<p>I urgently need to get hold of some previous USNEWS rankings, especially the ones for 2005,2004, or any recent year. I want to see how certain colleges rank now and how they ranked in previous years. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>1) I wouldn't sujjest USNER primarily because 25% of the criterion is acceptance rate.</p>
<p>2) A ranking system like THES or SJTU would be much better because they're more holistic in the sense that they take a lot more into account when determining ranks,</p>
<p>3) Wait for a few weeks tioll the 2006 rankings come out...everything's going to change considering some serious developments taking place wrt acceptance rates and research developments.</p>
<p>SJTU is, with all due respect, well unreliable. It is based primarily on the renown of faculty and it is very China inclined. So it is rather biased. This was probably said many times on this forum and you probably know as well that Williams, Amherst and a lot more are absent from that ranking which is ridiculously absurd. </p>
<p>And I can't wait more than 2 days to get my hands on a ranking, preferably USNEWS...because let's face it...the top colleges in USNEWS are supergood no matter what criteria you consider and the bottom colleges are rather obscure anyways. Indeed, the only problem with USNEWS is that it is not accurate to compare college, say ranked 15 with the one ranked 20, because those are essentially very similar.</p>
<p>asian, i presume.</p>
<p>THES is undoubtedly the most holistic...i don't agree with the SJTU statement u make. It's emphasis is more on actual things going on in the university, faculty, research...its Chinese inclintion i understand, but ur looking at the top-20 and i find it to be pretty accurate when it comes to that.</p>
<p>actually the top 20 reference was just an illustrative example. I wish I could look at the top 20 ;)</p>
<p>Did you Google? Just include US News, college rankings, and the year. If it's not available on the current page, then look at the cached version.</p>
<p>BTW, the 2006 rankings ARE out.</p>
<p>Momwaitingfornews...wait...aren't the 2006 rankings supposed to be based on 2006 acceptance rates and stats...i find it unbelievable that they incorporated this soo soon.</p>
<p>I dunno. I just know that I found the rankings listed as "2006" online a couple of weeks ago. The ordering is slightly different than that in the magazine I had last year.</p>
<p>I think that listings must always lag by one year since it takes time to compile everything. Here's the link:</p>
<p>Where on earth did you get the assertion that the next set of USNews college rankings will be released in a few weeks arjun? The last set was released in August ... And please don't say its heresay from a "friend"</p>
<p>Momwaitingfornew- I'm pretty sure the new college rankings aren't out. I just checked and it seems the graduate rankings are already out but chances are OP was the undergrad rankings. That kinda means the THES and the other rankings are less useful as they are more graduate focused.</p>
<p>OP- why do you want previous rankings?</p>
<p>These rankings are based on 2005 acceptance rates. And frankly UPenn at #4, Duke at #5 and WUSTL at #11 is a bit unbelievable.
THES rankings r based on the same yrs acceptance rates an stats...they're out usually late in the year. They would be a better gauge.</p>
<p>I think this year's acceptance rates will come out in 2007 rankings.</p>
<p>Quite honestly, I think the acceptance rates are a lousy measure of ranking, especially since some schools play the rankings game through false selectivity.</p>
<p>I actually find THES and SHJTU rankings crappier than USNEWS, which is crappy enuff as it is. Obviously, THES and SHJTU focuses on stuff like faculty research, citations, number of nobel laurettes (ERPS), % international students and faculty, which frankly speaking, has nearly zero bearing on the education you can expect to get as an undergraduate. Granted, having a world-renowned professor who engages in ground-breaking research teach u and guide u along in ur research is like a dream-come-true, but chances are, you won't get to catch more than a fleeting glimpse of him. THES and SHJTU rankings hinge largely on research and hence prestige (since research powerhouses usually = prestigious universities). As such, colleges that are more interested - primarily or exclusively - in undergraduate education, score poorly on THES and SHJTU. Brown ranks lower than NTU, and all the top liberal arts colleges including Amherst and Williams are conspicuously missing from the list -> so much for a holistic ranking. </p>
<p>The USNEWS rankings per se might be a little crappy, and can be manipulated easily by changing the relative weightage of factors. But at least USNEWS provides a wealth of RELEVANT data (Peer appraisal score, SAT ranges, % top decile in class, etc). USNEWS can actually be quite useful if you make use of all these data rather than taking the rankings as they are and believe that #5 is definitely better than #11.</p>
<p>woebegone ,
The criterion u mention that form an integral part of THES and SJTU is exactly what one seeks. I, for one, seek better research oppertunities and look for research developments taking place in the College...which US News makes minimal use of as a criterion. THES and SJTU also incorporate Peer appraisal score, SAT ranges, % top decile in class, etc...but its more holistic in the sense that it doesn't hinge upon these u cite primarile and acceptance rates, which whether u accept or not, is what US News uses primarily (25% to be precise).</p>
<p>Has it ever occured to you that you don't necessarily, as an undergrad, enjoy all - or any for that matter - of the benefits of a large research university? You don't necessarily have access to the A-list professors and researchers, or to the high-end research facilities. What you might end up with, could be just big classes with lectures by TAs and lab sessions with lab assistants. Of course, I am not discrediting all large research universities, and certainly you can get lots of opportunities at some (provided you fight hard enough for it, coz with an enrollment figure of 5 digits, professors don't come to you. you go and hostle with other students to fight for the professor). Then again, at say NUS which ranks 18th and subsequently 22nd on the THES, what kind of research opportunities do you get? Close to zilch, if I may suggest an approximate figure. </p>
<p>And btw, SELECTIVITY takes up only 15% of the score in USNEWS rankings. And your ACCEPTANCE RATE takes up a mere 10% (SAT scores take up 50%, Top Decile take up 40%) of that 15%, which is like a grand total of 1.5%. And honestly, I find SAT score ranges more useful (at least it speaks of the student quality) than erm, the % nobel laurettes in the school.</p>
<p>I totally concur with woebegone. THES is full of errors. For example, my dear University of Malaya is ranked 80++ in one year and 169th the other year. Why? Because they mistook Chinese, Indians as International student and that's why UM was ranked 80 something in that particular year.</p>
<p>THES ranking is crap. It ranks an Indian Business School in the World's top 100 Technology Schools. IIM to be specific.</p>
1 Like
<p>^^^exactly what i was going to quote Ronty...</p>
<p>and there is no way in hell the IIT's(indian institutes of technology) are better than Stanford,CMU,Cornell and the likes.....Infact even Cambridge getting 2nd rank in science came as a surprise to me...although it shouldn't coz well THES is brtish....
So as USnews is US bases nothing better than that for US college rankings....</p>
<p>Although i dont really like rankings that much...</p>
<p>I believe rankings aren't that important with the possible exemption regarding a specific major (business, engineering, etc.) though that will also be based on fit.</p>
<p>And no, I don't believe maxy's Asian, banedon.</p>