-news-rankings-methodology/
It plays into certain factors like median SAT and ACT score, which in turn might lead colleges with lower rankings to raise their score standards in order to boost their spot on the list (i.e. UChicago climbing the rankings the past few years - it also has one of the highest median standardized test scores).