How accurate is u.s news? I saw that UC santa Barbra, university of Wisconsin, penn state, university of florida and university of miami are all better than UT austin and texas A&m. From my knowledge and preconceived notions I had thought they were better. So is us news complete garbage, plus how do you really rank universities it seems very hard to do.
What are you trying to say?
Read the methodology behind the ranking. The rankings are not garbage but they are highly dependent upon the variables that are selected to include-and the variables are those considered important by the person or enterprise doing the ranking. USNews includes different ranking than the World rankings and then Forbes ranking. So it is important to read the methodology section of each ranking system to decide if your values align with those that are included in the ranking. Also, the rankings don’t really tell you which school is “better” without qualifying-just better in terms of the variables being included. I might prefer Gainesville over Wisc if I value warm weather-something that does not enter into the equation for US News but may for me.
Six of the seven colleges referred to are within five points of each other in overall score. By USNWR standards, these schools are statistical peers.
The rankings that count would be based on how the schools fit for you.
Arbitrary weights that usnwr places on their data points to compare say yeshiva and penn st probably are not very important in your search.
My son is interested in clarinet performance and as such the orchestral programs are very important. As are the actual clarinet studios and professors - will have 120 lessons with them over 4 years. To him merit aid opportunities are important. He also would strongly benefit from an urban school with a strong arts scene in the market. Outcomes are also important - he cares what kids do next… Do they finish their degree in the major they started. Do they continue to a top graduate program for music performance. are you competing for spots in the college orchestra with older, more talented graduate students? Will you have to wait a few years before you get to play in the orchestra?
Etc, etc…
So for my son the usnwr rank more correlates to sweatshirts and bumper stickers than to fit for him. His top 20 looks entirely different than that from the failed magazine.
The USNWR rankings seem to do a fairly good job of singling out the best colleges for liberal arts education. Minor ranking differences (10 or even 20 positions) are not too significant. A spread of 30 or 40 positions may reflect significant differences even in features that USNWR does not measure directly, such as financial aid levels or post-graduate outcomes.
Occasionally we see allegations on CC that particular schools report inaccurate data or spin it to their own advantage. That certainly must happen given the number of colleges, the volume of data, and the financial stakes. However, in my opinion, colleges have made progress in the last few decades in standardizing their performance measurements in the Common Data Set reports, which comprise the primary source of information for the US News rankings. I don’t believe it would be in the self-interest of college communities to collude year after year in reporting dirty data.
Some experienced posters are much more skeptical or even completely dismissive when it comes to the USNWR or other college rankings.
Better? How?
Are you asking which are better in the classroom? USNews ranking does not tell you which are better in the classroom.
That said, all the schools you mention are peer schools…they’re all essentially the same. Nearly all are state schools, so really going to be rather similar. Differences will be in the “details” as mentioned above…one might have a better physics program, one might be known for The Classics, one might be known for better weather, one might have a prettier campus.
With hundreds and hundreds of universities in this country, minor differences in ranking are meaningless.
The rankings use old data. The current data is for the class entering in 2014.
The other issue in the liberal arts school rankings is the recent inclusion of the service academies. This is pointless simply on the basis these schools are not open to the vast majority of students. The average student cannot apply to these schools.
The one thing that would dramatically improve the ratings is an acceptance difficulty index. Many parents and kids assume that after the top ten the rest are easy and that is simply dead wrong. Maybe it is there somewhere but it should be obvious.
What is more important how “selective” the school is in accepting / rejecting students or how good an education they receive / what their outcomes are.
Is it relevant how many applicants a school receives? Wouldn’t it simply be as arbitrary to make this a popularity contest - rank the schools by the total number of applications they receive.
Essentially, it has become a self reinforcing popularity contest.
Move up in rankings, applications go up, selectivity goes up, admitted student scores go up, move up in rankings…repeat cycle.
What do you mean by “accurate”? Ranking the best college is as subjective as ranking the best vacation destination.
Re #7, USNWR does provide a “selectivity rank” for about 100 schools that is shown alongside their overall rankings. (However, in the last two years, at least, it seems to have contained some obvious errors.) Every school is also given a selectivity category – “most selective,” “more selective,” “selective,” less selective," “least selective” – which also seem to have been inaccurately assigned in some cases.
“Many parents and kids assume that after the top ten the rest are easy and that is simply dead wrong. Maybe it is there somewhere but it should be obvious.”
What kind of morons assume that “after the top ten the rest are easy”? No, "many people"don’t think that way, unless they’re stupid.
“How accurate is u.s news? I saw that UC santa Barbra, university of Wisconsin, penn state, university of florida and university of miami are all better than UT austin and texas A&m. From my knowledge and preconceived notions I had thought they were better. So is us news complete garbage, plus how do you really rank universities it seems very hard to do.”
Are you from Texas? My hunch is that you are, and so that’s why you thought “UT and A&M were better.” Prestige is all local.
@Pizzagirl yeah i am from texas. I guess you are right about prestige being local. Also overall ranking don’t really matter that much just individual majors. I want to do finance and at UT and A&m they are highly ranked, UT more so than A&M
I think we’ll agree to disagree on this. Any US citizen between the ages of 17 and 23 can ask for a nomination. It’s a more involved process than using the common app but if a student wants to they CAN apply. I don’t see how that closes out the “vast majority”. You could make the case the academies should be in their own category.
@“Erin’s Dad” How many high school seniors could pass the physical fitness exam you think?
Are the ratings accurate?
USNWR editorial staff has decided on a list of criteria that it believes should be used to rank universities. I would assume that they do the calculations correctly based on this list they developed so that in that case they are probably “accurate”.
The real question is whether the criteria they have selected are the best criteria to rate schools. These criteria (and probably most others) can be manipulated and gamed by schools. There are many opinions on this and that is why people will often tell students to put less emphasis on ratings.
Reputation is definitely local for large state universities. A degree from U of Texas is definitely not worth as much as one from Ohio State in Ohio, and vice versa.
The wall street journal rankings are based on recruiter surveys. If you think the value of college is where you will be hired, they rate Penn State as the best college in the US. Others weigh faculty reputation, amount of research, publication citations, etc. etc. Some surveys rate on the quality of students. Others may weigh how many go to grad school ,etc etc.
Others include value - cost of tuition vs return. The Economist, Forbes, and Money rankings are a good example. Value may be irrelevant, no matter what the return, if you cannot afford the tuition. If you are a scholarship student, it also changes the equation. Schools also have residential and honors colleges which get you concierge style education but are often not ranked at all (part of the larger university)
Other popularity related ranking metrics are similar to buying a limited edition handbag. There are just so many produced (spots) and people vie to purchase them through high prices, social consideration, etc… which drives up the perceived value. The bag you could buy at your local art fair is more beautiful, cheaper, likely more durable and even more unique. Which is truly better for you?
Some metrics are not even ranked. For example, if you are an undecided engineering student, you might want a university that is strong in multiple disciplines, like Michigan. If you are interested in just Chemical engineering, you might chose Delaware or Minnesota. How do you value flexibility when it doesn’t apply to everyone?
In summary, use the rankings that work best for you. The rankings are accurate but look behind them to understand the methodology and assumptions.