Looking at the list of schools @ CC top university list, there are some that don’t rank as well as USC, based on the current USNWR rankings. Yet, these schools have been on the list for years. USC has improved in rankings year after year. At this point, in my opinion, it is time to reevaluate to list to ensure that all schools on the Top University truly deserves that distinction, and other schools that have improved may have a chance to be on it. I’m not sure how often the CC administrators review this list. I’ve been a cc fan for years, and have noticed that the same list exists time after time without change. Some students truly take opinions from this forum to choose their schools. I think that an occasional update may be helpful for future student applicants.
If kids are dumb enough to be compelled to apply to a school simply because it was on the CC top schools list probably means that very few schools, including USC, are going to accept them.
^Valid point, but it’s a minor issue. By your reasoning, the “CC Top schools list” shouldn’t exist at all, much less be ever amended. If UCLA, UVA, Notre Dame, CMU, etc. are on the list, USC deserves to be as well.
They don’t. Every so often someone complains (USC and NYU supporters are the most commonly offended parties), but it inevitably goes nowhere. Most recently a ridiculous petition on the NYU board garnering 200 signatures was blithely ignored. In any case, this should be posted in [another</a> part of the forum](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/community-forum-issues/]another”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/community-forum-issues/).
From the horse’s mouth:
I agree that it is time, as a matter of convenience for CC users who are interested in following USC. USC has just announced that their application totals this year exceed all other private schools in the US.
How does admitting to having an outdated, arbitrary list of “top” colleges benefit CC? I would think the owners would like to continue to maintain their credibility with outside sources, as well as the students and parents who come to CC seeking information that is based on facts, not just old arbitrary rankings made years ago.
The opinion of college bound students has CHANGED. USC received 45000 applications this year, more than any other private college and 29000 of them were received before Dec 1!! . They will end up with an admit rate lower than 18%. Students have spoken. Its time for CC to listen.
Much ado about nothing.
Good to see the CC mods sticking to their gun on this one! It’s funny how people on this site think public schools are underrated when UNC and Michigan get the nod on the CC Top Universities list while NYU, USC, Tufts, Boston College and Wake Forest do not. I think the list is about as good as it can be.
menloparkmom, why do you care so much? Stanford and MIT grads aren’t complaining about being lumped with CMU and UCLA on that arbitrary list.
golden, why do you care what I care about?
The list should be there to serve the users. If a school is the private school with the most applications, and if the subforum for that school is more active than others, then it is time to move that school to a one-click list.
Better to go strictly statistical, which is what a huge percentage of CCers do anyway when discussing the relative merits of colleges. Maybe you base inclusion in the “Top Colleges” category on a school’s SAT 25th percentile for “admits.” No school below a 2000 gets in?
(If this were the criteria USC would make it, as the composite 25th percentil score for the class of 2015 was 2020.)
How about updating the list of alphabetical colleges. The third largest college in my state doesn’t even have a listing! Indiana Univeristy Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI) is not even there, but the dinky little satellite in South Bend is. Can we correct that as well?
Truthfully, though I have no dog in this fight, I think USC should be in top colleges as well. It is one of those schools mentioned constantly, and it would be easier to click.
It shows up for me. Out of alphabetic order, admittedly, but it’s there.
[I</a> - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/i/]I”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/i/)
Home page -> Top Colleges -> USC
vs.
Home page -> Colleges -> S -> USC (alternately, “cc usc” in Google provides a direct link)
The issue is people feeling snubbed; it’s not a matter of having to lift a finger and click an extra time. For example, the reason you don’t hear Hopkins people complaining – despite the Ivies being on the main page and JHU not – is because all of their non-Ivy peers are in the same boat (including very good ones like MIT and Caltech). USC posters are lumped with colleges like USF and USC-Columbia rather than schools they consider peers, however, so they feel snubbed.
Personally, I would not be sad to see all direct links/categories of Ivies, “top universities,” and “top LACs” disappear from this site entirely. It only fuels the mania that certain colleges are “the” colleges and makes lower achieving students feel unwelcome.