<p>people here seem to follow us news religiously and only apply to the top ranked schools. Many kids here, don't even bother seeing what school's best for them</p>
<p>I've seen people apply to completely contrasting schools and it just confuses me</p>
<p>Academic prestige does matter. It definitely influences the opportunities you have after completing college.</p>
<p>I, like many people, can see myself being happy just about anywhere. I’m going to college to learn and so academics is the single most important factor when I look at a college.</p>
<p>Also, US News ranks more than just academics and tries to gauge overall quality. They might not be great at it, but they do provide rough estimates. </p>
<p>Did you ever think that maybe people are applying to those top-ranked schools because they determined they’re the best for them through their own measures? US News doesn’t pick schools at random. It’s not hard to understand that US News and students might reach the same conclusions.</p>
<p>Maybe you should take your ridiculous speculation and generalizations elsewhere.</p>
<p>Most people (whatever they will publicly state) put a lot in store of the rankings, and for the most part agree with the order of the schools. </p>
<p>I also find it irksome that many people apply just to every Ivy League school, Stanford & MIT, and then 1 safety in the event that <em>gasp</em> they don’t get into one of the hardest schools in the country. </p>
<p>But then again, prestige matters to most people, including me and you as well (taking a short glance at your post history), and the majority of people can adapt pretty well to whatever school they end up at.</p>
<p>It’s not just you. </p>
<p>The fact that anyone could seriously apply to MIT and Brown at the same time always baffles me. People here love prestiege and names, but I highly doubt anyone who puts down the entire Ivy list actually loves each and every school for reasons other than the name.</p>
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<p>I’ve heard worse. I know of several people who are considering West Point because of Forbes.</p>
<p><em>headdesks</em></p>
<p>West Point is insanely hard to get into. </p>
<p>They don’t want just a recommendation-- “You should apply for a nomination from one or more of the listed sources during the Spring of your junior year. You must obtain a nomination in order to compete for admission to the Military Academy. Cadetships are allocated by law to the Vice President, members of Congress, congressional delegates from Washington, D.C., the Virgin Islands, and Guam, Governors of Puerto Rico and American Samoa, and to the Department of the Army (service-connected nomination).”</p>
<p>You have to become nominated- by a member of Congress, the army itself, or the Vice President. </p>
<p>I think it’s a little harder to get into than say, Havard. </p>
<p>That’s just crazy.</p>
<p>Yurtle…I want to apply to MIT and Brown LOL.</p>
<p>I have reasons though, besides ‘prestige’. I love the idea of an open curriculum but I also want to major in Engineering. I’ve visited MIT and I really liked it. But, I could also see myself going to Brown. <em>shrugs</em> I adapt easily so, to me, academics and location are most important. Other little details don’t matter as much.</p>
<p>Some people actually do think about the schools, it’s not just what US News thinks.</p>
<p>i don’t really have a nice app to apply to the top US New’s colleges. But if i did, i guess i’d consider applying to a few. for me, location matters the most, so the ivy’s would have a pretty good shot being on my list!</p>
<p>Unfortunately there are no legitimate competitors because when other magazines create rankings they are trying to grab readers attention with a radical new list instead of just doing minor tweaks that would produce a very similar but more accurate result.</p>
<p>It’s dumb to intentionally choose a college you won’t enjoy because of its ranking, but an unformed person who has just graduated high school should be able to adapt to just about anywhere they end up.</p>
<p>I’m not sure but my understanding is that there is a posting formula here that pretty much breaks down to:</p>
<p>1) Suggest that maybe US news isn’t perfect and that a student should look for “fit” more than simple ranking, and</p>
<p>2) Spend 25 pages debating minute variations in the ranks and weightings of the US news ranks</p>
<p>It seems to work pretty well for the folks here, although some seem like (without hyperbole) the worst sort of people in the entire world, ever - the type who make Patrick Bateman look like an overall pretty decent guy.</p>
<p>^Sounds pretty accurate to me. I find it truly sad that people who attend Top 10 schools are complaining that their school is ranked “too low” (e.g. people have been complaining that Penn is ranked too high and Duke too low… ha. You know how many schools would kill to be in the Top 50? Let alone Top 10???) USNWR Best Colleges is a marketing gimmick to make substantial money for their otherwise subpar news magazine.</p>
<ul>
<li>My opinion: I based my college applications/decisions based on money(VI), location(VI), prestige(C), rank(C), medical school admissions(VI), Fitting in (VI) and organizations/clubs(dance)(I).</li>
</ul>
<p>Rank alone doesn’t cut it. It only determines or assumes academic prestige. There are some colleges ranked lower on USNWR, but have a high peer assessment score. If you are basing where you are applying to on academics, look at the PA score. Rank uses many factors. It is important to know which factors constitute a schools rank and which factors are important to you.</p>
<p>USNWR Best Colleges Rankings is a good way to compare the schools you have always thought about applying to. Some students use the rankings to essentially pick which college they should attend. Some of those students end up transferring. Visiting is just as important as ranking. If you can’t see yourself somewhere then don’t apply or decide to go there.</p>
<p>I also agree with the post above me. There are over 27,000 colleges in the U.S. Being in the top 50 or even 100 is prestigious enough. Being in the top 1-30 is as good as it gets. Don’t complain and say that your schools rank is low, if its in the top 1-30.</p>
<ul>
<li>VI: Very Important
I: Important
C: Considered</li>
</ul>
<p>I’m not sure what the genesis of this sort of attitude is, but I’m detecting an exodus from that kind of obsession with numbers.</p>
<p>They quickly discredit the Bible as soon as the Bible has Penn at #4.</p>
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Am I missing something here?</p>
<p>As for myself, I am completely obsessed with numbers. Just not amalgamated junk like US News. I like hard statistics and I build my own rankings.</p>
<p>USNews is viewed as number one in the public’s mind for the some same reasons that Harvard is viewed as number one in the public’s mind.
<p>We live in a world where Joshua judges Ruth based on her choice of schools.</p>
<p>A lot of people in other countries not as familiar with the process seem to take US News as some sort of “official national ranking” system.</p>
<p>I agree that many sadly do take USNWR seriously. Look at it for what it is; a money making venture. It is like the swimsuit issue for Sport Illustrated. An attempt to get buyers who do not subscribe, period.</p>
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<p>MIT and most other engineering schools for that matter have nothing like an open curriculum.</p>