<p>funny, SC actually is in the same spot it would be on the top50 at USNEWS.</p>
<p>but i wonder if Haverford and Harvard were switched by accident?</p>
<p>i also find certain things about the list a bit discouraging, like Northwestern not even being on it, whatever data it used must be quite volatile to creat such a list.</p>
<p>Hanna:</p>
<p>You were fortunate to grasp the material instantly. Imagine if you were one of the people in the 90 person class who didn't? Would anyone even notice?</p>
<p>Did all 90 even bother to attend the lecture? I gather attendance can be rather spotty given that the lecture notes are available on the web and the reading period provides an opportunity to study them.</p>
<p>Hanna, I love reading your perspective on things. You do seem to have had a varied experience. Please keep contributing to these boards. I am a rising junior and will need a lot of help over the next year or two in deciding where to go. Keep it coming!</p>
<p>
[quote]
"Based on these factors, especially with selectivity and generosity in terms of financial aid, the list is definitely messed up"</p>
<p>Actually, as already noted, among the top 50, they make almost no difference at all.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>If these factors make no difference, then it is simply a popularity poll, based on what student body was encouraged to pad the vote. I would assume HYPS students had better things to do that day.</p>
<p>I don't believe this survey.. Colleges that are not as competitive are going to have students say they love their school and its the best in the world caus they want reputation that they dont have.. reputation comes from outsiders and is something ivys and other top schools have over 'occidental' or whatever.</p>
<p>reputation cant be found by survey, it can only be measured by peers. ask 50 thousand ppl where they would want to go to college without and restrictions(financial,social,intelligence) and im sure ull get the harvards,dukes,princetons, etc on the top of the list.</p>
<p>but does it matter where the average person on the street would want to go to school? reputation really doesnt measure academic excellence... sure the average person on the street would say harvard but that same person most likely knows little about academia. so if the students are enjoying the school and feel they are thriving- why do you bash it? for those of you saying oh the HYPS kids were probably doing something better- you just sound ridiculous and while i'm sure the HYPS schools are great, it does not mean they are the best and provide each individual student with a wonderful experience. in fact, i know of kids that have either committed suicide or transferred out of HYPS because the schools weren't as great as suggested. i've visited carleton, number 1 on the list, and the classroom was probably the most enlightening of any i've seen- a small one in which everyone contributed (no the kids weren't stupid; the class moved at a very fast pace). so maybe think twice about this before promoting the snobbery and pretention that the ivies are so known for.</p>
<p>there's lots of classrooms like that, not just at small little colleges</p>
<p>The MAIN problem with this survey is that it doesn't use scientific methods for determining the population sample that it surveys. Aside from that, there is NO REAL VERIFICATION of who fills out surveys online, so, for instance, industrious Yale students could fill out hundreds of surveys ranking Harvard as 0 on every scale while Harvard students could do the same to Yale. This is about as useless as it gets.</p>
<p>Agreed. The PR rankings are ludicrous.</p>
<p>STUDENTS NEW TO THE COLLEGE QUEST....DON'T BELIEVE ANY OF PR'S RANKING STUFF! It is all a crock.....students write in who have a gripe with their school, or who have nothing to do after a night of drinking and partying but can't fall asleep yet, or who respond like robots to their respective colleges "rah-rah" campaign encouraging student responses that can help boost visibility and prestige...</p>
<p>Typical American empty marketing campaigns. PR's ranking system reminds me of the heavy PR spin production houses do for some mediocre films. So often companies market the mediocre films the heaviest because they know they'll probably only be able to make big bucks the opening week. Once word gets out on the street how bad the film is no one else will come to see it.</p>
<p>Colleges are doing other preposterous things these days to enhance their status, visibility, and prestige. Colgates is major ratings-conscious and been on a rampant campaign for several years to boost their standings. Kenyon, regretfully, is embarking on a similar campaign (and it is really such a great LAC I wish it wouldn't resort to such measures) - I even noted it's alumni publications are getting glossier, heavier and more polished and this past month in the Obit section, they even published the deaths of people who'd received Honorary degrees from the school....that blew me away. Is that customary? It seemed a little outrageous to me.</p>
<br>
<p>Well, that's one reason why selectivity is, and ought to be, included in a measure of school quality. At good old #32, there aren't a whole lot who don't get it. (I wager that's the case way down the list at #47, too.) But if some kids don't get it, then it's up to them to call the professor, email the TF, go to office hours, knock on the tutor or proctor's door, or make a lunch date with a prefect to talk about finding assistance. If you can't do any of those things -- if you are so shy about the fact that you are lost, or so laid-back about addressing problems, that you will not get help unless someone makes you do it -- then I'm the first one to say that you don't belong at #32, even if you're the next Einstein.</p>
<p>I've been the lost, confused kid in a Harvard class: Phonetics & Phonology, which is required of linguistics majors but which I took as an elective with no ling background. I mean, I was floundering -- got 50% on the first couple of problem sets. I went to office hours every week for something like two months to try get a better grasp of the concepts I was missing (incidentally, I was generally the only kid there). I ended up with a perfect score on the final and an A in the class. If the class had just crawled along at a speed I could handle without extra help, I'd have come away with about one tenth of the value I got out of the course -- both the value of mastering sophisticated ideas and the satisfaction of rising to a tough challenge.</p>
<br> [QUOTE=""]
<p>Did all 90 even bother to attend the lecture?</p>
<br>
<p>If a couple of kids are missing, how does that hurt my experience of the lecture? Chances are, the missing kids are busy rehearsing ballet steps or organizing a political rally or writing a column for the Crimson, and I'll get the benefit of their talents when I watch the performance or cheer at the rally or read the editorial.</p>
<p>
[quote]
email the TF
[/quote]
</p>
<p>What, pray tell, is a "TF"?</p>
<p>BTW, saw a fun school newspaper article recently by a student investigating the best place on campus for a nap. After running through all the options, he found that a large lecture class was the ideal environment for a nice solid nap. But, you don't want to get caught sleeping in your own lecture class. So his conclusion: for a perfect, uninterrupted snooze, just go to somebody else's large lecture class and let the professor put you in a deep sleep.</p>
<p>Not a college student alive who hasn't succumbed to sandman in a large lecture hall. Right after lunch? In the winter, when the heat is turned up just a bit too much. Out like a light.</p>
<p>i laugh that schools like scripps, reed, and grinnell are higher on this list than schools like dartmouth. just shows u how flawed this list is. im not saying those schools are bad, i love grinnell, but sry they dont compare to dartmouth AT ALL.</p>
<p>Mini's list does indeed give some of the lesser known smaller LAC's their 15 seconds of fame. In fact, this is the only list I have ever seen where the LAC's take over the top ten! After reading CC for a couple of years, somehow I knew this would be coming....... GO LAC's! GO LAC's! :)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Nothing better than an art history lecture for snoozing. The lights go off and you can drift off with images of Michaelango drifting through your subconscious. :)</p>
<p>Mini, I have said it once, I have said it 1,473 times...mixing LACs and Research universities is never a bright idea.</p>
<p>Even if the PR were accurate (which is a HUGE if because it is based almost entirely on the very limited experience and biased opinions of 17-20 year old students who have, for the most part, been exposed to just one university...their own), it would be wise to separate LACs from research universities.</p>
<p>I understand that you left the publics out, but where did Cornell, Duke, Northwestern and Penn go? You listed 20 private research universities in your list. Are you telling me that those 4 amazing universities doe not make it among the top 20 research universities?</p>
<p>I hope I see a PR researcher; I'll tell him/her that Northwestern is the best in every category. Maybe the ranking of our newspaper can make another 18-spot move (hopefully this time up!). Ah, the simple, unpredictable ridiculousness of the Princeton Review ..</p>
<p>A TF is a TA -- they just use the term "teaching fellow" there.</p>
<p>I already fall asleep in big classes in high school.</p>
<p>Reed is above University of Chicago? odd
And Macalester is above Reed? even odder
From what I have heard I would hardly put Holyoke above Swarthmore
but it gives people something to ***** about till the US nEws rankings come out!</p>