<p>Seriously, there are PLENTY of great schools that aren't "first-tier".
I blame them for the overstressed/overworked teenagers of America.
Your thoughts?</p>
<p>Apparently no one. :)</p>
<p>I totally agree!</p>
<p>they should change their formula so a non-prestigious school comes out on top, like it did before they changed it so that Harvard, Yale, and Princeton were always on top</p>
<p>^ so all of CC can ***** about why hyp aren’t up top?
Honestly I think they’re pretty accurate. You take the first 30 schools and apply based on fit. It’s not solely on rankings but it’s a starting point</p>
<p>It’s accurate. Plain and simple. Whether it is better for you or not is not the argument. Simply put, HYPSM are the best. Good luck.</p>
<p>people who say there are “other” great schools out there besides HYPSM are usually the ones who are not qualified enough to get into those prestigious colleges.</p>
<p>The question is are the rankings overrated, not if they are accurate.</p>
<p>And yes, they are.</p>
<p>Regardless of the rankings, those schools would still have just as much prestige before the rankings were put together. I don’t need those rankings to know that HYP(SM) are super well known and prestigious; the rankings only reinforce that.</p>
<p>Tomjonesistheman:
Not exactly; I’m being recruited by Columbia, Brown and Yale- but I’m not applying to them, so before you begin your bifurcation, do some thinking first. =]</p>
<p>I agree with Zapz:
Sure, most of the rankings ARE accurate, but they are also WAY overrated; many people take them so seriously that everyone is applying exclusively 1st tier, and not even considering other schools.</p>
<p>^ if you are being recruited by Columbia, Brown, and Yale and do not matriculate to any of those, then you must be a dumba**</p>
<p>There’s not so much of a problem at the top, but below about 10 they become nonsense, magazine editors’ idea of what is important, forming a one-size-fits-none ranking. Reportedly fewer than half the schools now return the questionnaires.</p>
<p>^ perhaps he prefers a smaller class size, or different environment in other aspects. Maybe money is an issue. I know A LOT of people who turn down a “prestigious” school, often times for schools they consider to have a better program. For example, I want to go into engineering, and I believe I have a good shot at MIT and Stanford. However, I do not have an interest for MIT because of several factors, such as size, weather, focus on graduate research, etc. I like Stanford a lot, and may attend grad school there. But as for undergraduate, I would prefer not to for several reasons.</p>
<p>Point is, where is an individual going to be happiest and most successful at? Prestige is definitely not an indicator of that.</p>
<p>Everyone always says the U.S. News Rankings are overrated, but seriously, who’s ever heard of someone actually interpreting them too deeply? Take them with a grain of salt and they can be pretty useful, just like anything else in life. I find the rankings interesting myself, though obviously they are not perfect.</p>
<p>they help a lot. especially for having statistics side-by-side to compare for various colleges.</p>
<p>The data they collect is great, very useful. It’s the resulting rankings that don’t fit anyone. With computers and web sites, they don’t need to form a ranking; we could do that ourselves, by entering what is important to us.</p>
<p>Still, they can help you make sure you have a good balance of reaches, matches, and safeties in just one click.</p>
<p>“Not exactly; I’m being recruited by Columbia, Brown and Yale- but I’m not applying to them, so before you begin your bifurcation, do some thinking first. =]”</p>
<p>Go look at your own chance thread, you are not being recruited by those schools. Schools only recruit for athletics, and you don’t have any. And no, college mail does not count as being recruited. Claims like being recruited by such top schools better have back up, and you don’t have it.</p>
<p>^^^^ Lol you just got wrecked. There is no way someone with your info is actually being recruited by those schools, especially because you don’t have any athletics to get recruited for.</p>
<p>Unwarranted claims by blokes on the internet always need fact checking, and you provided all the info we needed to see that you are the type who would lie to try and be a *****. Nice, that is exactly what colleges are looking for.</p>