<p>Wow. You are a magician, Pandy.</p>
<p>i'd also check out this link <a href="http://www.collegeconfidential.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?757/9364%5B/url%5D">http://www.collegeconfidential.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?757/9364</a> (search for a guy named "breeze")</p>
<p>and, how they rate schools:How we rank the schools</p>
<p>First, schools are categorized by mission and, in some cases, by region. Next, we gather data from each college for up to 15 indicators of academic excellence. Each factor is assigned a weight that reflects our judgment about how much a measure matters. Finally, the colleges in each category are ranked against their peers, based on their composite weighted score.</p>
<p>Most of the data come from the colleges--and U.S. News takes pains to ensuretheir accuracy. This year, 95.2 percent of schools returned surveys. We obtained missing data from sources such as the American Association of University Professors, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the Council for Aid to Education, and the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics. Data that did not come from this year's survey are footnoted. Estimates may be used when schools fail to report particular data points. Following are the indicators used to measure academic quality:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Peer assessment (weighted by 25 percent). The U.S. News ranking formula gives greatest weight to the opinions of those in a position to judge a school's academic excellence. The peer assessment survey allows the top academics we contact--presidents, provosts, and deans of admission--to account for intangibles such as faculty dedication to teaching. Each individual is asked to rate peer schools' academic programs on a scale from 1 (marginal) to 5 (distinguished). Those who don't know enough about a school to evaluate it fairly are asked to mark "don't know." Synovate, an opinion-research firm based near Chicago, collected the data; 60 percent of the 4,095 people who were sent questionnaires responded.</p></li>
<li><p>Retention (20 percent in national universities and liberal arts colleges and 25 percent in master's and comprehensive colleges). The higher the proportion of freshmen who return to campus the following year and eventually graduate, the better a school is apt to be at offering the classes and services students need to succeed. This measure has two components: six-year graduation rate (80 percent of the retention score) and freshman retention rate (20 percent). The graduation rate indicates the average proportion of a graduating class who earn a degree in six years or less; we consider freshman classes that started from 1994 through 1997. Freshman retention indicates the average proportion of freshmen entering from 1999 through 2002 who returned the following fall.</p></li>
<li><p>Faculty resources (20 percent). Research shows that the more satisfied students are about their contact with professors, the more they will learn and the more likely it is they will graduate. We use six factors from the 2003-04 academic year to assess a school's commitment to instruction. Class size has two components: the proportion of classes with fewer than 20 students (30 percent of the faculty resources score) and the proportion with 50 or more students (10 percent of the score). Faculty salary (35 percent) is the average faculty pay, plus benefits, during the 2002-03 and 2003-04 academic years, adjusted for regional differences in the cost of living (using indexes from the consulting firm Runzheimer International). We also weigh the proportion of professors with the highest degree in their fields (15 percent), the student-faculty ratio (5 percent), and the proportion of faculty who are full time (5 percent).</p></li>
<li><p>Student selectivity (15 percent). A school's academic atmosphere is determined in part by the abilities and ambitions of the student body. We therefore factor in test scores of enrollees on the sat or act tests (50 percent of the selectivity score); the proportion of enrolled freshmen who graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school classes for all national universities and liberal arts colleges, and the top 25 percent for institutions in the master's and comprehensive colleges categories (40 percent); the acceptance rate, or the ratio of students admitted to applicants (10 percent). The data are for the fall 2003 entering class.</p></li>
<li><p>Financial resources (10 percent). Generous per-student spending indicates that a college can offer a wide variety of programs and services. U.S. News measures the average spending per student on instruction, research, student services, and related educational expenditures in the 2002 and 2003 fiscal years.</p></li>
<li><p>Graduation rate performance (5 percent; only in national universities and liberal arts colleges). This indicator of "added value" shows the effect of the college's programs and policies on the graduation rate of students after controlling for spending and student aptitude. We measure the difference between a school's six-year graduation rate for the class that entered in 1997 and the predicted rate for the class.</p></li>
<li><p>Alumni giving rate (5 percent). The average percentage of alumni who gave to their school during 2001-02 and 2002-03.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>To arrive at a school's rank, we first calculated the weighted sum of its scores. The final scores were rescaled: The top school in each category was assigned a value of 100, and the other schools' weighted scores were calculated as a proportion of that top score. Final scores for each ranked school were rounded to the nearest whole number and ranked in descending order. --With Bethany Lee, Ramin Setoodeh, and Meadow Yerkie</p>
<p>People keep citing yield but I don't think it factors in the rankings anymore...</p>
<p>Yeah, I think they dropped yield. And guess what? Penn, Princeton, Columbia, and other ED schools are always being criticized for their ED programs. Well, it makes more sense than EA. EA only lets those lucky people who would have gotten in anyway find out sooner. At least ED helps admissions officers have more control over the makeup of entering freshmen, as well is a bit of an admissions boost to those who really love the school.</p>
<p>Who are some people so insecure in their decisions? </p>
<p>Thanks to Pandy for all of the insight...as I believe all of that rank info deserves a second look. What's really important to YOU (the collective YOU all)?</p>
<p>If you don't trust your own judgement, then you'll need to rely on rankings...for sure. You'll rely on the ranking for your college, grad school, career choice, honeymoon destination, first child's birth hospital, home purchase, etc......your life will revolve around what others say.....nice, huh? (Not!)</p>
<p>Or, you'll learn to trust your own mind......be sound in your judgement.......celebrate your excellent choices......lead others......make statements...etc. The difference between Penn and the other top schools is so minimal that you'll need to rely on either your own judgement or someone else's rank to make the choice for you. </p>
<p>Now is your chance to show what you're made of. Will you make your own choice? Or, will USNWR make it for you?</p>
<p>Touche' Mom. I wish my mom were more like you. She doesn't make very good JUDGMENT when it comes to these sort of things. It just proves most people on this thread's point to say that she thinks Penn is Penn State. Hell, I'm surprised she knows what Ivy League means...I...am a terrible person.</p>
<p>Well said Mom'sdream.</p>
<p>At some point it might occur to some of those (rankings whores etc.) posting that you can make a personal choice, or you can blank out and decide by what other people might think, i.e. prestige-rankings.</p>
<p>The fire you build burns brightest and warmest.</p>