US News Best Colleges 2011 is ONLINE

College Search & Selection
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<p>A) I’m not saying Big Ten-type large public schools should be ranked higher because of this. I’m saying that their ranks are being negatively affected by these commitments, and this information should be taken into account. You can’t have the exclusivity of the “top” schools if you’re using all your resources (spending money from the endowment) for community/state projects (which they’re meant to do since they’re state-funded).
B) I know that where I come from, an Ohio State degree probably means more to people than a Penn degree, as I’ve experienced firsthand that nobody even knows what Penn is. What I’m saying isn’t a debate on which will get you a better job, etc., but which schools are ranked where and how there is a major flaw.</p>

162

<p>Ok. What kind of worthless piece of crap listing is this? They’re actually ranking one of the best universities in the country at 242? Of course Tech is going to have low graduation rates. It’s hard as hell! Of course it’s going to have low student satisfaction. It’s hard as hell! Forbes needs to develop some credible criteria for ratings, else this tells no one anything. Being happy taking basket-weaving doesn’t mean you get a job when you get out. This borders on libel. Forbes sucks!</p>

163

<p>i should say Yale should in a better position tahn Princeton</p>

164

<p>NYU’s acceptance rate is definitely not 38%. Did they average in the acceptances for NYU Poly or something? Where are they getting this information</p>

165

<p>^
According to college board, it is 38%.</p>

166

<p>^ It had been 24 percent the year I applied. Times change.</p>

167

<p>I really like Columbia and Harvard, so this ranking makes me happy. If taken classes, gone to parties, and talked to a lot of people at Columbia, Yale, Princeton, and Harvard (my current school) and Harvard and Columbia had pretty much the most engaging student bodies in general, with Yale following closely behind. I have hated Princeton every time I have spent time there. I think there’s something about the setting of a college that really enlivens a study body or sort of kills it depending on the students’ reaction to their environment. Yale copes with it well…Princeton does not.</p>

168

<p>I love how Harvard is first without having to share with Princeton again. Wonder if Yale will ever move ahead of Princeton though.
How does UPenn always figure so high? Specially considering that after Cornell, it’s the Ivy with the highest acceptance rate. Also, Brown and Cornell after Northwestern and Duke is slightly surprising.</p>

169

<p>This Fiske data chart agrees with you on Princeton, but it also says the financial stress to go there is less.</p>

<p><a href=“http://ecf.smugmug.com/Colleges/colleges/photo-1/975113879_wBuWm-O.png[/url]”>http://ecf.smugmug.com/Colleges/colleges/photo-1/975113879_wBuWm-O.png&lt;/a&gt;
Harvard </p>

<p><a href=“http://ecf.smugmug.com/Colleges/colleges/photo-4/975113968_riLYg-O.png[/url]”>http://ecf.smugmug.com/Colleges/colleges/photo-4/975113968_riLYg-O.png&lt;/a&gt;
Columbia</p>

<p><a href=“http://ecf.smugmug.com/Colleges/colleges/photo-2/975113909_LguV6-O.png[/url]”>http://ecf.smugmug.com/Colleges/colleges/photo-2/975113909_LguV6-O.png&lt;/a&gt;
Princeton</p>

170

<p>People shouldn’t be surprised about UPenn’s ranking. It’s such a great school!</p>

171

<p>NYU 2010 admission rate = 29% (vs. 28% in 2009)
<a href=“http://media.www.nyunews.com/media/storage/paper869/news/2008/04/02/University/Admission.Rate.Drops.To.24.Lowest.In.Years-3297148.shtml/#/news/2010/04/08/9admission/?ref=ajax[/url]”>http://media.www.nyunews.com/media/storage/paper869/news/2008/04/02/University/Admission.Rate.Drops.To.24.Lowest.In.Years-3297148.shtml/#/news/2010/04/08/9admission/?ref=ajax&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

172

<p>

In the US News ranking methodology, acceptance rate is only 10% of the “student selectivity” metric, which accounts for 15% of the total score. In other words, acceptance rate constitutes only 1.5% or the total score of each school.</p>

<p>Incidentally, the remaining 90% of “student selectivity” consists of admissions test scores of enrollees (50% of “student selectivity,” or 7.5% of the total score), and the proportion of enrolled freshman who graduated in the top 10% of their high school classes (40% of “student selectivity,” or 6% of the total score).</p>

<p>In other words, acceptance rate is merely one of many pieces of data US News uses in its ranking:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>[How</a> U.S. News Calculates the College Rankings - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/best-colleges/2010/08/17/how-us-news-calculates-the-college-rankings.html?PageNr=4]How”>http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/best-colleges/2010/08/17/how-us-news-calculates-the-college-rankings.html?PageNr=4)</p>

173

<p>Plus, acceptance rate doesnt effectively reflect quality.</p>

174

<p>Yeah in terms of NYU, i don’t know where Collegeboard is getting their info from. In recent years their listed acceptance rate has been at least 8 percentage points higher than it actually is. But it really doesn’t matter much – I think it could and maybe should be Top 30, but for the most part I think it’s ranked appropriately in USNWR.</p>

175

<p>Admissions Statistics (Fall, 2009)</p>

<pre><code>* Number of Applications: 36,944

  • Percent Offered Admission: 29.4%
  • Number of Early Decision Applications: 2,979
  • Early Decision % of Class: 28.5%
  • Number of New Freshmen: 4,650
    </code></pre>

<p>That’s for NYU.</p>

176

<p>Incredible emphasis on universities in this thread: ironically, their reputations are largely based on the “whole package”, i.e. their professional and graduate schools, which are often more clearly distinguished than their B.A./A.B. programs. There should be an (at least) equivalent emphasis and discussion of the top LAC’s which focus solely on their B.A. programs. No body is going to debate the preeminence of Harvard or Stanford law school, but Harvard undergraduate compared to Williams/Amherst/Swarthmore? Definitely room for debate there.</p>

177

<p>

Not surprising at all. While one can make the argument that Cornell is stronger than those two, both Northwestern and Duke are easily on par with Brown for academics. At the undergraduate level, they are all very much peers.</p>

<p>In any case, I don’t see why anyone would be “surprised” by such a thing, as US News is more predictable than one would think in the big scheme of things. Regardless of whether one thinks US News is gold or trash (I lean towards the latter), the only schools that have been out of the top 10 fewer times than Duke (precisely once, in 1989) are Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale.</p>

<p>Since 1990, several schools have consistently made up the top 10 – Harvard, Caltech, Duke, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale. Dartmouth usually makes the cut as well, though it occasionally slips to #11. Moving into the new decade, Penn, Columbia, and Chicago have also been vying for the top 10.</p>

178

<p>I find it weird that something suppose to be reputable has wrong info about a certain school (NYU). Am I missing something here?</p>

179

<p>UPenn is ranked that high consistently because it is a GREAT school. Not to mention, it has, by far, the best undergraduate business program (Wharton) in the nation (which has always been #1 in US News and World Report’s undergraduate business program ranking). Penn actually dropped to 5 this year from last year’s 4.</p>

<p>But… obviously I’m a little biased.</p>

180

<p>“UPenn is ranked that high consistently because it is a GREAT school. Not to mention, it has, by far, the best undergraduate business program (Wharton) in the nation (which has always been #1 in US News and World Report’s undergraduate business program ranking).” </p>

<p>I go by BusinessWeek’s rankings, NOT!</p>