<p>hey man what the hell, why do you have to bash Wash U for??? you know, plenty of people have very negative things to say about JHU too, but you dont hear them go around bashing the school openly like you just did.</p>
<p>I don't think he meant WashU as a whole, just their (albeit outrageous) admissions practices. But I could be wrong.</p>
<p>See, I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, but in this case, it's clear as heck what he said (mentioning the rankings only after he said the school as a whole "sucked.") Besides, it's obvious he's so obsessed with rankings that he must put down other schools in order to feel good about his own acceptances.</p>
<p>WUSTL is a prime example that US News isn't a prestige ranking. With that being said, I don't agree with their admissions practices either.</p>
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hey man what the hell, why do you have to bash Wash U for??? you know, plenty of people have very negative things to say about JHU too, but you dont hear them go around bashing the school openly like you just did.
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<p>Um...in context of this thread and my reply...I was only talking about the practices of WUSTL admissions. Of course there are negative things about JHU and just about every...other...college. I'm sorry my post was too ambiguous to interpret. No harm intended. But, if you were responding djok, please disregard this message. :p</p>
<p>Guys, the topic was about the rankings and playing games on the statistics just for the sake of a better place in the rankings. This is context in which I talked about WUSTL. But, I still think that JHU, Chicago and a few other colleges are better than WUSTL even though they are behind in the rankings. WUSTL does not deserve that ranking, I think, even though in the following years it seems that it will ascend a bit more in the rankings.</p>
<p>I'm not obsessed with rankings but bear in mind that an ivy school lures the companies more than the other equivalent schools. (That is, MIT, Stanford, etc are of course great places despite the fact that they are not ivy league)</p>
<p>Rankings are important not because they reflect colleges' education quality, but rather the quality of the students you are going to live with for the next four years. At a place like JHU where everyone has aspirations, no doubt that we'll all flourish both individually and as a community.</p>
<p>As I said before, please let's put an end to this discussion.</p>
<p>Give some credit to the rankings.. while they are not accurate (after all, who could "rank" education?), its not like your local community college is making the top 20. I think it is useful as a general reference. U.S News Top 25 or so universities deserve to be called the nation's top universities.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ivywise.com%5B/url%5D">www.ivywise.com</a></p>
<p>look in parents for admit rates for 2006</p>
<p>I liked AdminDaniels comments about how JHU could care less about its ranking.My alma mater is always touting its ranking.It strikes me as really silly.</p>
<p>However the reality is that many universities are seemingly obsessed with this stuff as are many students and parents.A ranking is a poor reason to attend a school.</p>
<p>Hopkins apparently does care though about how its food program is doing in the rankings. That's right. Good bye sodexho. Current students know what I'm talking about ;)</p>
<p>Whether the Hopkins administration admits it or not they do care about the rankings, A LOT. Just go to any Hopkins medical facility if you do not believe me, there is a poster approximately every 5 feet reminding you how great they are and how they were have been ranked number 1 in the country for the past few years. Like scorp just mentioned, the administration has definately come out and said that they want to be in the top ten of princeton reviews best food on campus category within the next few years. Another example would come during my freshmen orientation when President Brody lectured to us about how many number 1 ranked programs we have. Why would it matter if they don't care? I have had a number of discussions with professors whom cite the USNews rankings in regards to the prestige of a program, it is a topic that many of the faculty and administration at the very least thinks about.</p>
<p>The fact is they do care, and frankly, they would be foolish not to care. Students, parents, companies, other universities, and the international community (which is becoming more and more important in our age) all look at these rankings when evaluating an education. A friend of mine here at Hopkins transfered out of the BME department his freshmen year to pursue studies in an area that he liked more. His parents were about ready to kill him because he switched from the best program in the country to something that wasn't on the radar screen according to USNews, and its not like his parents aren't educated, both have PhDs and work for APL, one of whom is now part of the hiring committee for the company and has flat out said to us, that unless you have a 4.0, we aren't going to look at your application if you don't come from a top 15 schools (according to USNews). I am not the one to say if this case is a singularity, but I would venture a guess that it is not. </p>
<p>Like others have said, USNews is far from a perfect system, but it is without question the most prominent and powerful system that currently exists, and it does have a profound impact on the way the world looks at the educational system here in America. Hopkins would like to appear to be the "bigger man" in all this by not caring about their ranking, and not changing admissions policy just to cater to USNews, but in reality they do care and would be foolish not to. </p>
<p>Aside from all of that I am very proud of my university. While I think it is fallacious to say that Hopkins does not care about the rankings, they have not altered their policies to better themselves in them. I feel that the administration and students know that Hopkins is an elite university and that their current policies and procedure will suit them very well in the rankings and that is why they do not change (after all, Hopkins is a really really good school). </p>
<p>Things here have only changed for the better here and can say that in the years to come things at Hopkins will be flat out awesome. The new developments and programs being implemented here are quite impressive, I kind of wish I could start my four years over again.</p>
<p>Nice post.</p>
<p>Guess you're jealous of me- Hopkins 2010!!!</p>
<p>I'd be more jealous of the class of 2011, the new quad is scheduled to be done for their arrival and the new charles commons building won't be completed for your arrival either; nonetheless, you'll have a good time here</p>
<p>well said spe07.. i hope admissions daniel read your post!</p>
<p>spe07
Interesting post.We went to the BME orientation for admitted students in April.The head of the department started of by saying something to the effect that there is no discernable difference between the top x ( i forget the number) BME programs in the country.
Obviously you are there and know whats going on much more than I can from the outside.Like you said they don't game the admin process and that can't be said for ,at a minimum,some schools.</p>
<p>spe07 really? I'm fairly certain I'm living in CC next year. I hope it'll be done. (I know the book store and shops won't be done until october but whatever.)</p>
<p>I was refering to the shops/bookstore/a lot of the area around there where be complete come this fall. The residential portions of the building will be functional by then though, but that doesn't really help me :) (or incoming freshmen)</p>
<p>Very well said, spe07. I shared your sentiments but lacked the confidence and rhetorics to post them.</p>
<p>spe07 yeah but the shops and book stores will be done by october, probably. Then they are going to start tearing down the pike house and etc... (is that the University doing that or some other co?) The neighborhood around JHU will be an amazing place in 2 years. It almost sucks to be class of 09. Oh well.</p>
<p>Though I dread bringing this thread back-up (and honestly hope it can end with this as the last word - yeah right!), I felt I needed to respond to "spe07"'s remarks.</p>
<p>Most importantly, there is a difference between being proud of your rankings, and fine tuning an admission system that primarily looks at raising those rankings. In terms of policy making, rankings do not matter to the Admissions team I work for and they do not guide how we make our decisions. The original poster wrote about being disappointed with our current rankings, and working towards getting the rankings up -- that is so far from our agenda. Maybe if we dropped 10 places, things would change, but I do not see that in the future.</p>
<p>Do rankings matter? Unfortunately yes. The prospective student and the prospective parent base much of the beginning of their college search on these rankings. And unfortunately we in Admissions are dragged into this -- we are constantly asked where our programs rank. And in many ways, the only way someone will consider your school is if you provide them with a ranking. </p>
<p>After re-reading your post I think in many ways we agree -- it is just a discussion of semantics now. Do we care about rankings? Yes, as it is the necessary evil of the world of admissions today. But do we care so much as to shape our decisions by rankings - NO! And that is the main point of this whole thread. </p>
<p>In many ways we are forced to care about rankings as they have become so twisted into the way today's youth search for colleges. Ask any true Admissisons professional, and they will have very few good things to say about USNWR, but they also will state the understand its impact. The difference is do you shape policies around a seriously flawed ranking system that is geared towards selling magazines.</p>
<p>(((And oh yeah, that food ranking did matter a lot!!!!)))</p>
<p>(((Did you know that USNWR would have to fold as a magazine if they discontinued the College rankings edition - that one issue keeps the magazine financial stable each year.)))</p>