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strong, and U.S. News assigns a significant weight to academic reputation; but its rankings of academic departments, mostly on the graduate level, are not a part of the widely-read “Best Colleges” report each year. The departmental rankings, while still subjective, are probably a better measure. - See more at: http://publicuniversityhonors.com/rankings-academic-departments-private-elites-vs-publics/#.dpuf <<<
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What is subjective is the definition of better measure.
The PA, as it stands, is the opportunity for the USNews to level the playing field with intangibles. Considering the abysmal process and nebulous instructions of the PA survey, there is no distinction between the undergraduate and graduate school “distinguished” position.
What is done here is simply overloading on the most criticism-worthy part of the PA. It is not a better or worse measure. It simply is not germane to a ranking that should interest potential undergraduates. It is a misleading hodgepodge of mostly irrelevant metrics that suffers from the same cronyism and lack of knowledge by the responders.