<p>I was told by an ND student that the USN&WR rankings don't accurately reflect ND's standing in terms of quality of education due to an anti-Catholic bias that is incorporated into the Peer Assessment score of ND, which accounts for 25% of a school's overall ranking. He believes that other universities do not "respect" ND as much as it really deserves BECAUSE it is Catholic.</p>
<p>How do you guys feel about this theory?</p>
<p>I agree completely although I'm not sure if it is because of the catholic identity or just the fact that you either love Notre Dame or hate it. </p>
<p>If you look at the quality of life and quality of education it is very easy to see it is underrated. Also, the alumni giving rate definitely shows that people are very satisfied with their experience.</p>
<p>Plus, the Princeton Review has ND in tons of top ten lists from school spirit to food to alumni.</p>
<p>yeah, i've heard things that ND would be #12 without the peer assessment and if matriculation rate were added back into the ratings they could be in the top 10. but that's life. everybody cannot fathom that ND might just be that special that they can excel in so many areas while still being primarily catholic</p>
<p>What the USNWR report leaves out is that they give the student the intellectual tools to pick apart the theology and refute it...so different than the fear some religious schools have of the truth and so that may slant the ratings....ignorance lumps all religious schools into the Regents U. bucket.</p>
<p>If you go down the list, you will see that Catholic schools consistently have a lower peer assesment than the schools surrounding them in the rankings. Just goes to show that based on statistics not opinion, Catholic schools are better than their US News rankings.</p>
<p>Please nobody get upset with this assessment. Did it ever occur to you that some catholic schools actually might get a "bump" in the ratings and not the other way around. ND is extemely hard to get into. I base that on the fact that it is indeed a catholic school of reknown and gets many applicants who apply to it simply because of its catholic affiliation. There are 65,000,000 catholics in the U.S. The largest single religious group in the country. ND is the most prestigious catholic university in the country, with due respect to Georgetown, and i believe that is why its student body is so strong.</p>
<p>The only merits you give for the Catholic schools being better are its admission rates, (SAT, top 10%, Admit rate)... there are many things that go into a school, not the least of which is Peer Assessment, what many graduate schools and members of distinguished departments will look at in an undergraduate program.</p>
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Please nobody get upset with this assessment. Did it ever occur to you that some catholic schools actually might get a "bump" in the ratings and not the other way around. ND is extemely hard to get into. I base that on the fact that it is indeed a catholic school of reknown and gets many applicants who apply to it simply because of its catholic affiliation. There are 65,000,000 catholics in the U.S. The largest single religious group in the country. ND is the most prestigious catholic university in the country, with due respect to Georgetown, and i believe that is why its student body is so strong.
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<p>I think most people on this [ND] forum would agree that ND is an amazing school and is worthy of being in the top 10, but what we are debating here is not whether ND's actual quality is affected by its catholic affiliation but rather how the religious affiliation affects the way USN&WR ranks ND compared to other schools. Everything you said is true, though.</p>