<p>I'm aware that this topic is on overkill, but I simply do not have the patience or ability to search the entire forum. Anyways what I so desperately want to know is where I can find a "legitimate" site with a list of the top 100 or so universities. I am familiar with the USNEWS rankings, but I've heard too many critics bash it. I'm just looking for a second opinion. Any help would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Us News is the best out there, no matter who bashes it. Other rankings may improve upon some of Us News's small mistakes such as overranking/underranking some colleges by a bit but other rankings have even GREATER flaws.</p>
<p>Rank the colleges by endowment, peer assessment, or retention/selectivity and you'll find that the list is still VERY similar to the current Us News list. Sure some colleges may vary a bit but the general top 10, top 25 and top 50 are about the same.</p>
<p>Either all or none of the college rankings is "legitimate" - depending how you look at it. Rankings by there very nature are subjective. Is no. 9 better than no. 10? Is no. 78 worse then no. 77? I don't think you can justly say that. While I'll agree, no. 9 is overall better than no. 77, I think you really can only group schools in blocks. You can take usnews rankings and divide them how you see fit. If you want to call the top 10 the "uber elite" and the top 25 the "elite" and then the next 25 "great schools." You can do that, though it still brings the question "what makes no. 10 better than no. 11". And if you're grouping 11 with no. 25...why is no. 10 better than 25?</p>
<p>The best thing to come out of the USnews rankings IMO is the teir system. I think you can call teir 1 schools (1-50) better than teir 2 schools (51-100) and etc. I think you can go even further and say the top 25 schools are probably "better" overall than the next 25. But really, once you get to the crux of it, you can't go wrong at any of the top 25 or top 50 for that matter. You might as well choose the best fit.</p>
<p>You will find this helpful:
<a href="http://www.carnegiecomm.com/resources/pcform.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.carnegiecomm.com/resources/pcform.html</a></p>
<p>Some might argue that there are no "legitimate" college rankings out there.</p>
<p>When the topic of "top colleges and universities" or "whether this college is better than that one," the US News and World Report rankings ALWAYS comes up as being "the best out there," to quote AcceptedtoCollegeAlready. </p>
<p>I wonder why this is, because I have an idea of how US News determines its rankings, and it seems so defunct and reliant on reputation and not merit that I am befuddled* when people believe it to be a reliable resource. </p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Just combine "CC top universities" and the Ivy board and you'll have a beautiful unranked list of all great schools. That's all you need, lol.</p>
<p>USNEWS publishes its methodology. Don't be so befuddled lol.</p>
<p>the problem is that there would be a different ranking for each individual person because everyone is different and needs different things. a school best for one person may be the best school for a certain individual but ranked 100th for another. USNEWS can only do a generalized ranking.</p>
<p>I think USNews is the best as its going to get.</p>
<p>It's difficult for "legitimate" and "college ranking" to co-exist in the same sentence. So much depends on the individual applicants and what suits them as to make an absolute ranking an exercise in futility.</p>
<p>the best ranking IMO- a couple years old but still valid
college rankings</p>
<p>^ LOL i can't believe UCLA has such a low ranking. i'm pretty sure UCLA should be higher cuz they're known to be notorious around here!</p>
<p>Most rankings are legitimate to the nearest 10, so long as you realize that the #10 and the #15 schools are pretty much the same. Also, some schools are VERY prestigious in a specific major.</p>
<p>Yea as long as you do your own research as well as look at Us News and GENERALIZE instead of focus on pure numbers (OMG #14 > #15) then you should be very fine as far as rankings of colleges goes.</p>
<p>A little dated, but very thorough rankings, keep reading there is a lot there: <a href="http://www.utexas.edu/law/faculty/bleiter/Undergra2001.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.utexas.edu/law/faculty/bleiter/Undergra2001.html</a></p>
<p>The National Research Council will update its rankings of graduate programs in late 2007 as part of a 39-month project. These rankings were last done in 1995. They conduct a very thorough analysis although it is debatable how relevant/useful the rankings are for undergraduate education.</p>