<p>I think SATs are the most informative input measure and grad rates are the most informative output measure.</p>
<p>But, even they yield an occasional anomalous result.</p>
<p>Sadly, no ranking can quantify the culture or “feel” of a school. Size of dorms/walking campus v ride the bus/ % that live on campus vs off. This is so much more important than misleading “rankings”. Nothing is worse on CC than a high school kid that loves school X but is having second thoughts b/c its ranked 10 spots below another school that isnt the right “fit”. </p>
<p>Everyone needs to realize that USNWR is a profit making venture and their “swimsuit” issue is the most profitable of the yr. It’s designed to sell magazines, not give advice to high schooler and their families.</p>
<p>Rankings do not measure how well universities prepare students for employment/real work.</p>
<p>Rankings are pointless.</p>
<p>somebody earlier mentioned that there isn’t a difference between a #15 school and #45 school</p>
<p>I Agree!</p>
<p>What we should do is do groupings instead of trying to methodically rank schools IN ORDER</p>
<p>we should group HYPS together in a group
and then followed by groups of 50-60 schools following that</p>
<p>
Quite a few, actually!</p>
<p>Forbes- [America’s</a> Best Colleges sorted by Rank - Forbes.com](<a href=“Forbes List Directory”>Forbes List Directory)</p>
<p>Washington Monthly- [“The</a> Washington Monthly College Rankings” by The Editors](<a href=“http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2006/0609.collegechart.html]"The”>http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2006/0609.collegechart.html)</p>
<p>Laissez Faire- [College</a> Admissions Help from College Confidential.com](<a href=“http://www.collegeconfidential.com/college_rankings/LF_rank.htm]College”>http://www.collegeconfidential.com/college_rankings/LF_rank.htm) </p>
<p>NRC- [NRC</a> Rankings in Each of 41 Areas](<a href=“http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc41.html]NRC”>http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc41.html)</p>
<p>Princeton Review- [College</a> Rankings](<a href=“http://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings.aspx]College”>Best Colleges 2025 | College Ranking List | The Princeton Review)</p>
<p>College Proωler- <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visits/college_rank_summary.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visits/college_rank_summary.html</a></p>
<p>Kiplinger- [Rankings</a> for 100 Best Values in Public Colleges](<a href=“http://www.kiplinger.com/tools/colleges/]Rankings”>Best College Values, 2019 | Kiplinger)
[Rankings</a> for 100 Best Values in Private Colleges](<a href=“http://www.kiplinger.com/tools/privatecolleges/]Rankings”>Kiplinger | Personal Finance News, Investing Advice, Business Forecasts)</p>
<p>Top American Research Universities- <a href=“http://mup.asu.edu/research2008.pdf[/url]”>http://mup.asu.edu/research2008.pdf</a></p>
<p>Revealed Preference- [A</a> Revealed Preference Ranking of U.S. Colleges and Universities - Knowledge@Wharton](<a href=“http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/paper.cfm?paperID=1298]A”>http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/paper.cfm?paperID=1298)</p>
<p>Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index- [Chronicle</a> Facts & Figures: Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index](<a href=“http://chronicle.com/stats/productivity/]Chronicle”>http://chronicle.com/stats/productivity/)</p>
<p>Weighted Baccalaureate Origins Study- [REED</a> COLLEGE PHD PRODUCTIVITY](<a href=“http://web.reed.edu/ir/phd.html]REED”>Doctoral Degree Productivity - Institutional Research - Reed College)</p>
<p>What was the college search like before rankings? I know there were thick guidebooks but I can’t imagine fishing through those for good colleges. Life is great now that there are rankings. The process is easier and less error-prone. Prospective students aren’t so much in the dark. They can get a much better start in the search for reach/match/safety schools.</p>
<p>One-size-fits-none rankings are no longer needed, since we’re no longer bound to the printed page. Now that we have the web, we (collectively) can develop and use sites that let students enter their own criteria, or select from a number of intelligent pre-defined criteria, and find a selection of schools appropriate to their interests and skills, and not use some magazine editors’ opinions of what is important for every student.</p>
<p>These rankings are largely absurd. I know it sounds dumb, but it’s true. They’re even more worthless if no methodology is very clearly laid out.</p>
<p>Take Washington Monthly. Yale #12? Princeton number #43, just behind Ohio University? Harvard somewhere in between there? I don’t think so.</p>
<p>The Preference ranking was published in 2004 – many are similarly outdated.</p>
<p>You would be much better off looking at particular departments.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>ca. 1940: College?</p>
<p>ca. 1950: Go to State</p>
<p>ca. 1960: Apply to the school your smartest relative attended, and to State.</p>
<p>ca. 1970: Smoke a little pot with a buncha older kids and ask them where the really cool protests are happening and they have those, like, co-ed dorms</p>
<p>ca. 1980: Life is getting competitive. You go to the library for some thick guidebooks. Look up the average SAT scores of every Ivy League school. Apply to the one that has the closest match to your own, even if the lowest score is 100 points higher than your own, per test. Apply to wherever your father went in case you don’t get into the Ivy. Add one or two random others that have pictures of good looking girls (/guys) in the catalogs they send you. Hope for the best.</p>
<p>There were guide books way back TK. I have some fun articles about Brown and the challenge of describing it for those books in 1908 written for Brown Alumni Monthly by someone writing a guide book. I could put it on PutFile/Mediafire or something if anyone is interested.</p>
<p>I wonder what the outcome will be when you integrate the criteria of USNews and Washington Monthly College rankings – <a href=“http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2007/0709.natlrankings.pdf[/url]”>http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2007/0709.natlrankings.pdf</a></p>
<p>*
The Washington Monthly’s “College Rankings” began as a research report in 2005 and introduced its first official rankings in the September 2006 issue. It offers American university and college rankings based upon the following criteria:</p>
<pre><code>* a. “how well it performs as an engine of social mobility (ideally helping the poor to get rich rather than the very rich to get very, very rich)”
- b. “how well it does in fostering scientific and humanistic research”
- c. “how well it promotes an ethic of service to country” *
</code></pre>
<p>modestmelody, that might be fun. Can you do that? And post some instructions too, please?</p>
<p>Now I’m wondering if anyone has ever written a good history of college admissions…</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“File sharing and storage made simple”>http://www.mediafire.com/?djhebymn3nj]7292_Fowler_Which.pdf[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Thanks for posting, modestmelody. You were right, it’s a fun article.</p>
<p>Top 40 Universities
[File:2007</a> US News Top 40 colleges.gif - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2007_US_News_Top_40_colleges.gif]File:2007”>File:2007 US News Top 40 colleges.png - Wikipedia)</p>
![http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2007_US_News_Top_40_colleges.gif]File:2007](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2007_US_News_Top_40_colleges.gif%5DFile:2007){kind=link}
<p>Its largely a tool for those who want to feel superior to others.</p>