<p>I feel like the Top 200 rankings were a little sketchy. The QS rankings change rather dramatically every year first of all so it is really rather unreliable; universities ranked 5th one year can suddenly be ranked 25th the following. There is some sort of inconsistency in their rankings, probably due to lack of complete data sets for certain universities during certain years. Second of all, the creator of this ranking list are rather dodgy about describing how they their figures and rankings; they use vague qualitative adjectives that repeatedly say their data is “fair,” “intuitive,” and “reliable.” That’s never a good sign since one of the first things I learned in statistics is how easily they can be manipulated or influenced. </p>
<p>The more important thing is that Berkeley ranks within the top 4 in the world for all subject categories. That personally is of more concern to me since these are typically more precise rankings, requiring less data with a more rigorous standarad for the ranking since these fields typically have set standards for quality. UCLA is less impressive ranking within the top 18 in the world for all subject categories. As a matter of fact, I think Berkeley has the highest average ranking in the world for all subjects.</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong, UCLA is a great school too, but I think Berkeley is better academically as far as I’m concerned ;).</p>
<p>As insignificant as it may be, does anyone else find the world ranking (among other rankings) for Berkeley, going from 8 in 2006, 22 in 2007, and 36 in 2008, disturbing? While the top private universities seem to be in fine shape financially, it seems like Berkeley depends a lot on government money. With the economic recession and widespread budget cuts, I fear that Berkeley’s will continue to lose more ground to its private rivals.</p>
<p>As insignificant as it may be, does anyone else find the world ranking (among other rankings) for Berkeley, going from 8 in 2006, 22 in 2007, and 36 in 2008, disturbing? While the top private universities seem to be in fine shape financially, it seems like Berkeley depends a lot on government money. With the economic recession and widespread budget cuts, I fear that Berkeley might continue to lose more ground to its private rivals.</p>
<p>As insignificant as it may be, does anyone else find the world ranking (among other rankings) for Berkeley, going from 8 in 2006, 22 in 2007, and 36 in 2008, disturbing? While the top private universities seem to be in fine shape financially, it seems like Berkeley depends a lot on government money. With the economic recession and widespread budget cuts, I fear that Berkeley might continue to lose more ground to its private rivals.</p>
<p>The Super-Special-Awesome List of Colleges and Universities in the World:</p>
<p>This list was painstakingly compiled through a long period of research. The rankings stem from a reliable, accurate, well-respected formula; the creators of this list believe it to be the most accurate measure of academic excellence. This list is unparalleled in that all institutions listed were comprehensively reviewed with an excellent criteria, studying 42 different points of each university, including rankings of graduate programs, number of affiliated Nobel Laureates, and faculty:student ratio, as well as other measures of excellence such as peer review and student review. Different categories were weighted differently depending on their importance.</p>
<p>And now I present: The Super-Special-Awesome List of Colleges and Universities in the World (list truncated due to space and time considerations):</p>
<ol>
<li>De Anza College</li>
<li>UC Merced</li>
<li>UC Riverside</li>
<li>Utah State</li>
<li>University of Wyoming</li>
<li>University of Alaska</li>
<li>Oxford University</li>
<li>Cambridge University</li>
<li>University of California, Berkeley</li>
<li>University of California, San Diego</li>
</ol>
<p>ZOMGORRZ UC Merced is better than Oxbridge!!! You can’t argue with me, the rankings say so!!! And UCLA isn’t even on the list!!! Neither are Harvard, Yale, Stanford, etc.!!! All these universities must be better than those!!!</p>
<p>Props if you get the reference in the title.</p>
<p>UCLA has a better faculty/student ratio on that list so it ranked higher. Unfortunately for you Bruins employers, grad schools, and people in general don’t seem to share such views. Cal = win.</p>
<p>Now run along and try not to steal any more of our stuff. You already stole our song, colors, and mascot. /head pat</p>
<p>From that site, we can conclude that UCLA has a better faculty/student ratio.</p>
<p>…that’s about it.</p>
<p>It’s like looking at the normal rankings, where Cal and UCLA are in the 20s. Public schools have a ‘worse’ faculty/student ratio, have lower SAT scores, don’t receive as much donations, etc. But then you should compare the sizes of the schools. Weave out the bottom half and you have students, etc. on par with top 20 schools.</p>
<p>I think when if you are in either UCLA or Berkeley, you’d better focus on yourself rather than the rankings, because that’s actually going to make a difference to yourself</p>
<p>PS: the GO Bruins! type of stuff really sounds brainless</p>
<p>Torrancecali: Perhaps your arguments would gain some credence if you actually supported them with logical reasoning and evidence, as opposed to statements like the one above. People may be more willing to listen if you do. Proper English also makes for a more convincing argument, as it shows you can effectively communicate at the high standards necessary in an academic setting. So far, your simple “one-liners” only stand out because they are thrust amidst well-reasoned posts by other members of the Berkeley community. If you are a representative of UCLA (as a student, faculty, alumni, or some other capacity affiliated with the institution), this does not reflect well, both for you and your school. I’m sure this is not an accurate representation of UCLA, which I believe to be a wonderful school, though still behind Berkeley in many areas.</p>
<p>My son got into both UCLA and Cal. I would have been disappointed if my son had chosen UCLA, but it was his decision. Luckily he came to the right choice. I’ve seen data that shows if a student gets into both schools 65% choose Cal due to the reputation. I personally liked Cal better based on the fact it has a college town feel. Also, being from SoCal I wanted my son to experience a new area. I would have liked to see him go east but 500 miles away is far enough. Going away to school and getting out of your comfort zone allows for growth and maturity.</p>