Maybe they had not yet discovered the lobster roll…
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Would this be the same WSJ rankings that had Babson in the top 10? The same one that had Texas A&M in the top 40, and no other Texas schools in the top 100? So that means they put A&M not only above UT Austin, but also above RICE? And just so we’re clear, according to the WSJ, Rice isn’t even in the top 100. But Babson is top 10…
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The mistake everyone is making - IMHO - is schools really shouldn’t be ranked. If they are - they’ll come out based on the methodology. Because Babson is focused, it will have highly paid grads across the board whereas Rice won’t.
Majors, moreso than schools, maybe should be ranked.
A CS major from Arkansas will likely do better than an English major at Rice.
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That is why the majority of people (except the ones that are Top 20 hunters) believe that the “average” (over 5 years) top 75-100 national and LACS are more than enough for adequate education. However, the list is not limited just to that top. People need to consider fields/majors. Some majors are very strong in some schools. In addition, there are financial considerations plus location for many. There are many other considerations. For the family with kids with some learning differences, the top school is not the top 20, but the one that gives the most support to their child. For others, some special art, music, premed programs and agreements have big importance. Furthermore, agreements between small LACS and big schools that allow cross-registration or 3+2 degrees are definitely a big win for students. I do not get why people are so crazy about ranking and ready to shell out astronomical money even when they end up with loans.
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CS from almost any university will most likely do better than English majors. But believe it or not some English major can be successful. We need a lot of them for writing and updating companies’ documents. Technical people are not the best at writing in general.
Cross registration is often less convenient than advertised, unless the colleges synchronize academic calendars and schedules and make commuting between their campuses convenient. Colleges may also give cross registration students lower priority than its own students for popular classes that tend to get full.
3+2 programs are often advertised by LACs, but rarely completed by transfer to the “2” school. Admission to the “2” school may be competitive, and financial aid at the “2” school is unknown to the high school senior (and it would be an extra year of costs to begin with). The student who preferred a LAC (the “3” school) may not want to transfer away to the “2” school.
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Every rank is specialized, just some choose to market themselves as “best colleges” instead of the more specific purpose ranks that some sites do where they tell you the focus on their rank. (i.e. best teachers, etc.). So if this were about honest labeling WSJ would be something like “Best colleges for positive ROI if you are a student who takes federal loans and plans to pursue a high paying profession” USN would be something like “Best colleges based on reputations scores from other college administrators and that also attract a lot of Pell Grant recipients” etc.
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I think consumers need to investigate one by one. I know for a fact that transfer programs related to agreements between schools and official “paths” are extremely popular at GaTech.
And we should all get along and have world peace. Other worthy goals that are comparably realistic. Most people will never do the work, ever. Doesn’t matter how big or consequential the decision is – job choice, buying a house, etc. – most people will be lazy, or simply lack the experience or skills to even know where to look or what info to seek.
I have not studied the results of the rankings nor do I think that should be the reason you like them or not. I am sure there would be plenty I do not agree with. Love Babson btw. You probably do not realize that Babson is not eligible to be ranked by US News in either the National or Liberal Arts category. Maybe they would be high there as well. What do you think? Place them in the liberal arts category of similarly sized schools and you will find they would be in the top 25, even by a ranking that does not consider students, admissions competitiveness, or outcomes.
Overall, agree Babson showed well. I can’t speak for Texas rankings, but I would agree, based on admissions odds, that would not be my order. Based upon the US News fiasco, I am looking for something different.
I’ve always thought that a ranking by major would be very valuable. Probably too hard to do?
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Agree and note It has been done a bit in business and engineering. My take is the hardest part is how to balance “respected major at lesser school issues.” Lots of people have problems with the perceived disconnect.
I’m biased (I was a history major, D is an English major, and my husband was a physics major), but I hate to see the demise of subjects that “don’t lead to good jobs”. Not everyone wants to be a computer programmer and the world needs writers, researchers, project managers, strategists and analytical thinkers. I’m in a lucrative field that doesn’t have anything to do with history, D is using her English and Communications double major to intern at documentary and news production companies, and my husband works in tech (unrelated to physics). A good education opens doors and hard working, smart people tend to find their way professionally. A humanities major might have a different path than someone who majors in CS and is immediately scooped up by Big Tech, but they may ultimately be more satisfied and fulfilled–and there is money to be made for us non-STEM types.
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There are many sites online that colleges rank by major. But they are all over the board, even more so than the overall college rankings. And you also need to be careful to find ones that are specific about undergraduate vs graduate for the major (and in lieu of that differntiation in most cases they are graduate biased).
And credible enough…Sometimes I feel that every website has their own ranking…
It is possible in the UK because of the very different way they do things.
In the US, general admissions being so common is going to make it very difficult to meaningfully do selectivity by major. Departmental reputation/research is sometimes done by people in the field, but usually for grad programs. In many fields, they will tell people interested in grad work to go to a generally good college first, not necessarily one of the top few in that specific field.
The basic problem here is what we might call the broad liberal arts and science vision of undergraduate admissions and education is not really susceptible to ranking by major.
Except some people ARE admitted by major, some people are really focused on next-step positions where your undergraduate program may really matter, and so on.
So, kinda a mess. As usual.
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There are rankings by major - US News, College Factual and more.
This is how you get a UIUC/BYU - #2 and #3 in accounting per US News.
Or Michigan State #1 in Supply Chain, ahead of MIT, etc.
They are out there.
But it’s like - how many students are - I want top 20 and they don’t even know what that means.
The same thing will be happening in 20 years from now btw.
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But in the end, the vast majority of students graduate with a major. They may be admitted to that major or required to select one after a year or so. With that in mind I do think that majors/programs could be evaluated and ranked.
USNWR ranks some majors. I know CS is ranked by other organizations too. I think engineering and business have multiple rankings too.
Yes. USNWR ranks most of these purely on a reputation survey. Others rank based on research output, placements, etc. No easy way to rank that’ll satisfy everyone.
Totally agree - and forget doesn’t want - I’ll say, like me, doesn’t have the aptitude.
But if you’re going to rank, a Babson - everyone has potential for “riches” if that’s what the true rank is about vs. the History major (one of my two majors) doesn’t have as easy a path.
But there are “top history” schools - Niche says Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Stanford, Princeton. UCLA, Chicago, Brown, Duke, Pomona.
College Factual agrees on Yale and Harvard but puts Penn in 3rd. Other differences in the top 10 are they include Georgetown, Notre Dame, and Vandy.
College Vine says Amherst is #1, Williams third, Swarthmore #4, Wellesley 8, Northwestern 9, and they agree with Niche that Pomona is 10.
Tons of rankings.
But people tremor over US News total school and mock the rest.
PS -if I was a US News voter, Syracuse would definitely be the #1 school for history - I need some value from my degree…like bragging rights!!
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