USNWR Best Colleges 2009

College Search & Selection
41

<p>Forbes rankings are so utterly nonsensical. Georgia Tech at 500. Sarah Lawrence at 25. Come on!</p>

<p>Everyone (including the “author” of those rankings) is entitled to their own personal opinion and bias. I certainly have mine. But to suggest they are “objective rankings” is baloney.</p>

<p>While the schools can “game” the system by encouraging more and more applications, and some do…from kids who will never be admitted (cough…WashU)…the very fact that schools get HUGE numbers of applicants in comparison to the size of the student body and the freshmen class is an indication of the DESIRABILITY of attending that school. If it was THAT bad, they would not get those applications. True, some schools get beseiged with “safety school applications” and that inflates those numbers. </p>

<p>Look, if someone wants to go to Grinnell, Kenyon, Oberlin, Bradley, Creighton or Kansas State …then go for it. If that is what makes you happy, then do it. Prestige rankings should have little to do with your decision. </p>

<p>Going to a “better school” doesnt make you a “better person.” Period. Being a “better person” has to do with character and work ethic, not superficial rankings. </p>

<p>No more than driving a BMW makes you a better or more successful person. </p>

<p>The measure of success is whether you picked a good school for you, you survived and thrived, and you came out at graduation a more mature person, with a broader perspective on life, perhaps some expertise in a field of study, and hopefully some concern for your fellow man and strong desire to become a tax paying citizen who wants to get down to work. That could be Ohio State, Michigan, Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, Wofford, Temple, Pepperdine. Name a school. </p>

<p>Character and work ethic. No school “owns” those qualities.</p>

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<p>WRONG! We had Stanford at #1, UC-Berkeley at #2, and Penn tied with Harvard, Yale, and Princeton at #3.</p>

<p>But now, fuggetaboutit! :mad:</p>

<p>;)</p>

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<p>“Unlike USNWR, Forbes actually provides rankings based upon what consumers actually think.”</p>

<p>LOL because everyone thinks Wabash College and Centre College are in the top 15 in the nation?</p>

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<p>HAHAHA Princeton being #3 (instead of #1) is defined as being “dragged down?” Oh dear… </p>

<p>And Chicago mysteriously moved itself up ~6 or so spots last year. I wouldn’t be surprised if they did something like that again… :p</p>

<p>But in all seriousness, this ranking by Forbes is just making fun of US News.</p>

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<p>All college ranking systems are flawed and have hidden agendas, like selling magazines. </p>

<p>Remember:</p>

<ol>
<li>You don’t have to get into the ivy league to be successful in life. </li>
<li>The ratings from the US News & World Report are misleading and lead to a ‘marketing’ of colleges rather than illuminating true quality and educational value.</li>
<li>The college/university you graduate from does not determine who you are and your contributions to the world.</li>
</ol>

<p>This says it all: <a href=“CollegeNET | Admissions, Scheduling & Virtual Classroom Software”>CollegeNET | Admissions, Scheduling & Virtual Classroom Software;

<p>Consider the important work of the Education Conservancy, a non profit committed to improving the college admissions process: [Education</a> Conservancy](<a href=“CollegeNET | Admissions, Scheduling & Virtual Classroom Software”>CollegeNET | Admissions, Scheduling & Virtual Classroom Software) </p>

<p>and the book, College Unranked: [College</a> Unranked](<a href=“CollegeNET | Admissions, Scheduling & Virtual Classroom Software”>CollegeNET | Admissions, Scheduling & Virtual Classroom Software)</p>

46

<p>All I got from this thread was, Stanford at #1. =)))</p>

<p>Good night.</p>

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<p>LOL! :slight_smile: In your dreams…I’d so want to go to your med school though. drooly face.</p>

<p>At the current rate of ascent UChicago should crack the top five, WashU should be number one, and UPenn should be stay top 5-6. lol Sucks for MIT.</p>

<p>Lets hope things don’t change much for NU, Cornell, JHU, Brown and company. I’ll be angry if a rehap of 2006 occured. :(</p>

48

<p>Kyle, don’t get me wrong, I like Stanford. Its my first choice.</p>

49

<p>Loving the Stanford worship. Hail, Stanford, Hail. :)</p>

<p><a href=“http://hailstanford.stanford.edu%5B/url%5D”>http://hailstanford.stanford.edu</a></p>

50

<p>I disqualified MIT, Caltech, and anything else with Tech in the name. Now Penn is #3! All I need now is a way to take out Harvard and Yale.</p>

51

<p>Well, I don’t like Stanford.</p>

52

<p>I assume people already know that the 2009 edition is on sale at newsstands today – at least at Grand Central Station in New York City, where I bought a copy on my way back to work from a court appearance this afternoon.</p>

<p>Here are the top 25 National Universities (the list looks pretty similar to me to last year’s – and every year’s – without actually comparing them):</p>

<ol>
<li>Harvard</li>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>Yale</li>
<li>MIT</li>
<li>Stanford</li>
<li>Cal Tech</li>
<li>U. Penn</li>
<li>Columbia</li>
<li>Duke</li>
<li>U. of Chicago</li>
<li>Dartmouth</li>
<li>Northwestern</li>
<li>Wash U St. Louis</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>Johns Hopkins</li>
<li>Brown</li>
<li>Rice</li>
<li>Emory</li>
<li>Notre Dame</li>
<li>Vanderbilt</li>
<li>Berkeley</li>
<li>Carnegie Mellon</li>
<li>Georgetown</li>
<li>U. of Virginia</li>
<li>UCLA</li>
</ol>

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<p>Top 25 Liberal Arts Colleges:</p>

<p>1.Amherst

  1. Williams
  2. Swarthmore
    4.Wellesley
  3. Middlebury
  4. Bowdoin
  5. Pomona
  6. Carleton
  7. Davidson
  8. Haverford
  9. Claremont-McKenna
  10. Vassar
  11. Wesleyan
  12. Grinnell
  13. Harvey Mudd
  14. US Military Academy, West Point
  15. Washington & Lee
  16. Colgate
  17. Smith
  18. Hamilton
  19. Oberlin
  20. Naval Academy
  21. Bryn Mawr
  22. Colby
  23. Bates
  24. Macalester</p>

<p>Donna</p>

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<p>**** YEAH AMHERST. GO MIDD! GO POMONA!</p>

<p>lol at Columbia & Duke. Hurray for ND. Too bad for Brown.</p>

55

<p>can you tell me where florida state university ranks, please?</p>

56

<p>Florida State University comes in at # 102 this year. And that’s the one and only question like that I’ll answer – some of us work for a living!</p>

57

<p>same crap(i wanted to type something else) every year. it’s getting really boring looking at these.</p>

58

<p>^move to the east coast and change its name to harvard, princeton or yale (:</p>

59

<p>thanks a lot!</p>

60

<p>Donna…what are the 25-75 nationals? Thank you.</p>