<p>Cornell is overrated as well? Wharton is underrated?</p>
<p>Let me guess, futurenyustudent is ihateCA?</p>
<p>how is wharton underrated?</p>
<p>Yeah Wharton is #1 in US News and Business Week for undergrad. It can't get any higher than that....</p>
<p>jw why did some people think brandeis was over rated?</p>
<p>overrated: berkeley.</p>
<p>It is a great school... but everyone i know that goes there says undergrad experience sucks. here are some of the complaints: administration treats undergrads like dirt. professors treat undergrads like dirt because they don't want to teach. school set up for grad students. 87% graduation rate not something to boast about. the average student would have been better off going elsewhere career wise because only the top students are treated well. employers don't give a dman if you worked harder for your 3.0 than some kid from an easier u. And if you haven't noticed, Berkeley students are very insecure. Many of them continually try to size themselves against other top universities like Stanford, when no one really cares.</p>
<p>Let the flaming begin. BTW, this is what my friends at Cal say. It is not the opinion of all the students, so keep that in mind.</p>
<p>That's why I'm going to UCLA ;)</p>
<p>
[quote]
You obviously have a bias against California, lol
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes I do. I also have a bias against schools with a heavy science focus. <em>cough cough MIT cough cough CalTech cough cough Harvey Mudd cough cough</em></p>
<p>overrated: u penn</p>
<p>There's hardly a need to flame, gatorade.</p>
<p>There's something called statistical significance. It cannot be obtained through anecdotal evidence--that's something called convenience sampling and causes a biased sample. Besides that, your sample size is not large enough to give sufficient reason to conclude that your friends views are anything of a majority.</p>
<p>Hmm. Enough playing around with statistics knowledge. Seriously though, I'd say your friends views are generally in the minority.</p>
<p>I'd personally be a little more trusting of this survey.
Though I'd caution you, gatorade, that you sound like you're trying to pick a fight on the forum.</p>
<p>Not sure if anyone else has thoughts on this...but I've gotten the impression that University of California at Irvine is extremely underrated. I went there while looking at colleges, and was shocked to find they had top-notch facilities for science that even places like Princeton or John Hopkins couldn't match up to completely. And it's not like their liberal arts department is totally terrible either...however, that being said, it is fairly new and still a developing university, and I have no idea what their staff is like. Plus, you can't live on campus, and things seemed a bit beauracratic. I would not be surprised though if in 15-20 years when it has worked out some flaws in the system, it's recognized near the same level as UCLA and UCB.</p>
<p>First of all, no need to be hostile. I simply passed along criticisms that my friends shared with me, nothing more than that. I never said that these views represented the student body as a whole. But sometimes, its good to hear from both extremes, otherwise you have tyranny of the majority where the average student thinks its x good, so it must be x good.</p>
<p>Second of all, being the stat genius that you are, I'm sure you know what a biased sample is. A biased sample is a sample where every member of the population does not have an equal probability of being included in the survey, aka it is not a completely random selection. If you had read the UCUES survey description, you would have realized that they do not employ a random selection technique. Instead, they invite any students who wish to participate. Therefore, the sample is biased... and the survey is biased. So I don't see the need to "trust" it.
The sample is not the only thing that is biased about this survey. The mere fact that every participant in this survey knows the purpose of this survey (it will be publicly displayed.. could improve/hurt reputation of school.. could change school policies.. vested interest in making sure berkeley looks good to college prospectives.. etc.) biases his/her response in the survey.</p>
<p>Before criticizing others, make sure you know what you're talking about. I never said the student body as a whole feels the same way my friends do. All I did is state my friends' opinion that Berkeley is overrated followed with issues they personally faced at Berkeley. And I hope you take Stat 101 again. Clearly, Berkeley hasn't taught you enough!</p>
<p>The response rate is only 52% and like gatorade pointed out is nonrandom. A survey that interviews only 52% of the population can only be successful if it is random. If it is nonrandom, it should probably incorporate at least 75% of the population.</p>
<p><em>chuckle</em></p>
<p>I haven't entered college at this point. I was merely on the tail end of finishing AP Statistics.</p>
<p>I suppose you're right that I was a bit hostile. I was having somewhat of a bad day at that point.</p>
<p>As for the sample however, I suppose you're right that there's voluntary response bias and positive response bias. I would say, at the same time though, that it is does give more responses. It is correct to say that it doesn't necessarily center around the population proportion. Larger samples, though, generally allow for greater approximation of the proportion--though in this case, it is possible it is inaccurate due to a systematic error induced.
In general, I wanted to give another perspective on the matter.</p>
<p>But you are right that my response was more heated than was called for. My apologies.</p>
<p>ucsd...for sciences at least...cmon, they have the #2 biomedical engineering program...it's one of the fastest rising fields of work in the technological world and #2 for being a public school? beating out all the east coasters and top level schools! yayee for tritons!!!</p>
<p>In terms of top schools (undergraduate focused)...</p>
<p>Underrated:</p>
<p>Cornell and UPenn. In the eyes of the common public (at least from my POV, take my statements with a grain of salt if you disagree), both schools tend to be the butt of the Ivies. I'm going to Cornell next year and believe it or not, I've actually had more than a few people who told me something along the lines of: "Cornell? That's the worst ivy ever! Surely you could have aimed higher?" Haha, funny yet sad at the same time. Same with some of my buddies who got into UPenn.</p>
<p>Overrated:</p>
<p>JHU . Comon... they may have strong programs, but I've spoken with many of my father's friends who are involved in bio/pharmaceutical companies who insist that JHU science majors are about as qualified, if not less, as their counterparts who come from not as prestigious schools.</p>
<p>MIT. My father has trained some engineers from MIT. He said that while the graduates (2 BS, 1 MS, 1 PhD I think...) all had exceptional knowledge of the theory and thinking patterns, all were severely lacking in problem solving skills, practical lab application, etc. etc. that limited their lab production.</p>
<p>Note: the graduates mentioned from MIT and JHU may have been at the bottom of their class who barely graduated... I do not know how they did in their respective schools, I only know that they graduated from them.</p>
<p>Penn is awesome, no one seems to rag on it like Cornell</p>
<p>Gatorade says, about Berkeley:
"here are some of the complaints: administration treats undergrads like dirt. professors treat undergrads like dirt because they don't want to teach. school set up for grad students."</p>
<p>Not that this is true, but it could be said about all research schools.</p>
<p>um....MIT is definitely not overrated..</p>
<p>overrated: Northwestern</p>
<p>underrated: Chicago</p>
<p>The rivalry continues. :)</p>
<p>I agree with the people earlier who said most State schools are underrated, specifically those in the Midwest, including:</p>
<p>U of Illinois
U of Iowa
U of Minnesota
U of Wisconsin
Kansas State
Colorado State
Oklahoma State
U of South Dakota
Ohio State
Iowa State</p>
<p>I may be biased because I'm going to Iowa State, but alot of people tend to think "ooh midwest. it must be in the middle of nowhere. must be ag schools." Yes, most of the schools mentioned above are the top agriculture schools in the country, but its not all farmers around here. U of Iowa has one of the top med schools/pre-med programs in the country, but they're overshadowed by prestigious privates. Colorado State, K-State, and Iowa State are excellent engineering and math/science schools, but again they're overshadowed by the "more elite".</p>
<p>And for the most part we've got better sports teams the the "elites" :)</p>
<p>Go Cyclones!</p>