<p>Whoops! I meant the header to read August 22, 2008!</p>
<p>The College Rankings Are Coming
August 01, 2008 01:38 PM ET | Robert Morse |It's getting very close to the launch of the next America's Best Colleges rankings: The 2009 edition is going to be published on Friday, August 22, the day that the new rankings go live on our website. The site will have the most complete version of the rankings, tables, and lists, and have extensive profiles on each school. The America's Best Colleges website also will have wide-ranging interactivity and search features to enable students and parents to find the school that best fits their needs.</p>
<p>These exclusive rankings will also be published in the magazine's September 1-8 issue and a newsstand guidebook, both of which will go on sale beginning Monday, August 25. The main rankings include the national universities and liberal arts colleges. In addition, there will be two new rankings. The first will be a list of "Up and Coming Institutions"—the colleges making innovative improvements. The second will be our first-ever rankings of colleges by public high school counselors. In addition, we will be publishing our second annual ranking of Historically Black Colleges and Universities.</p>
<p>There will also tables on:</p>
<p>Top public universities
Economic diversity on campus
Ethnic diversity on campus
Where applying early may help
Schools that award the most (and least) need-based aid
Schools whose freshmen are least (and most) likely to return
Highest graduation rate
Highest proportion of classes under 20
Most international students
Top undergraduate business programs
Top undergraduate engineering programs.
The Top 100 Lists highlight characteristics to consider when deciding which college is right for you. They include schools with the:</p>
<p>Highest acceptance rates
Highest four-year graduation rates
Most students living in university housing
Most students in fraternities and sororities
Most students receiving merit aid
Most students studying abroad
Most transfer students
Most students over age 25
Most students commuting to campus.
In addition, we have lists and tables that will help you navigate the college application process. They include:</p>
<p>"A+ Schools for B Students" for students who want to go to a good college but don't have straight-A grades
"Best Values" to show which schools offer you the best education for the least amount of money
"National Survey of Student Engagement" to see what students have to say about their colleges and universities
"Majors Lists" to determine which schools offer which majors
"Student Indebtedness," a list of the schools whose students in the class of 2007 graduated with the heaviest and lightest debt loads
"Academic Programs to Look for," which notes schools that are outstanding examples of academic programs believed to enhance a student's education.</p>
<p>I saw a kid in the grocery store today with his “PRINCETON” tshirt on. At first I thought, “he should be proud. He obviously did well to get into Princeton.” But then there was that “vibe” as I passed him on the cereal aisle…I was wearing my alma mater tshirt…and it wasnt Princeton. That certain “I am better than you vibe.” I just walked on and shook my head.</p>
<p>Princeton, Yale or Harvard will be number 1 ( Just Like evry yr)</p>
<p>People will complain about Wash U being overrated</p>
<p>Large research publics will have a higher PA than smaller schools with higher SAT scores and lower admit ratios. Thus students who did better in high school and went to Tufts, Wake Forest, Rice, Georgetown, William & Mary will have to deal with the students at Michigan, UNC, et al for yet another year on CC riding the coattails of their graduate school brethren. </p>
<p>Note: before you start screaming, the whole ratings issue is for money onlyand should be treated as such. If you dont believe that than Ive got some property in Candyland to sell you.</p>
<p>The thing that people fail to recognize is that there are LOTS of kids with uber Stats that go to schools not in the top 20 or even 50 sometimes. Lots of very smart kids go to schools all over the country: big, small, state, private, religious etc for a variety of reasons. So its a gross misnomer to think that because you are at Ohio State that some kid in the grocery line with a Princeton shirt is smarter than you. Not.</p>
<p>No doubt about the first part of your statement. Indeed the majority of smart students aren’t at the top 20 schools, and a sizable amount aren’t at the top 50. But you said it yourself, “He obviously did well to get into Princeton.” You don’t know that about the Podunk State grad. He could be a genius or relatively mediocre. You do at least know that a Princeton student is, if nothing else, pretty intelligent.</p>
<p>Or he could have a cousin who goes to Princeton who got him a shirt, or his family could have visited relatives in Princeton, NJ, they visited the campus and he bought a t-shirt. You know nothing about whether he really goes to Princeton, and given that he didn’t even interact with you, how can you say he gave off a vibe?</p>
<p>lol I used to love my Princeton shirt (black and orange are really cool) until I got rejected… then I gave it to my brother but it’s a size too big for him.</p>
<p>"Thus students who did better in high school and went to Tufts, Wake Forest, Rice, Georgetown, William & Mary will have to deal with the students at Michigan, UNC, et al for yet another year on CC riding the coattails of their graduate school brethren.</p>
<p>Maybe it’s time for those students to make better choices. Then they can have a grad quality undergrad instruction.</p>
<p>Integrity09, I don’t think there’s a single person who picks their school based on US News rankings. Not a single person. Even the most prestige obsessed students-they already have their own perception of prestige and don’t need a magazine to tell them. Everyone knows that such rankings of 1, 2, 3 are nearly impossible-the only way I would rank schools would be based on tiers not on raw numbers. However, all that being said, these rankings are EXTREMELY important. How so you may ask? Because although people don’t choose which school to attend based on USNews ranking-they definitely help choose which ones to apply to! Let’s say I’m building an application list. I’m looking for good engineering college in the Northeast-why, lets go on USNews and see what colleges satisfy that condition. Indeed, I must admit, I too was aided by USNews and CC (I have to give due credit here) in building my college list, even if I didn’t end up applying to most of them. I don’t think there are many people who are familiar with all the great colleges out there waiting for them and USNews is a great resource for people to help people be familiarized with them. I indeed, never knew about UChicago before I looked at USNews. Even though I decided it was not for me, I went on their website, checked out their offerings, checked out their application, did the due research. Indeed, I would <em>never</em> have done that if USNews didn’t exist. How can I research a school that I don’t know even exists? I’m sure UChicago and other schools (especially those without the huge name but excellent academics) do in the long run win some applications by way of USNews. For this reason, yes, these rankings are important in a relative sense but not an absolute sense. Sorry I sorta veered off topic here but just needed to say it.</p>
<p>I agree with the necessity of USNWR in the college search process, but I have to dispute your opinion that there’s not a single person. I know some kids that would think going to a #17 school versus a #15 school would be slumming. That said, obviously, these kids are a minority, but they do exist.</p>
<–insert critcism now–></p>