<p>Wake’s graduate schools are not world beaters which hurts its PA score as does its location. Unlike research schools, it gets its reputation solely comes from undergrad. Other than instinct, why do you question Wake Forest being top 30? It’s been there since it entered the NU rankings.</p>
<p>Harvard should be number 1…Stanford is not in the same league and MIT is a niche school that, along with Caltech, should not even be included in these rankings</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Everyone knows that HYPSMC at the top. Guess what? They take spots 1-4 on USNWR. There’s no point in saying a school is underranked and a school is overranked, because a difference of 1 or 2 spots is not that big a deal. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Like Harvard, Stanford is highly regarded in ALL principles. I don’t see why Stanford is not in the same league academically. MIT is NOT a niche school at all; it has amazing engineering, but some of its humanities and business programs are also tops. Caltech is there because the definition of a university is an institution dedicated to both TEACHING and RESEARCH.</p>
<p>As of this year’s ranking,</p>
<p>Overranked schools: USC, Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, WashU, UPenn. </p>
<p>Underranked schools: UC-Berkeley, Michigan, Cornell.</p>
<p>The people who are arguing about PA scores favoring large research Universities, do you know how many measures in the USNews rankings hurt large research Universities? </p>
<p>If you think the PA is only a measure of the grad schools, if that were the case, would Dartmouth and Brown and other small schools even have the PA scores they do now?!? </p>
<p>If you think PAs are influenced by grad school, you think your experience in college is not? your TAs are grad students, they lead review sessions, tutoring, help sessions, and lead discussions. the kind of teachers aka professors are not influenced by grad school rankings?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Except that the “people” here are not your average folks on the street. They are college leaders at the highest levels who tend to know what makes a university world-class and what can in general provide its students with a most educational, growing college experience.</p>
<p>Most of the criteria used by US News are those that favor the wealthy, under the assumption that the more money you throw into a school, the higher ranked it should be. It’s true only up to a certain point, but the magazine doesn’t understand it or wants to admit it, lest its sales might be diminished.</p>
<p>“Except that the “people” here are not your average folks on the street. They are college leaders at the highest levels who —> tend to know<— what makes a university world-class and what can in general provide its students with a most educational, growing college experience.”</p>
<p>There u go. Maybe only those leaders in top 50-100 schools know about WashU and the rest are just like your average folks on the street. =)</p>
<p>Overrated: the USNews survey. Do you honestly think there is a difference between the #1 and #5 schools? the #10 and #20? etc etc. And why is the USNews THE ranking source and everything is laughed at?</p>
<p>LACs…i think Scripps and Pomona are underrated and Wellesley and Middlebury are overrated</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Tell that to the president of Clemson and Wisconsin-Madison. ;)</p>
<p>who cares. none of these schools are overrated. they are all top universities and give excellent educations, and many people would do anything to go to any of them.</p>
<p>maybe college confidential should come out with their own college rankings. people would vote, but it would be restricted to only members and senior members. good idea, right?</p>
<p>“If you think PAs are influenced by grad school, you think your experience in college is not? your TAs are grad students, they lead review sessions, tutoring, help sessions, and lead discussions. the kind of teachers aka professors are not influenced by grad school rankings?”</p>
<p>TA’s did not affect my college experience one iota. Wake Forest puts undergrads first, unlike big state schools where professors’ time is obvious compromised to research. I was always interacting with a teacher who knew me by name. I had one comp sci lab and that was the only time I saw a TA. Having so much interaction with TA’s instead of professors who have achieved the highest degree in their field is one of the sacrifices one makes by going to any large state school.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The day when a significant number of such cases have been found is the day when the PA score should be dropped.</p>
<p>If you’re at a research university, the quality of graduate departments matters. Top professors want to work with the best graduate students and the most well-funded programs. Learning from professors, and sometimes from grad students, at the very top of their field is a valuable experience and somewhat of a rare opportunity in the post-college world. It will absolutely impact your experience, usually for the better. Professors have office hours, and usually enjoy meeting with motivated undergraduates. They will make time for you if you want it.</p>
<p>This isn’t to say Wake Forest or schools like it are inferior. Larger schools with top grad programs are better for some kinds of students, and more intimate schools with non-prestigious/nonexistent grad programs are better for others</p>