<p>These rankings aren’t too bad in the top ten. There’s some stuff that’s a bit questionable though. </p>
<p>Amherst is the only LAC. Top 5 school (not arguing for or against) but its peers Williams and Swarthmore don’t fair as well (Swat 46 and Williams not ranked at all).</p>
<p>Maryland beats out a lot of really good schools like MIT, Duke, Caltech, etc. with a rank of 12. It’s also the #1 state school which I don’t think any person would agree to. I love UMD, but I can honestly say the quality of students, large class sizes, and other glaring negatives make it hard to believe that it beats out all those really great schools. </p>
<p>Penn State beating out Rice, Emory, and CMU. On CC and from people who go to those schools, I’ve heard great things about Rice Emory and CMU. From my high school classmates who go to Penn State it seems like they’re more interested in a 4 year party than a strong education. </p>
<p>I’ve never heard of Fairfield or Monmouth yet they make the top 50 instead of other great schools. Maybe they are really top 50 material, but I don’t think most people would agree.</p>
<p>Maybe USNWR is just engrained in our heads too much and a few outliers are fine. I’m fine with the top 11 but after that I feel like it starts to get really skrewey.</p>
<p>I had a long reply, Combine, but decided against it. Argument ends here. Let’s just be happy and celebrate the Dow rising above 9k for the first time in fscking forever.</p>
<p>^On the other hand, as for the College Crunch data … WHAAAT!? UMICH IS RANKED 29th!? CONSPIRACY I TELL YOU!!! Or I made a really bad decision in dropping Chicago.</p>
<p>As someone who studied the top twenty schools in serious depth last year when I was applying, Chicago most definitely deserves its spot. I still believe it to be one of the most underrated universities. The quality of academics at Chicago is on par with the quality of academics at HYP and Columbia. The academics are better than that of Dartmouth, Brown, Cornell and UPenn(besides Wharton) in my opinion. I believe the less pre-professional attitude is the real strength of a school like Chicago. Kids at Chicago value learning for the sake of learning so much, that while they may not go on to be CEOs and stock brokers as often (hey, many still do) they still retain an incredible sense of education, life of the mind learning, and thoughtful attitude toward society. </p>
<p>Chicago consistently ranks in the top ten schools in the world, even ahead of Princeton. Only behind Harvard, Yale, and Caltech/MIT in the United States. This school has some of the best professors in the country. </p>
<p>Many people might find “students review” a terrible source, but just look at UChicago’s page on students review. I think it might have the highest percentage of students interested in going back to the college they attended than any other school including the ivy leagues. I think Uchicago has an 89 percent, while most of the Ivies have 70 percent ratings and Columbia even lower than that.</p>
<p>Agreed. Anecdotal evidence and the like aren’t as substantive as cold facts or the opinions of highly-regarded academics, but there’s a point where one has to consider it if it adds up in a way that supports a certain conclusion. In this case, most evidence would suggest Chicago is, in fact, deserving of their position.</p>
<p>Agreed. Anecdotal evidence should be taken with cautious. However, qualitative data are definitely valuable when it comes to college selection. That’s why so many upperclassmen recommend prospective students to talk to current students at each college before making decisions.</p>