<p>Regardless of ratings, though, you need to do your own research. There may be some little-known “gems” of schools out there who are great at chemical engineering, that get overlooked.</p>
<p>And using US News for rankings isn’t always the best idea:</p>
<p>[University</a> of Florida President Bernie Machen places his school among the most distinguished universities in the United States. Other Florida universities get poor ratings. | Gainesville.com | The Gainesville Sun | Gainesville, FL](<a href=“http://www.gainesville.com/article/20090616/ARTICLES/906169915/-1/SPORTS0102?Title=Machen-rates-Fla-schools-low#]University”>http://www.gainesville.com/article/20090616/ARTICLES/906169915/-1/SPORTS0102?Title=Machen-rates-Fla-schools-low#)
While potentially this guy’s over/under-rankings would be offset, places that are larger/more well-known (i.e. places with larger graduate programs), will likely be ranked higher. Eg: Brown is likely underrated on US News, because fewer university presidents come out of Brown than other ivies, because there are only 2,000 Brown graduate students, whereas places like Columbia have closer to 8,000,meaning more presidents are tied to Columbia then Brown, meaning Columbia’s ratings go up.</p>
<p>There’s another thread right now all about this: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/732180-uf-president-cooks-usnews-rankings.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/732180-uf-president-cooks-usnews-rankings.html</a></p>