<p>theyre absurd. </p>
<p>and thats coming from someone whose alma mater ranked nearly 20 places higher in kiplingers than usnews.</p>
<p>The rankings represent (what Kiplinger's believes to be) the colleges that are the "best values" but not necessarily the colleges with the best academics. I assume this accounts for the discrepancy between Bucknell's Kiplinger's and USNWR's rankings.</p>
<p>what are the percentages for the SAT verbal/math scores?</p>
<p>It's the percentage of the entering freshman class (in this case the class of 2010) who scored above 600 on both the verbal and math portions of the SAT.</p>
<p>Kiplinger's methodology:</p>
<p>Our rankings measure academic quality and affordability, with quality accounting for two-thirds of the total. We started with data on more than 1,000 private institutions provided by Peterson's, then added our own reporting. Our list ranks the top 50 universities and liberal arts colleges in separate tables. To determine each category, we used the Carnegie classification system, which organizes institutions based on the highest level and number of degrees offered.</p>
<p>Bucknell at 11? Yeah, this is definitely the best ranking system out there. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>
[quote]
The rankings represent (what Kiplinger's believes to be) the colleges that are the "best values" but not necessarily the colleges with the best academics. I assume this accounts for the discrepancy between Bucknell's Kiplinger's and USNWR's rankings.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>so what, other than the fact that bucknell offers decent merit awards to 3% of students, 'accounts' for the discrepancy? simply, the problem is that these rankings do a horrible job doing what they purport to do. </p>
<p>i dont mean to be picking on my school, as i do feel that it is every bit as good as 'top 20' schools like colgate... but come on. (heck, colgate offers great financial aid (to those they offer financial aid)... why arent THEY ranked more highly?)</p>
<p>holy cross at 8? wheaton at 12? illinois weseleyan ahead of oberlin? just because a few merit awards make the schools more affordable for some students? i thought academics were 2/3s of the ranking. and i thought things like average cost after aid and average debt at graduation would, um, matter a bit more than it appears they do in the rest.</p>
<p>I think that these rankings offer an interesting & useful perspective of the top 50 LACs. I am not shocked that Holy Cross & Bucknell are highly ranked as they are two of the best schools in the country with respect to undergraduate academics. It is also helpful to know which schools are offering significant amounts of merit aid. And it is also helpful to those who are just starting their college search to be acquainted with these 50 outstanding colleges & universities. USNews does a great job, but another perspective is always welcome.</p>
<p>I wasn't attempting to defend Kiplinger's rankings. I agree that the rankings are a bit absurd. I was merely trying to provide a possible reason as to why there was such a difference between Kiplinger's and USNWR's rankings.</p>
<p>Almost all rankings are bull.</p>
<p>wow, look how far carleton and middlebury are.....</p>
<p>I found that when I was doing rankings for my son's schools of interest just a little tweak one way or another on some of the variables could produce a wildly different order. Some of the quality variables are very subjective and I think people have absorbed US News rankings as gospel when, really, they may or may not be based on criteria that are important to you or even important to undergraduates in general.</p>
<p>I agree. No one ranking is perfect (far from it) and it is useful to see several different rankings to see different takes from a variety of viewpoints.</p>
<p>Bucknell (my alma mater) has always had excellent academics and professors - I think that it could be rise in the ratings if it increased diversity and got rid of the fraternity/sorority scene.</p>
<p>I have heard a lot of great things about Bucknell over the years including the striking beauty of its campus. I hope to get the chance to see it one of these days.</p>