<p>"Forbes Magazine in its second annual college rankings issue has just awarded its top spot to an institution that doesnt tend to win such beauty contests: the United States Military Academy at West Point."</p>
<p>As</a> Forbes Sees It, West Point Beats Princeton (and Harvard, Too) - The Choice Blog - NYTimes.com</p>
<p>Good for West Point. Alas, as has been documented in multiple threads such as this one </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/760218-new-forbes-college-rankings-some-surprises.html?highlight=forbes[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/760218-new-forbes-college-rankings-some-surprises.html?highlight=forbes</a>, </p>
<p>the methodology is laughable. The individual behind the rankings, is someone named Richard Vedder. Having just scanned his list of publications, I note that he never published in any of the top journals in his field. It is not a surprise, therefore, that he would produce such a deficient methodology. People can debate the merits of other methodologies such as the revealed preference method of Avery et al., but the latter are light years ahead of Vedder.</p>
<p>Any college ranking system that lists Johns Hopkins as #173 is seriously flawed.</p>
<p>Interesting comments at the end of the NYT article.</p>
<p>wow this is almost as bad as that payscale survey they blogged about a few weeks ago.</p>
<p>Free education tied to a 4-year armed-services obligation, not my idea of a #1 college.</p>
<p>“equally determined by enrollment-adjusted entries in Who’s Who in America”
Oh my!</p>
<p>What is Annapolis doing wrong?!</p>
<p>Well that’s not hard to believe if 20% of their ranking is average indebtedness after college. Whether you agree with their methodology for ranking the “best” colleges or not, they seem to have done a good job according to their methodology.</p>
<p>Oh no, the Ivies aren’t the first 8 listed so this automatically means Forbes is ■■■■■■■■! </p>
<p>"Oh no, the Ivies aren’t the first 8 listed so this automatically means Forbes is ■■■■■■■■! "</p>
<p>Haha, yeah, no freakin’ kidding.</p>
<p>No one claimed what the above two have referenced. Most criticized the list for its methodology not for its results.</p>
<p>With that said, the apparent absurdity of some of the placements of outstanding schools is strongly suggestive of a skewed methodology.</p>
<p>Well, West Point would obviously be far from tops for pure academia. But few schools produce students with the kind of discipline and work ethic that USMA does. Kids at the conventional top schools don’t have the willpower to make it to 8AM classes, West Point kids have to be ready in uniform at 6 AM. And discipline and work ethic are just as important at success in life as academic prowess.</p>
<p>LOL, so many annoyed people. </p>
<p>My school on USNews is in the top 50, but according to Forbes its in the 170’s. That’s a big difference…</p>
<p>I think Forbes reasoned that if their list resembled USNWR too closely, not only would it attract less attention, but less people would value its utility. Therefore, they designed a (poor) methodology intended to create controversy, not an accurate evaluation of higher education.</p>
<p>West Point is a great college. #1? No. Even in the top 10? maybe 150 years ago, right before the civil war broke out. . . Now? In the top 50 for sure.</p>
<p>
Actually no. This statement proves you know nothing about the quality of academics or he curriculum at West Point.
The Academic curriculum is quite thorough and extremely well-rounded. West Point consistently has a number of prestigious scholarship winners - 13 this past year.
Their graduates are also sought out in the business world.</p>
<p>I think Forbes had good intentions. They clearly state that their methodology is geared towards what matters to students and in this day and age, students should look closely at how much debt they will incur after college and if they get jobs. So yes, USMA is tops when considering the fact that virtually all graduates obtain employment. </p>
<p>However, a great college should cater to students in all career and interest ranges. West Point isn’t that place. Add in the fact that apparently a substantial amount of professors at West Point don’t have PhDs (which was talked about in one of the companion articles) and I don’t think West Point is the #1 academic experience. Still, college should be about preparing you to obtain employment and giving you the skills you need to do it, so technically, West Point wins. </p>
<p>Flawed rankings? Maybe, but this is another interesting way to look at things. The scariest part isn’t the result but the fact that 25% of the criteria was based on Rate My Professors ratings…okay then…</p>
<p>bluebubbles - You make college sound like little more than vocational training.</p>
<p>thinkforyourself - Don’t you mean ‘fewer people’ not “less people”?!</p>
<p>These rankings are idiotic. Here is the methodology: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Listings of Alumni in the 2008 edition of Who’s Who in America (12.5%)</p></li>
<li><p>Salaries of Alumni from PayScale.com (12.5%)</p></li>
<li><p>Student Evaluations from Ratemyprofessors.com (25%)</p></li>
<li><p>Four-Year Graduation Rates (16.66%)</p></li>
<li><p>Students Receiving Nationally Competitive Awards (8.33%)</p></li>
<li><p>Faculty Receiving Awards for Scholarship and Creative Pursuits (5%)</p></li>
<li><p>Four-year Debt Load for Typical Student Borrowers (20%)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I was originally planning to write up criticisms of these methodologies - but I really think they speak for themselves. The only criteria that makes any sense is the 4 year debt load.</p>