US News College Rankings 2012

College Search & Selection
1

<h1>1 Harvard</h1>

<h1>1 Princeton</h1>

<h1>3 Yale</h1>

<h1>4 Columbia</h1>

<h1>5 Caltech</h1>

<h1>5 MIT</h1>

<h1>5 Stanford</h1>

<h1>5 Chicago</h1>

<h1>5 UPenn</h1>

<h1>10 Duke</h1>

<h1>11 Dartmouth</h1>

<h1>12 Northwestern</h1>

<h1>13 JHU</h1>

<h1>14 WashU</h1>

<h1>15 Brown</h1>

<h1>15 Cornell</h1>

<h1>17 Rice</h1>

<h1>17 Vanderbilt</h1>

<h1>19 Notre Dame</h1>

<h1>20 Emory</h1>

<h1>21 Berkeley</h1>

<h1>22 Georgetown</h1>

<h1>23 Carnegie Mellon</h1>

<h1>23 USC</h1>

<h1>25 UVA</h1>

<h1>25 UCLA</h1>

<h1>25 Wakeforest</h1>

<h1>28 Michigan</h1>

<h1>29 Tufts</h1>

<h1>29 UNC</h1>

2

<p>LACs</p>

<p>1 Williams College
2 Amherst College
3 Swarthmore College
4 Pomona College
5 Middlebury College
6 Bowdoin College
6 Carleton College
6 Wellesley College
9 Claremont McKenna College
10 Haverford College
11 Davidson College
12 Washington and Lee University
12 Wesleyan University
14 United States Military Academy
14 United States Naval Academy
14 Vassar College
17 Hamilton College
18 Harvey Mudd College
19 Grinnell College
19 Smith College
21 Bates College
21 Colby College
21 Colgate University
24 Oberlin College
25 Bryn Mawr College
25 Macalaster College</p>

<hr>

<p>Now, we can all yawn for another year! The only commotion will come from LA … USC above UCLA. Not gonna please a few Bruins. And then there is poor Duke. Could not get one of those lottery tickets for the fifth spot. How callous of Morse! ;)</p>

3

<p>

</p>

<p>I’ll give the GC one. Not sure where the other comprehensive list is being hidden. USNews surely know how to screw up a reasonable organization. The online is a royal PITA to navigate. </p>

<p>***High school counselor score (out of 5) *** </p>

<p>Universities</p>

<p>4.9
#1 Harvard University 4.9<br>
#1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 4.9<br>
#1 Stanford University 4.9<br>
#1 Yale University 4.9 </p>

<p>4.8 </p>

<h1>5 Brown University 4.8</h1>

<p>#5 Columbia University 4.8<br>
#5 Dartmouth College 4.8<br>
#5 Princeton University 4.8 </p>

<p>4.7</p>

<h1>9 Cornell University 4.7</h1>

<p>#9 Duke University 4.7<br>
#9 Georgetown University 4.7<br>
#9 Johns Hopkins University 4.7 </p>

<p>4.6</p>

<h1>13 California Institute of Technology 4.6</h1>

<p>#13 University of Chicago 4.6<br>
#13 University of Notre Dame 4.6<br>
#13 University of Pennsylvania 4.6<br>
#13 Vanderbilt University 4.6 </p>

<p>4.5 </p>

<h1>18 Carnegie Mellon University 4.5</h1>

<p>#18 Northwestern University 4.5<br>
#18 University of California–Berkeley 4.5<br>
#18 Washington University in St. Louis 4.5 </p>

<p>4.4 </p>

<h1>22 Rice University 4.4</h1>

<p>#22 Tufts University 4.4<br>
#22 University of North Carolina 4.4<br>
#22 University of Virginia 4.4 </p>

<p>LACs</p>

<p>4.8</p>

<h1>1 United States Air Force Academy</h1>

<p>#1 United States Military Academy
#1 United States Naval Academy </p>

<p>4.5
#4 Claremont McKenna College
#4 Middlebury College
#4 Pomona College
#4 Swarthmore College
#4 Vassar College
#4 Wellesley College
#4 Williams College </p>

<p>4.4
#11 Amherst College
#11 Bowdoin College
#11 Carleton College
#11 Davidson College
#11 Smith College
#11 Wesleyan University </p>

<p>4.3
#17 Barnard College
#17 Bates College
#17 Colby College
#17 Colgate University
#17 Harvey Mudd College
#17 Macalester College
#17 Pitzer College </p>

<p>4.2
#24 Bucknell University
#24 Grinnell College</p>

4

<p>Here is the group at 4.3 </p>

<p>Rank </p>

<p>School </p>

<p>High school counselor score (out of 5) </p>

<h1>26</h1>

<p>Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA</p>

<h1>26</h1>

<p>College of William and Mary
Williamsburg, VA</p>

<h1>26</h1>

<p>Emory University
Atlanta, GA</p>

<h1>26</h1>

<p>New York University
New York, NY</p>

<h1>26</h1>

<p>University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI</p>

<p>and now the group at 4.2</p>

<h1>26</h1>

<p>University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA</p>

<h1>32</h1>

<p>George Washington University
Washington, DC</p>

<h1>32</h1>

<p>Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA</p>

<h1>32</h1>

<p>University of California–Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA</p>

<h1>32</h1>

<p>Wake Forest University
Winston-Salem, NC</p>

<p>Notice how USNWR places USC at #26 here instead of #32.</p>

<p>You’d think that they would edit a bit better wouldn’t you?</p>

5

<p>HS counselor ratings compared to 2 years ago</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/767501-best-colleges-high-school-counselor-rankings.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/767501-best-colleges-high-school-counselor-rankings.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<ol>
<li>Harvard</li>
<li>MIT</li>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>Yale</li>
<li>Brown</li>
<li>Columbia</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>Stanford</li>
<li>Caltech</li>
<li>Dartmouth</li>
<li>Duke</li>
<li>Georgetown</li>
<li>Johns Hopkins</li>
<li>Northwestern</li>
<li>UC Berkley</li>
<li>UPenn</li>
<li>Carnegie Mellon</li>
<li>U Chicago</li>
<li>UVA</li>
<li>Rice</li>
<li>UM Ann Arbor</li>
<li>UNC Chapel Hill</li>
<li>Notre Dame</li>
<li>WUSTL - 4.5</li>
</ol>

6

<p>Thanks to Alexandre we now have the PA numbers from academe for 2012:</p>

<ol>
<li>Harvard University (4.9/5.0)

<ol>
<li>Massachusetts Institute of Technology (4.9/5.0)</li>
<li>Princeton University (4.9/5.0)</li>
<li>Stanford University (4.9/5.0)</li>
<li>Yale University (4.8/5.0)</li>
<li>University of California-Berkeley (4.7/5.0)</li>
<li>California Institute of Technology (4.6/5.0)</li>
<li>Columbia University (4.6/5.0)</li>
<li>Cornell University (4.6/5.0)</li>
<li>Johns Hopkins University (4.6/5.0)</li>
<li>University of Chicago (4.6/5.0)</li>
<li>University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (4.5/5.0)</li>
<li>University of Pennsylvania (4.5/5.0)</li>
<li>Brown University (4.4/5.0)</li>
<li>Duke University (4.4/5.0)</li>
<li>Northwestern University (4.4/5.0)</li>
<li>Dartmouth College (4.3/5.0)</li>
<li>University of Virginia (4.3/5.0)</li>
<li>Carnegie Mellon University (4.2/5.0)</li>
<li>University of California-Los Angeles (4.2/5.0)</li>
<li>University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (4.2/5.0</li>
</ol></li>
</ol>

7

<p>Looks like USNWR was very generous this year – giving multiple points to some in overall score. </p>

<p>College - 2011, 2012</p>

<p>Harvard – 100, 100</p>

<p>Princeton – 99, 100</p>

<p>Yale – 98, 98</p>

<p>Columbia – 93, 94</p>

<p>Stanford – 92, 93</p>

<p>UPENN – 92, 93</p>

<p>Cal Tech – 91, 93</p>

<p>MIT – 91, 93</p>

<p>UChicago – 90, 93</p>

<p>Duke 90, 92</p>

<p>Dartmouth 90, 91</p>

<p>Northwestern 89, 90</p>

8

<p>"Looks like USNWR was very generous this year – giving multiple points to some in overall score.</p>

<p>College - 2011, 2012</p>

<p>Harvard – 100, 100</p>

<p>Princeton – 99, 100</p>

<p>Yale – 98, 98</p>

<p>Columbia – 93, 94</p>

<p>Stanford – 92, 93</p>

<p>UPENN – 92, 93</p>

<p>Cal Tech – 91, 93</p>

<p>MIT – 91, 93</p>

<p>UChicago – 90, 93</p>

<p>Duke 90, 92</p>

<p>Dartmouth 90, 91</p>

<p>Northwestern 89, 90"</p>

<p>What people often don’t realize is that the difference in actual score between #11 ranked Dartmouth and #5 ranked UChicago (both ranked #9 last year) is just 2 points; the difference between Princeton (#1) and Yale (#3) is just 2 points. Is Princeton better than Yale by having two more points? No. Same holds true for Columbia, Dartmouth, UChicago, Duke, Penn, etc.</p>

9

<p>Threads are popping up in individual school forums, but here are the 2012 rankings from UN News:</p>

<p>[National</a> University Rankings | Top National Universities | US News Best Colleges](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities]National”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities)</p>

<p>Top National Universities:</p>

<ol>
<li>Harvard</li>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>Yale</li>
<li>Columbia</li>
<li>Caltech</li>
<li>MIT</li>
<li>Stanford</li>
<li>Chicago</li>
<li>Penn</li>
<li>Duke</li>
</ol>

<p>Remember, beyond “strength of brand” these ratings don’t count for much, and as with every ranking the methodology is highly debatable. Use the underlying data to create your own rankings or just to better understand what a school of interest has going for it.</p>

10

<p>I love it that USNWR has nine schools in the top 5.</p>

11

<p>Dartmouth out of top 10, with Duke over it… meh</p>

12

<p>Does it really matter caltanner? After the top 5/9, it’s all a blur anyway. ;-)</p>

13

<ol>
<li>Dartmouth</li>
<li>Northwestern</li>
<li>Johns Hopkins</li>
<li>WashU</li>
<li>Brown </li>
<li>Cornell</li>
</ol>

14

<p>I go to NYU so I’m probably biased, but does anyone else think NYU could/should be ranked higher?</p>

15

<p>^ admitone: Brown is 15 w/ Cornell</p>

<ol>
<li>Rice</li>
<li>Vanderbilt</li>
<li>Notre Dame</li>
<li>Emory</li>
<li>Berkeley</li>
<li>Georgetown</li>
<li>Carnegie Mellon</li>
<li>USC</li>
<li>UCLA</li>
<li>UVA</li>
<li>Wake Forest</li>
</ol>

16

<p>I always find these rankings hilarious and completely detached from the real world.</p>

<p>Try weighting rankings by industry-funded research, # of innovative startups created by faculty or students, average starting salary for undergrads, and other real-world metrics. </p>

<p>Rankings would look very different, with Stanford leading by a mile. Columbia and UChicago wouldn’t even be in the top 15.</p>

17

<p>So, UCLA is probably not happy being under USC…</p>

<p>But since UCLA (and the other UCs) have to value GPA more than test scores, UCLA’s middle quartiles suffer for a school ranked that high.</p>

<p>UCLA </p>

<p>1180-1440 </p>

<p>Having 1180 be the bottom of the middle quartile is significantly lower than schools ranked anywhere near UCLA. You have to go down to #37 UCSD (another UC with GPA preferences) to get to another school with the middle quartile starting in the 1100s. </p>

<p>USC</p>

<p>1270-1470</p>

18

<p>Once again, Bowling Green misses the top 25 by a hair’s breadth. I swear this ranking system is rigged against them.</p>

19

<p>Ridiculous. Binghamton goes down to 90, for no reason that I can see. Stupid USNews.</p>

20

<br>

<br>

<p>Good point! More bragging rights, more publicity! :)</p>