US News College Rankings 2012

[UCBChemEGrad]

<p>USC besting UCLA was last year’s news…as was pointed out by sentiment in the now closed thread.</p>

[texaspg]

<p>Next year I predict USNEWS will have 6 schools ranked number 5, 4 schools ranked 11, 5 schools ranked 15 and 11 schools ranked 20 to get 30 schools in top 20.</p>

[Sparkeye7]

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

<p>Don’t feel bad! I am sure Miami of Ohio (Oxford) is also asking the same question, which is tied this year with SUNY - Binghamton at #90.</p>

[warblersrule]

<p>

@rjkofnovi

Thanks to Alexandre we now have the PA numbers from academe for 2012

Now that I’m actually looking at those numbers, they strike me as decidedly off. It seems they’re trying to combine both research and undergraduate focus, resulting in a bastardized mix that reflects neither.</p>

<p>Berkeley scores higher than any of the other publics, and while it has a slight lead in selectivity, this is clearly a testament to its strong graduate programs. One could reasonably conclude that the measurement is therefore measuring pure academic heft, something supported by HYMPS also being at the top and Michigan’s reasonable rank as high but a few slots below Berkeley. So far, so good.</p>

<p>But! Things get odd when you start to look at the other publics. UCLA and Michigan are virtually interchangeable in selectivity, and with the notable exception of engineering, the two are neck and neck in most fields. The difference between the two in PA is a not inconsiderable 0.3 points, however (i.e. 0.9 points on the overall ranking). Similarly, you have UVA receiving the highest peer assessment in the South, despite both UNC Chapel Hill and UT Austin having noticeably stronger faculties. Some of the private universities also seem displaced relative to their academic heft – Hopkins receiving a higher PA score than Penn is one example, and Caltech’s score seems quite low. The high selectivity of Dartmouth trumps its lack of top-flight graduate programs for PA, yet the same does not hold true for WUStL. So many inconsistencies!</p>

<p>On an unrelated note, I don’t believe anyone has posted the undergraduate teaching ranking yet.</p>

<ol>
<li>Dartmouth / Princeton</li>
<li>Miami U</li>
<li>U Maryland - BC / Yale</li>
<li>Brown</li>
<li>Stanford</li>
<li>Berkeley / Notre Dame / William & Mary</li>
<li>Chicago / Clemson</li>
</ol>

<p>Analysis
UMD-BC +9
Yale +6
Stanford +3
Clemson +1
Princeton +1
Brown ±0
Dartmouth ±0
Miami U -1
Berkeley -2
W&M -3
Notre Dame -4</p>

<p>Added: Chicago
Dropped: Michigan, Purdue, UVA, UVM, Wake Forest</p>

[UCBChemEGrad]

<p>^ Warblers, I think USNWR should just drop the peer assessment component and add a “faculty distinction” component…proportion of faculty in national academies, Wolf, Turing and Nobel Prizes, etc…something along those lines.</p>

<p>There is something else going on with PA. Berkeley is lower due to undergrad population…but that’s silly because other objective measure student quality and class size. Dartmouth higher than UCLA and Wisconsin may be attributable to Dartmouth scoring high for undergrad teaching…that’s another report these same academics fill out. The dedication to undergrads likely elevates its score in academics minds.</p>

<p>The undergrad teaching survey just asks respondents to write down some schools…they aren’t listed on a printed ballot. With write-in candidate methodology there is bound to be more variation.</p>

[PaperChaserPop]

<p>

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

</p>

<p>The stupidity may lie not in changing Binghamton’s ranking, but in ranking Binghamton to begin with.</p>

<p>If colleges can be evaluated and ranked ;), the evaluations should follow a bell curve like distribution, with a few colleges on the right and clearly separated from the “pack” and perhaps even from each other. As you move toward the center, the differences among them become so slight that it really becomes meaningless to separate them. This is the philosophy embraced by the folks behind the [Times</a> Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings](<a href=“The top 200 – and the best of the rest | Times Higher Education (THE)”>The top 200 – and the best of the rest | Times Higher Education (THE)).</p>

<p>

… We unashamedly rank only around 1 per cent of the world’s universities – all of a similar type – because we recognise that the sector’s diversity is one of its great strengths, and not every university should aspire to be one of the global research elite. </p>

<p>But we also stop the ranking list at 200 in the interests of fairness. It is clear that the lower down the tables you go, the more the data bunch up and the less meaningful the differentials between institutions become. The difference between the institutions in the 10th and 20th places, for example, is much greater than the difference between number 310 and number 320. In fact, ranking differentials at this level become almost meaningless, which is why we limit it to 200.

</p>

<p>Using the same ratio, 1%, USNWR should only rank the first 30 US colleges. This number goes down even further if we limit the rankings to only research universities (or LAC’s).</p>

[pierre0913]

<p>I don’t understand how Clemson year after year is in the top 5 among the “Up-And-Coming Schools” list but it continues to fall in the rankings or make no improvement at all. (fell 8 spots overall and 2 in the public schools rankings)</p>

[gekkoman]

<p>No superscoring hurts the UCs as has been said many times before.</p>

[OCELITE]

<p>Here are the top universities in your region.</p>

<p>Regional University North Rankings
1.Villanova University
2. Fairfield University
3. Loyola University Maryland
4. College of New Jersey
4. Providence College
6. Bentley University
7. Rochester Institute of Technology
8. St. Joseph’s University
8. SUNY–Geneseo
8. University of Scranton</p>

<p>Regional University South Rankings

1. Rollins College
2. Elon University
3. Stetson University
4. Samford University
5. The Citadel
6. James Madison University
7. Belmont University
8. Loyola University New Orleans
9. Mercer University
10. Appalachian State University</p>

<p>Regional University Midwest Rankings

1. Creighton University
2. Butler University
3. Drake University
4. Valparaiso University
5. Xavier University
6. Bradley University
7. John Carroll University
8. Truman State University
9. University of Evansville
10. Drury University</p>

<p>Regional University West Rankings

1. Trinity University
2. Santa Clara University
3. Gonzaga University
4. Loyola Marymount University
5. Mills College
6. Seattle University
7. California Polytechnic State University–San Luis Obispo
8. Chapman University
9. University of Portland
10. Whitworth University</p>

[newmassdad]

<p>

If colleges can be evaluated and ranked , the evaluations should follow a bell curve like distribution, with a few colleges on the right and clearly separated from the “pack” and perhaps even from each other. As you move toward the center, the differences among them become so slight that it really becomes meaningless to separate them.

you are confusing scoring with ranking. A ranking is always linear. That’s the whole purpose.</p>

<p>Scoring can be linear or not. What you refer to is technically known as a standardized (or sometimes a normalized) score, as opposed to a raw score, which can be most anything.</p>

[hotpotato1092]

<p>UM up to #38? I’ll take it.</p>

[InternAtUSA]

<p>Duecey,</p>

<p>1- industry funded research
2- average starting salary
3- innovative companies started by faculty/alumni</p>

<p>One Word, Three Letters: MIT</p>

[PaperChaserPop]

<p>

you are confusing scoring with ranking. A ranking is always linear. That’s the whole purpose.

</p>

<p>Please read my post again. I used the word “evaluations” which I guess can map to your “scoring”. I tried to be brief and thought the reference should make it clear what I meant…guess it just wasn’t enough for some.</p>

[BobbyCT]

<p>Is there an undergraduate teachers ranking for LAC’s? It would seem redundant since most LAC’s are undergraduate but I thought they were listed last year. If anyone has such a list and can post it, I would appreciate it. Thanks.</p>

[warblersrule]

<p>

@UCBChemEGrad

Warblers, I think USNWR should just drop the peer assessment component and add a “faculty distinction” component…proportion of faculty in national academies, Wolf, Turing and Nobel Prizes, etc…something along those lines.

I would agree with that, as I do think faculty quality is something that should be included in the ranking. My problem is not so much with PA per se as it is with the somewhat contradictory results it produces. Something more quantitative might prove preferable.</p>

<p>

@BobbyCT

Is there an undergraduate teachers ranking for LAC’s? It would seem redundant since most LAC’s are undergraduate but I thought they were listed last year. If anyone has such a list and can post it, I would appreciate it. Thanks.

1. Carleton
2. Swarthmore
3. Grinnell / Oberlin / Williams
4. Amherst / St. Olaf
5. Davidson / Earlham / Haverford / Wabash
6. Hendrix / Kenyon / Macalester
7. Beloit / Beria / Centre / Lewis & Clark / Pomona / Reed / Rhodes / Sewanee / Wheaton (IL) </p>

<p><a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges/undergraduate-teaching[/url]”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges/undergraduate-teaching&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[Wildwood11]

<p>Here you’ll find a chart with the weighting and explanations of all the criteria:</p>

<p>[Methodology:</a> Undergraduate Ranking Criteria and Weights - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2011/09/12/methodology-undergraduate-ranking-criteria-and-weights-2012]Methodology:”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2011/09/12/methodology-undergraduate-ranking-criteria-and-weights-2012)</p>

[BobbyCT]

<p>^ Thank you warblersrule and Wildwood11, much appreciated!</p>

[Exengineer]

<p>This was a ranking of only U.S. universities. They don’t fare too well when a ranking of the best universities in the world is done. Seven of the Top 20 universities are not in the U.S. </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2011[/url]”>http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2011&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[CSIHSIS]

<p>When schools drop a few spots they should explain why.</p>

[Wildwood11]

<p>^^Or you could look at these world rankings:</p>

<p>[Top</a> 200 - The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2010-2011](<a href=“http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2010-2011/top-200.html]Top”>World University Rankings 2010-11 | Times Higher Education (THE))</p>

<p>In this one, 7 of the top 10 are in the U.S.</p>

<p>In any case, the methodology varies so much from one set of rankings to another, you might as well just use your own criteria and weighting system to come up with a personal ranking.</p>