How many ivies should be in the top 10 and how many in top 20 remain annual hot topics in debate bot

College Confidential Community
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<p>Year in and year out, when it comes to this time of the season, most people start to pay attention to the college rankings that updated by various ranking organizations. Yes, it is the high time for the annual college rankings update specially dedicated to undergraduate education. Starting from Late July till today (August 24), more than a half dozen of different organizations and companies published their individual lists based on various ranking viewpoints or criteria. Among these, Money Magazine, Forbes and Princeton Review have released their lists for 2015. Washington Monthly and the most popular USNews ranking, coming up in two weeks （on 09-09-2014）, these two usually come in pairs. Internationally, although focused mainly on graduate rather than undergraduate level, we also observe China's AWRU update their list just last week. </p>

<p>One thing I do notice without a surprise, although there may be minor differences among the lists, we always see three ivies Harvard, Yale, and Princeton reside atop the list and later joined by two to three other ivies to complete the envied top 10 spots, then not for long the rest （ivies）will filling the spots and usually all 8 ivies finish before or on 16. The aforementioned pattern was what I observed in the US News annual college rankings for the past three decades (only few exceptions in the early years). Among the top 16, ivies match well against with the rest in the nation within the US and similar trend can be found in the World University Ranking (ivies against the world). This year Forbes placed 3 ivies in the top 10 and 4 ivies followed up immediately，altogether 6 ivies in top 20. A new player Money Magazine, although from investment view point, placed 2 ivies in the top 10 and 3 ivies altogether 5 in top 10. Internationally，we also observe China's AWRU put 3 ivies in the top 10 and 3 ivies in top 20; in UK's QS earlier summer update, they also placed 3 ivies in the top 10 and 3 ivies in top 20. </p>

<p>One may not totally agree with USNews last year's (2014) results, which allows 4 ivies to occupy top 4 in the nation; but using ivies' showings or appearances as a measuring stick appear to be a good way to observe the progress or dynamic of the national elites versus ivies. Many schools take the annual ranking very seriously and we can observe the individual school's response to the ranking results years after years. </p>

<p>Personally, I am not a particularly fan for the ivies only and in fact they are really good. It just that there are many other good private institutes e.g., Stanford, MIT, Caltech, Chicago, and Duke; and several good public Universities e.g., Berkeley, UVA, and Michigan that worth our considerations when it comes to this annual topic again. How many ivies should be in the top 10 and how many in top 20 remain annual hot topics in debate both nationally and internationally. What is your opinion on this?</p>

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<p>Answer me this: should my kid feel bad that she picked Brown over Chicago because Chicago is now higher than Brown? Or should she be glad she didn’t pick Chicago and go there 8 years ago when it was crappier?</p>

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When comparing #1 with #80, this might be correct. When comparing schools that are separated by 10 points or fewer? No way. College rankings are not like a horse race that comes down to a photo-finish. In terms of educational quality, every school in the top 20 might as well be tied for first place.</p>

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<p>BrownParent:</p>

<p>Based on USNews ranking, Brown was a top 10 school between 1995 and 1999; ranked better than Chicago. These two schools were evenly ranked between 2005 and 2006. As of USNews rankings in 2014， even though Chicago ranked as high as Number 5 and Brown 14, it (the rankings) did not reflect the unique flexible self designed academic study with more than 70 concentration programs that offered to Brown’s undergraduate students. </p>

<p>When it comes down to final decision on which school to attend, academic ranking is not the only factor; fitness (e.g., personal preference [mid-West vs New England, Traditional vs. Flexible (as mentioned)], financial packages, and personal academic goal [e.g., 8-year Medical Program ]), instead, is the key. I believe Brown did not disappoint your daughter in this regard. </p>

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<p>WW:</p>

<p>Yes, your comment is a good one. Annual College rankings that produced (updated) by all the aforementioned companies or organization could not provide us appropriate or satisfactory quantitative results like a horse race that comes down to a photo-finish, no matter how carefully their criteria were structured or formatted. It is possible that many schools tied at one spot and it happened in the well-reputed (experienced) USNews, who started publishing the ranking since 1983. For the past three decades, USnews placed a tie between Harvard and Princeton at number 1 for at least a half dozen times. In their most recent ranking showed a three-way tie at number 7 for Duke, MIT, and Penn; and a five-way tie at 23 among CMU, UCLA, USC, UVA, and Wake Forest. </p>