<p>We moved up one spot from last year… :rolleyes:</p>
<li>Princeton University (NJ)<br></li>
<li>Harvard University (MA)<br></li>
<li>Yale University(CT)<br></li>
<li>Stanford University(CA)<br></li>
<li>University of Pennsylvania<br></li>
<li>California Institute of Technology<br></li>
<li>Massachusetts Institute of Technology<br></li>
<li>Duke University(NC)<br></li>
<li>Columbia University(NY)<br></li>
<li>University of Chicago<br></li>
<li>Dartmouth College(NH)<br></li>
<li>Washington University in St. Louis<br></li>
<li>Cornell University(NY)<br></li>
<li>Brown University(RI)<br></li>
<li>Northwestern University(IL)<br></li>
<li>Johns Hopkins University(MD)<br></li>
<li>Rice University(TX)<br></li>
<li>Emory University(GA)<br></li>
<li>Vanderbilt University(TN)<br></li>
<li>University of Notre Dame(IN)<br></li>
<li>University of CaliforniaBerkeley * </li>
<li>Carnegie Mellon University¶<br></li>
<li>University of Virginia * </li>
<li>Georgetown University(DC)<br>
**25. University of CaliforniaLos Angeles * **</li>
<li>University of MichiganAnn Arbor * </li>
<li>University of Southern California<br></li>
<li>University of North CarolinaChapel Hill * </li>
<li>Tufts University(MA)<br></li>
<li>Wake Forest University(NC)<br></li>
<li>Lehigh University¶<br></li>
<li>Brandeis University(MA)<br></li>
<li>College of William and Mary(VA) * </li>
<li>New York University<br></li>
<li>University of Rochester(NY)<br></li>
<li>Georgia Institute of Technology * </li>
<li>Boston College<br></li>
<li>University of WisconsinMadison * </li>
<li>University of CaliforniaSan Diego * </li>
<li>University of IllinoisUrbana - Champaign * </li>
<li>Case Western Reserve University(OH)<br></li>
<li>University of Washington * </li>
<li>University of CaliforniaDavis * </li>
<li>Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute(NY)<br></li>
<li>University of TexasAustin * </li>
<li>University of CaliforniaSanta Barbara * </li>
<li>University of CaliforniaIrvine * </li>
<li>Pennsylvania State UniversityUniversity Park * </li>
<li>University of Florida *<br></li>
<li>Syracuse University(NY)<br></li>
<li>Tulane University(LA)<br></li>
<li>Yeshiva University(NY)<br></li>
<li>University of Miami(FL)<br></li>
<li>Pepperdine University(CA)<br></li>
<li>George Washington University(DC)<br></li>
<li>University of MarylandCollege Park * </li>
<li>Ohio State UniversityColumbus * </li>
<li>Boston University<br></li>
<li>Rutgers, the State University of New JerseyNew Brunswick(NJ) * </li>
<li>University of Pittsburgh * </li>
<li>University of Georgia * </li>
<li>Texas A&M UniversityCollege Station * </li>
<li>Worcester Polytechnic Institute(MA)<br></li>
<li>University of Connecticut * </li>
<li>Purdue UniversityWest Lafayette(IN) * </li>
<li>University of Iowa * </li>
<li>Fordham University(NY)<br></li>
<li>Miami UniversityOxford(OH) * </li>
<li>Clemson University(SC) * </li>
<li>Southern Methodist University(TX)<br></li>
<li>University of MinnesotaTwin Cities * </li>
<li>Virginia Tech * </li>
<li>University of Delaware * </li>
<li>Michigan State University * </li>
<li>Stevens Institute of Technology(NJ)<br></li>
<li>Baylor University(TX)<br></li>
<li>Colorado School of Mines 11 * </li>
<li>Indiana UniversityBloomington * </li>
<li>Brigham Young UniversityProvo(UT)<br></li>
<li>University of CaliforniaSanta Cruz * </li>
<li>University of ColoradoBoulder * </li>
<li>St. Louis University<br></li>
<li>SUNYBinghamton * </li>
<li>Marquette University(WI)<br></li>
<li>SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry * </li>
<li>North Carolina State UniversityRaleigh * </li>
<li>University of Denver<br></li>
<li>American University(DC)<br></li>
<li>Iowa State University * </li>
<li>University of Kansas * </li>
<li>University of Alabama * </li>
<li>University of MissouriColumbia * </li>
<li>University of NebraskaLincoln * </li>
<li>University of Tulsa(OK)<br></li>
<li>Clark University(MA)<br></li>
<li>Auburn University(AL) * </li>
<li>SUNYStony Brook * </li>
<li>University of Tennessee * </li>
<li>University of Vermont * </li>
<li>University of Arizona * </li>
<li>University of the Pacific(CA)<br></li>
<li>University of CaliforniaRiverside * </li>
<li>Howard University(DC)<br></li>
<li>Illinois Institute of Technology<br></li>
<li>Northeastern University(MA)<br></li>
<li>University of MassachusettsAmherst * </li>
<li>University of San Diego<br></li>
<li>University of New Hampshire * </li>
<li>Texas Christian University<br></li>
<li>Drexel University¶<br></li>
<li>University of Oklahoma * </li>
<li>University of South CarolinaColumbia * </li>
<li>University of Oregon * </li>
<li>Loyola University Chicago<br></li>
<li>University of Dayton(OH)<br></li>
<li>Florida State University * </li>
<li>Ohio University * </li>
<li>University of MissouriRolla * </li>
<li>Samford University(AL) 11<br></li>
<li>Washington State University * </li>
<li>University at BuffaloSUNY * </li>
<li>University of Kentucky * </li>
<li>Catholic University of America(DC)<br></li>
<li>New Jersey Institute of Technology * </li>
<li>Clarkson University(NY)<br></li>
<li>Colorado State University * </li>
<li>University of Arkansas * </li>
<li>Michigan Technological University * </li>
<li>Kansas State University * </li>
<li>Arizona State University *</li>
</ol>
<p>Apparently US News agrees with me that UCLA is at least as good as Ann Arbor. Now I just hope that it agrees with me that UCLA is better than Berkeley for undergrad.</p>
<p>Woudn't it be nice if one day we all agree to ignore these rankings? Not agree, but really consider these things irrelevant. Much like HSs gearing their curriculum to satisfy standardized test result, some colleges are getting caught up with the rankings game.</p>
<p>It's waste of time and energy. If they invest more money per student and less on ways to increase their ranking points, we'd all benefit. </p>
<p>Higher Rankings --> More Applications & Attainable Prestige --> More Delusions of its Associated Grandeur and Promise of at Least a Middle-Class Lifestyle and Climbing the Social Ladder --> Bragging Rights and Using its Associated Prestige to Your Advantage --> Secure a Position Suggested by Your Being Able to Attain Admission to XYZ School --> Increase Your Job Prospects</p>
<p>How many people have time or patience to discuss in details the nuances of every single school and compare departments and associate those with more intangible ideas like "student happiness"? They at least suggest a blanket term about the overall "quality" of an institution. Prestige is always wonderful and superficially satisfying. Not only that, look at test results or GPAs.</p>
<p>So what about rankings? Its not so much the rankings itself (flawed, biased, yadada), but our perceptions of them and using them to make decisions without consideration to what it actually means to assess an institution and compare them to others. It doesn't help that US News is a major form of media and that it exercises its prowess over less prestigious or reputed publications.</p>
<p>Of course institutions will invest in increasing their rankings. How many informed high-schoolers actually consider the biases involved and look at the nuances of a biology department and respective schools and consider similarities and differences between programs. How about if they're pre-med? How do they assess how they'll perform and if it'll really make a difference. At least with colleges and universities they can secure a stronger base. Invest in the rankings and the reputation of that publication and secure a net profit - in either terms of perception/prestige/intangible terms as opposed to tangible terms in the form of applications and profits. In the process, it exists as a cycle that reinforces the above.</p>
<p>How about considering educational philosophies of various institutions? The University of Chicago has changed its application process and has extended it pool and personalities of its incoming students. The idealized intellectual is dead. Look at liberal arts colleges and their suggested pools. How many people can afford to attain a $40K/Year school and have the ability to exercise the skills in the humanities? How about St. Johns College (NM/MD)? Its educational foundation is radical. Look at the top universities. Are they at all similar to their German-Research-University foundation? No.</p>
<p>rankings are subjective. if you want to stay in the LA area, UCLA (and USC) far surpass berkeley, UVA, michigan, and many of the privates in terms of marketability and importance.</p>
<p>on the other hand, living in virginia, UVA means a lot more.</p>
<p>since LA Is the only important place, UCLA is the best in my book, after the ivies and stanford :)</p>
<ol>
<li>University of California—Berkeley</li>
<li>University of Virginia 3. University of California—Los Angeles</li>
<li>University of Michigan—Ann Arbor </li>
<li>University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill</li>
<li>College of William and Mary</li>
<li>Georgia Institute of Technology</li>
<li>University of Wisconsin—Madison </li>
<li>University of California—San Diego </li>
<li>University of Illinois—Urbana-Champaign </li>
<li>University of Washington </li>
<li>University of California—Davis</li>
<li>University of Texas—Austin </li>
<li>University of California—Santa Barbara</li>
<li>University of California—Irvine </li>
<li>Pennsylvania State University—University Park </li>
<li>University of Florida</li>
<li>University of Maryland—College Park </li>
<li>Ohio State University—Columbus </li>
<li>Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey—New Brunswick</li>
<li>University of Pittsburgh </li>
<li>University of Georgia </li>
<li>Texas A&M University—College Station </li>
<li>University of Connecticut </li>
<li>Purdue University—West Lafayette </li>
<li>University of Iowa </li>
<li>Miami University—Oxford(OH) </li>
<li>Clemson University </li>
<li>University of Minnesota—Twin Cities</li>
<li>Virginia Tech</li>
<li>University of Delaware</li>
<li>Michigan State University </li>
<li>Colorado School of Mines </li>
<li>Indiana University—Bloomington </li>
<li>University of California—Santa Cruz </li>
<li>University of Colorado—Boulder</li>
</ol>