<p>Southern Illinois University Edwardsville will be ranking number 1, just wait and see.</p>
<p>i hate boogers</p>
<p>and that was relevant how?</p>
<p>When do the rankings come out?</p>
<p>These "rankings" are a load of hot steaming horse crap straight from the barn.</p>
<p>I've said it before and I'll say it again a few more times I'm sure: </p>
<p>A "Tier" ranking system is much fairer, more accurate way to "rank" universities if one must.</p>
<p>The "difference" between schools 1-5 is miniscule to the point of splitting hairs to the nth degree of absurdity. Similarly the next "Tier" of schools from 6-10, 11, 12 or even up to 15 are also too small to have any meaningful value.</p>
<p>e.g., let's say #8 vs. #13 - that's five spots. Are there really five schools that deserve those spots in THAT particular order? this "numerical" system that spits out an "official" number is an insult to your average person of reasonable intelligence.</p>
<p>"Lies, damn lies and statistics" is what my statistics professor loved to say in B-School, you see it everywhere from "political polls" to colleges. </p>
<p>An innumerable number of interest groups, schools, alumni, donors, etc. all have an important stake here at play and everyone has their own competing agenda. And, let me be clear about this: creating a list which caters or provides some kind of meaningful guide for future college grads is not anywhere near one of the "top ranked" motives / goals for USNWR. </p>
<p>They are a business. They are in it for profit and all of the influences that such an endeavor entails. They are not a non for profit institution mandated to look at data objectively (nor are they driven or monitered to do so). It would serve everyone well to bear this small but unavoidable and undisputable point in mind.</p>
<p>It's a list folks. In my mind no better or worse than the one I'd type up here on good ole CC...</p>
<p>Can't Rice get any love on this board? I'm from Houston, it's every Houston kid's dream to get into Rice...after Harvard of course :)</p>
<p>sorry...no luv fo da dirty dirty south like emory, vandy, rice, and notre dame</p>
<p>Not that it has to do with rankings, as far as California goes, i would say Rice is underrated and unknown, really. Sorry, zafirk . . .</p>
<p>In deference to IvyGrad, I'll post again a bell curve of colleges and universities based on a grading system. Of course the various factors to determine the grade remains comparable; the best in everything gets the A+, etc. Here goes (in alphabetical order):</p>
<p>A+
Harvard
MIT
Princeton
Stanford
Yale</p>
<p>A
Amherst
Brown
Cal Tech
Columbia
Dartmouth
Duke
Georgetown
Penn
Pomona
Swarthmore
U Virginia
Williams</p>
<p>A-
Boston College
Bowdoin
Cal Berkeley
Carleton
Carnegie Mellon
Chicago
Claremont/McKenna
Colgate
Cornell
Davidson
Emory
Grinnell
Harvey Mudd
Haverford
Johns Hopkins
Michigan
Middlebury
Northwestern
Notre Dame
Rice
Tufts
Vassar
WUSTL
Washington & Lee
Wellesley
Wesleyan</p>
<p>B+
Barnard
Bates
Brandeis
Bryn Mawr
Bucknell
Case Western
Colby
Colorado College
Connecticut College
Dickinson
Franklin & Marshall
Furman
George Washington U
Georgia Tech
Gettysburg
Hamilton
Holy Cross
Illinois U-C
Kenyon
Lafayette
Lehigh
Macalester
Mt. Holyoke
New York U
Oberlin
Reed
Rochester
St. Lawrence
Scripps
Skidmore
Smith
Texas
Trinity
UCLA
UCSD
UNC
USC
Vanderbilt
Villanova
Wake Forest
Whitman
William & Mary
Wisconsin</p>
<p>The B schools are then separated out regionally by Northeast, Midwest, South and West.</p>
<p>If anyone's interested in those, would be glad to post; in the meantime, think that the above "bell curve" is more reasonable and fair an assessment due to the minute variables which separate schools in a numerical ranking as well as institutional one (uni vs. LAC, e.g.).</p>
<p>That list is pretty accurate although UVA is clearly WAY overranked on that list.</p>
<p>I wonder if Ivygrad went to UVA - I actually don't know but stuff like that is typical of people on CC.</p>
<p>Better list:</p>
<p>A+
Harvard
MIT
Princeton
Stanford
Yale</p>
<p>A
Amherst
Brown
Cal Tech
Columbia
Dartmouth
Duke
Georgetown
Penn
Pomona
Swarthmore
Williams</p>
<p>A-
Northwestern
Cornell
Chicago</p>
<p>B+
Bowdoin
Cal Berkeley
Carleton
Carnegie Mellon
Claremont/McKenna
Colgate
Davidson
Emory
Grinnell
Harvey Mudd
Haverford
Johns Hopkins
Michigan
Middlebury
Notre Dame
Rice
Tufts
Vassar
WUSTL
Washington & Lee
Wellesley
Wesleyan
U Virginia</p>
<p>B
Barnard
Bates
Boston College
Brandeis
Bryn Mawr
Bucknell
Case Western
Colby
Colorado College
Connecticut College
Dickinson
Franklin & Marshall
George Washington U
Georgia Tech
Hamilton
Holy Cross
Illinois U-C
Kenyon
Lafayette
Lehigh
Macalester
Mt. Holyoke
New York U
Oberlin
Reed
Rochester
Smith
Texas
Trinity
UCLA
UCSD
UNC
USC
Vanderbilt
Villanova
Wake Forest
Whitman
William & Mary
Wisconsin</p>
<p>B-
Furman
Gettysburg
St. Lawrence
Scripps
Skidmore</p>
<p>Sweet, Vanderbilt a "B" I mean you must be right because its ranked higher than berkely, uva, tufts, emory,</p>
<p>And Duke is definitely A+ with Penn</p>
<p>Surprisingly enough Ivy_Grad, I agree with you. Tiering (or grouping as I would call it) is better than ranking. But I would dare say that would be the extent of our agreement. I will not dare list the groupins because if I do, I am sure we will all have another futile debate! LOL</p>
<p>I have a feeling Vanderbilt will be dropping. It has no business being ranked higher than Georgetown or Emory.</p>
<p>Whoops!! I overranked Georgetonw accidentally. Its an A-. Vandy is a B+.</p>
<p>why is Stanford not an A, I just dont get it.</p>
<p>Any list is useful for putting together an initial individual fit list. More useful lists describe why and how a college was placed. Sophisticated readers will realize that schools are aware of how the rankings are placed and will sometimes manuver their numbers around to increase their scores...especially on established lists like US News. </p>
<p>An interactive list would be better, where the reader can establish their individulalized point system, including department scores and graduate or career placement.</p>
<p>As for the lists in the above posts I think they are all well known schools and the list misses a few. For example, any list that includes Skidmore should probably contain all of the California UCs and about 50 other schools as well. </p>
<p>What really matters is rarely revealed. "What does this school do for a student like me?" Should a school be ranked higher because it only has the smartest people applying and being accepted? What if HYPS decided that they would take a third of its next class from a group with more moderate scores and grades....would that make them lesser schools?</p>
<p>In my life (Outside of books and journals) I have learned as much from people who were less educated than me as I have learned from those who were better educated. I agree that interesting and dedicated students are conducive to learning, but I disagree that, in these days of test tutors, divergent class sizes, and other assists, scores, grades or essays always reveal this. </p>
<p>My ranking of schools would be based upon a very few things, what happens to their graduates; how content are the staff and students; does it teach what I want to learn?</p>
<p>Harvard2400, you think Duke and Penn are A+ but Stanford is merely an A? Interesting.</p>
<p>Slipper, Cal and Michigan get B+? Expected given the source, but not very realistic. You cannot give Brown, Columbia and Dartmouth As and not give Cal, Chicago, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Michigan and Northwestern As too. And I think Rice, UCLA and UVA at B+ are too low. Rice, UCLA and UVA, like Georgetown...are more like an A-.</p>
<p>Slipper's list is RIGHT on the money. However, perhaps UVA should be a tier lower and Rice/JHU need to be a tier higher. I think Umich, UCB, UCLA undergrad are fine right where they are. However, maybe Caltech should move up a rung?</p>
<p>Yeah I am right with you on most of those changes Devil. And I meant G-town is a B+, not an A-. I didnt notice it hiding in the A section on Ivy Grad's list when I altered it. </p>
<p>Even Better list:</p>
<p>A+
Harvard
Cal Tech
MIT
Princeton
Stanford
Yale</p>
<p>A
Amherst
Brown
Columbia
Dartmouth
Duke
Penn
Swarthmore
Williams</p>
<p>A-
Northwestern
Cornell
Chicago
Johns Hopkins
Pomona</p>
<p>B+
Bowdoin
Cal Berkeley
Carleton
Carnegie Mellon
Claremont/McKenna
Colgate
Davidson
Emory
Georgetown
Grinnell
Harvey Mudd
Haverford
Michigan
Middlebury
Notre Dame
Rice
Tufts
Vassar
WUSTL
Washington & Lee
Wellesley
Wesleyan
U Virginia</p>
<p>B
Barnard
Bates
Boston College
Brandeis
Bryn Mawr
Bucknell
Case Western
Colby
Colorado College
Connecticut College
Franklin & Marshall
George Washington U
Georgia Tech
Hamilton
Holy Cross
Illinois U-C
Kenyon
Lafayette
Lehigh
Macalester
Mt. Holyoke
New York U
Oberlin
Reed
Rochester
Smith
Texas
Trinity
UCLA
UCSD
UNC
USC
Vanderbilt
Villanova
Wake Forest
William & Mary
Wisconsin</p>