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Not necessarily, and certainly not “by a long shot.” Penn’s professional and grad schools are generally quite comparable to Columbia’s (e.g., Penn’s medical and business schools are higher ranked than Columbia’s, as are quite a few of its liberal arts grad programs).</p>
<p>fallenchemist, you might want to briefly summarize for the good folks on this thread the incredible turnaround that Tulane was able to achieve after the absolutely terrible position that it was put in with Katrina.</p>
<p>I read it thoroughly and according to the article, it’s a pending decision.</p>
<p>[Ranking</a> Categories May Change in the Upcoming College Rankings - Morse Code: Inside the College Rankings (usnews.com)](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/blogs/college-rankings-blog/2010/06/17/ranking-categories-may-change-in-the-upcoming-college-rankings.html]Ranking”>http://www.usnews.com/blogs/college-rankings-blog/2010/06/17/ranking-categories-may-change-in-the-upcoming-college-rankings.html)</p>
<p>“Penn’s professional and grad schools are generally quite comparable to Columbia’s (e.g., Penn’s medical and business schools are higher ranked than Columbia’s, as are quite a few of its liberal arts grad programs).”</p>
<p>But graduate and professional components aren’t the end of what makes an overall institution. If Morse did make an “overall” ranking, I’m pretty sure “research” would be counted as well and Columbia trumps Penn by a long shot there.</p>
<p>“Schmaltz, please stop your nonsense”</p>
<p>Sorry JohnAdams, for a while there I forgot how deadly serious and non-nonsensical it is for adults to speculate about the US News rankings.</p>
<p>but Schmalts the “nonsense” comment was about your post that Northwestern is located in Boston, whereas we know that it is really in the Great Northwest of the U.S.</p>
<p>
Sorry, but that’s just not correct. By any measure of the quantity and quality of the current research activities of both universities, they are quite comparable. For example, in the area of medical research (one of the largest areas–if not THE largest area–of research by both of these schools), Penn has for several years been the second largest recipient of NIH research funding in the country (with Johns Hopkins being first).</p>
<p>Moreover, a major component of liberal arts graduate program rankings is research output and reputation and, as I indicated above, Penn and Columbia are generally quite comparable in those rankings (Penn ranked higher in several, Columbia ranked higher in others).</p>
<p>John - I will send you CC bucks. Those are just as good, right?</p>
<p>JohnAdams is right. Northwestern is definitely not in Boston, but the Great Northwest. I think its near WashU, which is also in the area.</p>
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<p>GenericName, JohnAdams was employing a sense of sarcasm. He didn’t say Washington University in St. Louis but the state school the University of Washington. Kind of a difference. So, I think it is time for a history lesson. Why? Because I can of course!</p>
<p>Today, the Northwestern United States comprises of Washington state, Oregon, and some people will include Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and parts of Alaska. Usually when you add British Columbia, the term Pacific Northwest is used; however, the usage does vary from place to place. </p>
<p>Terminology down, the Northwest Ordinance was passed down by the governing Congress of the Confederation of the U.S. in 1787 to administrate the Northwest Territories and set rules for statehood. At the time, the Northwest Territories referred to the area of land covering modern-day Illinois (founded in 1818), Ohio (1803), Indiana (1816), Michigan (1837), Wisconsin (1848), and a part of Minnesota (1858). Northwestern University was established in 1851 when the term “Northwest” still referred to the original territories under the Northwest Ordinance. It became the first recognized university in Illinois at its founding. Due to the expansion of the railroads and mass industrialization, Chicago began to rapidly expand in the years surrounding Northwestern’s charter. In fact, nine prominent heads of business in the city were the ones who campaigned for the university to be built, including the most recognized founder, John Evans. </p>
<p>So, the name “Northwestern” is representative of the Northwest Territories rather than your modern day concept of the northwestern portion of the U.S… The states of Oregon and Washington were not even founded until 1859 and 1889 respectively. Actually, these two states helped form the “Oregon Territory” not the “Northwest Territory.” </p>
<p>Just a bit on U.S. history and some Northwestern University history…I hope you learned something.</p>
<p>Well, I’m not much of a US News fan, but…well, this might actually come as a shock for you.
But my room floor at MIT and I believe that Dartmouth is better than Harvard, Duke is better than Yale, Columbia is the worst Ivy, and MIT better than Stanford. However, we refuse to have any opinion on Caltech :p</p>
<p>^^You went to Duke. It doesn’t shock me at all.</p>
<p>
Xiggi, I just heard Morse is going to 100% Peer Assement methodology after considerable fact checking and vetting of the survey…he concluded Peer Assessment was all that was needed since the “objective data” weightings and measurements were all subjective anyway…He was influenced by Collegehelp’s statistical analysis of the Peer Assessment… ;-)</p>
<p>Go Bears!</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>That is GREAT news, UCB. Now, we’'ll have to find another subject to debate. /insert jocular smiley here.</p>
<p>By the way, I’d like to point that it had been obvious for a VERY long time that the “Peer Assessment was all that was needed” for Morse to level the playing field and publish the results he … desired. /insert serious face here</p>
<p>As another by the way, please remember that I would like NOTHING better than a ranking based entirely on the PA with the caveat that it’d be broken down in meaningful categories and that everyone one of the detailed surveys be made public on the US News website. Since the categories will directly yield the final ranking (and final PA) we won’t need the circular (and faulty) logic that the “objectives” do indeed correlate with the PA. All in all, it would be a victory for transparency and integrity. Humm, that last one might be quite hard to achieve!</p>
<p>And, as a last by the way, USnews has announced that the 2011 edition will be available as a searchable and DOWNLOADABLE version. After suggesting that to Morse for years, it appears that they finally listened. Now, if they would only consider selling the past editions on ONE searchable DVD!</p>
<p>Go Bears! The Pac10 needs all the help they can get this year!</p>
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What a nerd…/insert jocular smiley here.</p>
<p>Nah, it was supposed to be my Christmas gift for RML.</p>
<p>^ How very thoughtful. </p>
<p>However, this would make for more exciting viewing…
[YouTube</a> - The Play: Bears Attack the Band](<a href=“The Play: Bears Attack the Band - YouTube”>The Play: Bears Attack the Band - YouTube)</p>
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<p>That better be a joke! :D</p>
<p>What about Chapel Hill? Up or down?</p>
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<p>In the RML household for sure! But he must already own that tape … you know the one that is labeled 1982 Ivy League Final.</p>
<p>Ah, THE Play of 1982. The play that was made relevant by the special rule that Cal can grab a touchdown pass that bounces off the turf. Is there a kernel of truth in the stories that Stanford students love to signal TD for every pass that hit the turf in the end zone ? :)</p>
<p>Poor Elway could rarely get a break.</p>