Washington Monthly College Rankings 2010

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Washington Monthly has been posting these rankings annually for a couple of years now. Their ranking system is completely different from US News' rankings, basing it on three categories: Social Mobility, Research, and Service. All three categories are ranked equally, and every category is based on quantifiable data. The gist of the rankings is to show which colleges are doing the best for the country, as opposed to which colleges are the most prestigious.</p>

<p>Here is the top 50: </p>

<p>1 Univ. of California, San Diego
2 University of California, Berkeley
3 Univ. of California, Los Angeles
4 Stanford University (CA)
5 University of Texas, Austin
6 University of California, Davis
7 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
8 Syracuse University (NY)
9 Harvard University (MA)
10 College of William & Mary (VA)
11 Univ. of California, Santa Barbara
12 University of Chicago
13 U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
14 South Carolina State University
15 Massachusetts Inst. of Technology<br>
16 University of Washington
17 Case Western Reserve Univ. (OH)
18 Rutgers, St. U. of N.J., Newark
19 Georgetown University (DC)<br>
20 Texas A&M U., Col. Station
21 Dartmouth College (NH)
22 Johns Hopkins University (MD)
23 Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison
24 Princeton University (NJ)
25 Rice University (TX)
26 SUNY Col. of Envir. Sci. & For. (NY)
27 U. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
28 Tennessee State University
29 Duke University (NC)<br>
30 University of Rochester (NY)<br>
31 Fordham University (NY)
32 Marquette University (WI)<br>
33 Yale University (CT)<br>
34 University of Pennsylvania<br>
35 Pennsylvania State U., University Park
36 Washington University in St. Louis<br>
37 Vanderbilt University (TN)<br>
38 Cornell University (NY)
39 Univ. of Southern California
40 Univ. of California, Riverside
41 California Institute of Technology<br>
42 University of Florida
43 U. of Minnesota, Twin Cities
44 University of Virginia
45 Jackson State University (MS)
46 Ohio State Univ., Columbus
47 New York University
48 Carnegie Mellon University (PA)
49 Michigan State University
50 University of California, Irvine</p>

<p>Obviously the public schools are much more well represented on this list, especially the California system. But what do you think about it? Is Tennessee State really better a better university than Yale? As an applicant, would you choose a school with a higher ranking in research or service, even if it was less prestigious? And how do you guys think this compares with other college rankings? Personally, I prefer this one because my college is 25 spots higher on this list :D</p>

<p>Here is the full list, with details and stats on the data used to compile the rankings:
National</a> University Rankings 2010 | Washington Monthly</p>

2

<p>I’m a huge fan of the WM list. It just isn’t tremendously relevant for a prospective student. The purpose of this list is to objectively rank institutions based on their contributions to society. No more, no less.</p>

3

<p>West Coast Bias :P</p>

<p>Seriously, the Chicago Tribune needs to start publishing rankings or something. Us midwesterners deserve a say too! . . . damn coasts</p>

4

<p>This ranking loses credibility because half of the top 10 schools are in one state (CA).</p>

5

<p>Good Point, Noimagination.</p>

<p>Incidentally, Sunshower23…</p>

<p>I’ll bet that Oprah Winfrey believes that Tenessee State University was better for her than Yale; and she’s a billionaire! And as someone once said, a billionaire isn’t God, but it’s the freaking closest thing. LOL</p>

6

<p>Click-sort the WM list on “research” and you’ll get results that look a little more like the USNWR rankings (but still with many more public universities at the top). Keep in mind that total research expenditures, and the number of science and engineering PhDs awarded, are not adjusted for the size of the school. So it is strongly biased toward large universities (as the editors acknowledge).</p>

<p>I agree woth noimagination. This is an interesting ranking that may be useful for public policy makers. For choosing a college? In my opinion, the social mobility and service categories make it less useful as a ranking of academic quality (though I like the fact that the web site’s ranking is sortable by each major category.)</p>

7

<p>By the way, this is just their National University rating. They have a separate rating on liberal arts colleges. </p>

<p>I don’t find the ratings they way they do them all that helpful. What I do find helpful is the expected graduation rate versus the actual graduation rate.</p>

8

<p>

What are some other states that have the breadth and depth of research universities California does?</p>

<p>UCSD has ~11% more Pell Grantees than UCLA and Berkeley?..interesting.</p>

<p>

True, however, if you’re looking at social mobility like this ranking does, providing top quality education to the masses is quite relevant.</p>

9

<p>^ The social mobility score is not the component that is biased toward large schools. Pell grant recipients are adjusted per capita. Graduation rates are percentage based, too.</p>

<p>The size bias is in the research component. Total research expenditures, and the number of science and engineering PhDs awarded, are not adjusted for the size of the school. I suppose what they are trying to measure is the sum total of research output as a contribution to public life.</p>