<p>I mean, I understand it's a very good school and all but why is it higher ranked than powerhouse schools like berkeley, johns hopkins, virginia, and notre dame? can anyone enlighten me to the contrary?</p>
<p>just curious...</p>
<p>I really dont see why people **** their pants over rankings.</p>
<p>its not just you. </p>
<p>though i won't necessarily agree with your definition of "powerhouse" schools.</p>
<p>It's not overrated compared to Notre Dame or UVA. Not sure about Berkeley.</p>
<p>Yeah, many think the same. Remember, though, that US News is very endowment-centric, so WUStL's placement is justified by their yardstick. In more important metrics (such as top programs/faculty), it pales in comparison to Berkeley and the like.</p>
<p>
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though i won't necessarily agree with your definition of "powerhouse" schools.
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</p>
<p>Heh. Yeah, Virginia and Notre Dame :rolleyes:</p>
<p>WashU doesn't "pale in comparison" to Berkeley unless you are referring to graduate programs. The undergrad program at WashU is considerably better than Berkeley for most majors. As for "the like," if that is referring to the others on his list (Virginia, ND) WashU is at least a peer institution to those schools, if not better.</p>
<p>@brand_182</p>
<p>Don't know about other grad schools, but WashU's med school is better than UCB's completely separate medical school (UCSF) in a different city.</p>
<p>UCSF is not a bad medical school at all (#5), but not as good as WashU's med school (#4).</p>
<p>They're still both amazing, but you have a better chance at WashU if you go to WashU than a chance at UCSF from UCB (which deflates massively).</p>
<p>Exactly. WashU has one of the best med schools and social schools in the nation; it is certainly not bad on the graduate level, but Berkeley is among the likes of Harvard/Stanford when it comes to grad programs all around and so yes it is much better in my opinion.</p>
<p>depends on whether you're talking undergrad or grad?</p>
<p>thats exactly what i was thinking kyledavid.</p>
<p>i dont know if its overated compared to Notre Dame. I would consider Wash U superior to Notre Dame. Maybe a tad bit overated in its ranking, but not a substantial number. I consider it a top 15 school.</p>
<p>WashU is an excellent school, but it has a reputation of making decisions to boost itself on college rankings rather than to make itself a better university (surprise that these two goals don't always overlap?).</p>
<p>Still, it is a better school than those listed. Whether it is at the same level as Cornell or Brown is another question.</p>
<p>Brand_182, #7:</p>
<p>"WashU doesn't "pale in comparison" to Berkeley unless you are referring to graduate programs. The undergrad program at WashU is considerably better than Berkeley for most majors." </p>
<p>The same faculty which makes UC-Berkeley one of the very best research universities across the board, in the US and the world (top 2-3), far better than WashU, teaches the undergraduate courses as well. There is no second set of "undergraduate" faculty. What is then the basis for your blank statement that the undergraduate programs at WashU are "considerably better" than those at UC-Berkeley? How is that measured? What are your criteria? Perhaps the size of the endowment of WashU?</p>
<p>The undergrad program at WashU is more selective than Berkeley, contains far fewer students, has more money to go to each student, and seems to be a more nurturing environment than Cal, making it extremely easy for students to have close contact with professors (which benefits recommendations and research opportunities). If you have reasons as to why Berkeley ugrad is better than WashU, I would be glad to hear them. After seeing the many "Berkeley vs. WashU" threads from prospective students that are contemplating WashU even with the considerable difference in price, I think this is the view of many other CC members.</p>
<p>I agree. Overrated.</p>
<p>Although I hate WashU, I have to agree that they are better than Berkley. ND is a powerhouse, same with Georgetown. Now those are two peer schools.</p>
<p>SweetLax88, Brand_182, et al.</p>
<p>You are all totally wrapped up in the USNWR rankings, and have lost all sense of perspective.</p>
<p>The alternative rankings that the world outside CC reads and actually cares about are, for example, the Newsweek list of the Top 100 Global Universities, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14321230/site/newsweek/%5B/url%5D">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14321230/site/newsweek/</a>
and the widely cited Academic Ranking of World Universities,
<a href="http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2006/ARWU2006_Top100.htm%5B/url%5D">http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2006/ARWU2006_Top100.htm</a></p>
<p>Look up in both the rankings of UC-Berkeley (5 & 4) and WashU (33 & 28). Then also try to find the "powerhouses" like Notre Dame and Georgetown (or say, Tufts and likes). You won't, they simply don't appear. These are fine universities, but not in the same league with the world's top universities. If you want to get a degree from a university that the whole world knows about and really respects, then you should look beyond USNWR lists, and pay attention to other rankings.</p>
<p>yeahcollege, when referring to rankings, the proper terms are overranked and underranked. WUStL gives a great education with a good quality of life, so I don't think it's at all overrated (especially considering the amount of bashing it gets). </p>
<p>The Shanghai Jiao Tong ranking is rubbish, by the way. The THES ranking is much more reliable.</p>
<p>people i wasn't meaning the rankings!! i could care less about rankings! what im saying is that people at my school say these things a lot:</p>
<p>"OMG. washu is like my dream school! notre dame is terrible. so is berkeley."</p>
<p>The world rankings are important because your degree will have "portability" outside the U.S. if you choose to work outside that country.</p>