<p>As a Dartmouth Alum I can’t tell you how ridiculous I think it is that Brown is ranked 15 in the new USNEWS. If its any consolation, in 1998 when I applied Brown was something like #8 and Penn #15-17 so things totally shift. Don’t let temporary rank shifts deter you from applying, or make you choose a higher ranked school just because of an arbitrary system. Brown is an amazing institution with a track record of success for almost 250 years, and nothing can take away from that. I don’t think anyone in the real world views Penn as superior to Brown.</p>
<p>Repectable point, in an awkward post - why did you have to bring in the anti-Penn comments?</p>
<p>When did the new rankings come out? I guess I'm behind the times.</p>
<p>At any rate, I can't say I'm too flabberghasted or concerned. I think Brown is awesome (which is ultimately what matters to me), though people do have some good reasons for criticizing Brown. Nevertheless, I really have trouble valuing the opinion of someone who looks down on Brown just because its ranking decreased slightly.</p>
<p>Yeah, US News rankings are flawed especially for Brown for several reasons:</p>
<p>We have lower endowment but also lower enrollment, per student we are actually mid-range in the ivy league.
We have few grad students compared to most other ivy league schools so its ridiculous to put us in the same catagory
We have few top ranked grad schools so most students go to other top ranked grad schools, which actually speaks more highly of us
Our top med students are in PLME so aren't applying to med school</p>
<p>I think Dartmouth and Brown should be put into the LAC catagory or they should make a third, "small university" catagory because the way it is now is just a bit ridiculous.</p>
<p>Flavian- I refer to Penn because I think its highly overranked, as opposed to brown which is highly underranked. Choosing Penn over Brown because of rank would be a travesty IMO.</p>
<p>"I don't think anyone in the real world views Penn as superior to Brown."</p>
<p>I think that is the singlemost unsubstantiated and hilarious comment I have ever heard.</p>
<p>I just found it interesting that you think losing 2 places is "taking away the sucess of Brown."</p>
<p>Here we go with an anti-Penn remark......again. People love to hate on my school.</p>
<p>The USNews rankings are pretty random, and it is easy for schools to mess with their own numbers (sorry to Penn bash, but Penn is often accused of doing this... Brown, not so much). For the record, in just a few years apart, Brown was ranked as 8th (1997) and as 18th (1993). (Last year it was ranked 13th.) Do you REALLY think that the quality of the school increased by 10 places from 1993 to 1997? No.</p>
<p>Absolutley not. I think Brown is a great school. I also think Penn is, as well. I think all of the Ivies should be somewhere in the top 10. I never really agreed with schools like Cal Tec or MIT or WSU being ranked so high. I know MIT has a business school, but I just don't feel engineering-based/technical-based schools should be in with the other national universities, or at least not ranked so high. I'm not syaing they aren't great schools (they are the best in their fields). I just don't see how US NEWS can rank them with the other universities.</p>
<p>Flavian, I am not necessarily only commenting on Brown's fall to 15, I thought the same at 13 as well. Its just that 15 begins to put it in an almost silly place. Penn and Brown are equally good schools. And yes, I don't know anyone legitimate who actually thinks Penn is better. They are the same.</p>
<p>The truth is rankings are rather arbitrary. MIT/ CIT aren't really comparable, just as Brown/ Dartmouth can't be compared to graduate focused universities.</p>
<p>where are you guys getting the new rankings from? subscription?</p>
<p>here's a link : <a href="http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/natudoc/tier1/t1natudoc_brief.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/natudoc/tier1/t1natudoc_brief.php</a></p>
<p>That's last years.</p>
<p>A poster named Barrons reportedly got the new rankings early in a bookstore in Seattle, so look on the College Search and Selection Forum.</p>
<p>Slipper1234, you have gone to Columbia and Dartmouth (or so you say)</p>
<p>Why do you feel compelled to bash a school you have not attended in favor of another school you have also not attended?</p>
<p>I live in Philly and have alot of friends at Penn and have spent a lot of time there. I do not like to and I don't bash schools, but I think its undeniable that Penn gets a lot of its rep from Wharton. I remember walking by the Wharton building with one of my Penn friends and he pointed to it and said, "thats why the college of arts and sciences is crumbling." Now I don't know if thats quite fair, but the point is that Wharton does a lot to help all of Penn's rep, but maybe takes away from or misrepresents the regular college.</p>
<p>One thing I disagree with with the US News is their ranking of Wash U ahead of Brown (and other better institutions). It seems that seeling their soul to college rankings actually worked out...</p>
<p>It's all about where you fit. Between the top 25 or 30 or so, the education is all similar, with marginally better education (mostyl from environment and oppurtunity not from teaching per se) in the top 15 or so.</p>
<p>Basically, the rankings are a terribly inaccurate gauge, but an ok "guideline".</p>
<p>I do think Brown's lack of a graduate focus compared to the other schools strongly hurt it's otherwise great numbers.</p>
<p>But I didn't go to Brown because of it's rank.</p>
<p>No one is bashing Penn, but it is shady that Penn is ranked ahead of schools like Stanford. And Brown is ranked way too low.</p>