<p>I remember someone on this site telling me years ago, "no one "considered the rankings that weren't National or LAC colleges. I think that was because so many posters were centered on the poplular top 25 or 30 and they were in the those catagories. I used the guide VERY loosely. That said, I never understood the necessity of the Masters, but I suppose some of the National/LAC don't have Master Degree programs ,but many do.
I remember looking at many college course books from tours,mailings,etc. from "top tier" to lower and saw over and over again, how many professors went to state schools, some I never heard of and then went to Yale, Columbia,Stanford,Oxford and Cornell among other top tier schools. An aquaintance of mine went to Sacred Heart Univ. which isn't considered a great school in my neck of the woods,(not my personal opinion) then went to Smith College. My son met many grads that got into Yale, NYU and other schools after going to state or lower tier schools. I'm sure a lot of things went into those decisions, but just the school they attended didn't.</p>
<p>NorthMIssesota, US News doesn't rank schools with a specialty like fine arts and performing arts because the catagory is so small. They do list them though in alphebetical order with info on class rentention, class size and acceptance rate.</p>
<p>Guys, one of the best things about America is that where you go to school or where you don't go to school doesn't automatically make or break your career. Relax. Top grades and great LSATS (or MCATs or GREs) will get you into fine graduate programs, many of which are the envy of the world. Mobility in higher education is one of the things this country gets RIGHT. Don't sweat the rankings so much because most grad schools don't. Instead, encourage your kids to make the most of their undergraduate years, academically and socially, and they'll be just fine.</p>
<p>I agree,that we shouldn't look at rankings only.I have been admitted to BU,RIT,Northeastern,Stony Brook and UIPUI (dual program-three years at Indianapolis Physics and two years at UIPUI Mechanical Engineering).
I have been given financial aid from all except Boston and full tuition scholarship from Indianapolis.I have decided to choose the last college because I heard that the classes are very small,the teachers are very helpful,and you are given full attention.So ranking is not important to me.If I get good grades,I have the option to go to a "better" college for undergraduate studies.</p>
<p>What is the best way to get a sense for the academic respectability of a school?</p>
<p>There is the "academic rating" in the Princeton Review, for example, and the USNWR includes a "peer ranking."</p>
<p>One knows that the "top ranked" schools are academically respected, but I find it is much harder to get a handle on the "lesser ranked" schools (so that one can make up one's own mind about whether or not they are a fit).</p>
<p>That's true fendrock. It is much harder to get info on the schools that are less in the limelight. It may help to find the web page where the school toots its own horn and read the articles provided.</p>
<p>Consider the gpa and test score numbers for the schools that otherwise have location, majors, etc that interest you. That will tell you your peer group at a school. If you are a top ranking student you can get a good education many places, but it would be nicer to be surrounded by your intellectual peers in and out of class - the college with SATs around 500 will have a different clientel than the one with SATs around 700. The rigor of calculus, and many other classes, will be different at different schools. I wouldn't nitpick minor differences in any numbers, but there are significant differences between the top, middle and bottom schools. I found the USN&WR rankings useful in grossly comparing schools, and an easy source for learning something about colleges I never heard of or didn't know anything about.</p>
<p>Our son is attending a third-tier school but the program that he's in is top-notch. The four-year graduation rate is 22% and he's seen huge numbers of students withdrawing from his math and science courses. It's a state school with a sink-or-swim approach - there isn't a lot of hand-holding. But their grads (in engineering and certain science majors) get job offers. This is an out-of-state school at $14K a year for the out-of-state rate. I've offered to pay for any college that he wants to go to (I've pushed Boston College but their program for his major isn't as good). His freshman fall GPA was 3.98 taking two junior math classes, one sophomore soft science class and one freshman science class so I don't think that he'd have any trouble transferring to UMass Amherst (I get asked this from time to time). But he's happy where he is right now.</p>