<p>“defending one’s school is not a sign of an inferiority complex. On the other hand bashing other universities is.”</p>
<p>This is exactly what rjkofnovi does almost all the time. DEFENDING Michigan and BASHING Duke. :)</p>
<p>confusedboy, rjkofnovi never bashed Duke until several Duke students and alums bashed Michigan on the Michigan forum. After over one year of putting up with Duke students bashing Michigan, he started retaliating. In his case, the blame falls squarely on Duke students.</p>
<p>And even then, rjkofnovi respects Duke. Find me a single post where he did not admit that Duke is an elite university. Then look at posts written by lesdiablesbleus or ring<em>of</em>fire and tell me who has an inferiority complex.</p>
<p>Columbia was right where it is, #4 spot.</p>
<p>
Pardon me as I let out a snort of derision.</p>
<p>Perhaps neither of you had the benefit of having a mother, as I did, who taught me the “If other people jumped off a bridge…” adage. For every rude Duke poster one could name, I could name at least 10 helpful ones, going back at least as far as Ay_Caramba on the old forum. Bashing is inappropriate and childish, regardless of motive or provocation. As for CC, I haven’t come across such venom for a school even visiting UNC and wearing Duke gear. ;)</p>
<p>
Alexandre, how smart do you really think you are? I know you were an Econ major in the LSA school at Michigan but do you really think the difference in the academic quality of the Econ faculty at UM and the Econ faculty at Dartmouth would have been even slightly relevant to your intellectual development while in college? As an undergraduate Econ major, you are learning about concepts like supply and demand/firm competition/theory of consumer choice/efficiency of markets/etc. at a very rudimentary level. Why does it matter if a leading Economics scholar like Mankiw teaches you how to shift a supply curve or if a 3rd year PhD student teaches you the same thing? Posters like slipper, hawkette and I believe that what is MOST important at the undergraduate level is that the professor is dedicated to teaching undergrads, class sizes are kept at a manageable level, there is easy accessibility to professors/TAs and students have plenty of opportunities to do research projects in their area of study and pursue their scholarship to the highest level.</p>
<p>Even though Michigan has a top 10 Econ faculty, it is NOT one of the ten leading producers of Econ PhDs, it is NOT one of the ten feeder schools for Wall Street jobs and is it NOT one of the top ten feeder schools for the top business schools.</p>
<p>On the other hand, even though they don’t have a top 10 Economics faculty, Swarthmore is one of the leading producers of Econ PhDs, Dartmouth is one of the top 3 schools for Wall Street front office positions and Williams is annually represented highly at the top business schools right behind HYPSM. So what is the esteemed Michigan Economics faculty doing wrong?</p>
<p>Why aren’t these “authorities in their fields” elevating Michigan students to greatness Alex?</p>
<p>bluedog, at least rjkofnovi does not say that Duke is a second rate school. Most Duke students on these forums believe that Michigan is second rate. rjkofnovi may not like Duke, but he respects it as an academic elite.</p>
<p>
I wouldn’t say that anyone is doing something “wrong.”</p>
<p>PhD production is particularly misleading and one of the most useless bits of information out there. While it’s interesting as a very crude method of measuring intellectual curiosity on campus, it’s not very helpful beyond that. Much more helpful would be knowing the number of students applying in each field, the number of students admitted, and the schools/programs to which they were admitted.</p>
<p>
The term does indeed go back to the Duke-UNC rivalry, which is hard to explain…although the students and schools are rivals and tend to dislike one another, there is also a very strong undercurrent of mutual respect. Perhaps it can be likened to a sibling rivalry, where a brother and sister can fight and scratch all they’d like, but heaven help someone else trying to muscle in on the action. This is very different from the rivalry that Maryland has with Duke, for instance, in which Terp fans have virtually unmitigated hatred for all things Duke. Hearing the term from a UNC student is normal/expected, in other words, while it’s a bit insulting coming from other sources.</p>
<p>I never knew that bluedog. I guess I’m just not up date on slang.</p>
<p>^Have you ever heard of the Green Day album “Dookie”?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Makes you really want to buy it now, right? ;)</p>
<p>Like I said before, I think it’s great that other schools such as Tufts, USC, and Wake are getting more recognition now. That being said, if US News is going to continue ranking colleges, they really should split publics and privates into two separate categories. It seems to me that comparing the 2 types of schools is too much like comparing apples to oranges; they offer different, but not better or worse, college experiences.</p>
<p>While I love Michigan and think that it is still a fantastic school, I definitely think that the percentage of students accepted is the main reason for its slipping US NEWS ranking. Although for me, it’s not so much the acceptance RATE that’s cringeworthy as it is the NUMBER of people it currently accepts per year. 16,000 accepted students is just way too much, and it’s lead to over 6,000 freshmen for two years in a row. Even though Michigan has a boatload of opportunities in just about every field, the school can’t support almost 30,000 undergraduates at this rate; it’s going to be too overcrowded without more housing, classrooms, and other buildings.</p>
<p>“Even though Michigan has a top 10 Econ faculty, it is NOT one of the ten leading producers of Econ PhDs,”</p>
<p>Care to show me how many colleges or universities have produced more PhDs in Econ? Iam fairly confident that its is less than 10. </p>
<p>“it is NOT one of the ten feeder schools for Wall Street jobs”</p>
<p>That’s because most qualfied students interested in a career in IBanking are enrolled at Ross. Ross is a top 10 feeder school for Wall Street jobs. Goldman Saches has hired 35 Ross students full time in the last 5 years. Morgan Stanley hired 25 in that time frame. JP Morgan hired 45. Citi hired 34. Deutschebank hired 29, Credit Suisse hired 49, UBS hired 37 and Lehman (RIP) hired 20. That’s almost 300 hires (our of 1,800 graduates) in the last 5 years. If you have actual figures that prove that 10 other universities have significantly better placement figures in Wall Street firms, feel free to share them with us.</p>
<p>“and is it NOT one of the top ten feeder schools for the top business schools.”</p>
<p>Actually, Michigan is among the top 10 feeder schools into HBS, Wharton, Kellogg, Chicago Booth, Columbia Business School, and Ross. You really should check your facts.</p>
<p>“On the other hand, even though they don’t have a top 10 Economics faculty, Swarthmore is one of the leading producers of Econ PhDs, Dartmouth is one of the top 3 schools for Wall Street front office positions and Williams is annually represented highly at the top business schools right behind HYPSM. So what is the esteemed Michigan Economics faculty doing wrong? Why aren’t these “authorities in their fields” elevating Michigan students to greatness Alex?”</p>
<p>I am fairly certain that those authories are elevating students to greatness.</p>
<p>lesdiablesbleus, you should first learn to respect Michigan and accept it for the excellent university that it is. Once you get past that hurdle, we can continue this discussion.</p>
<p>This is traditional for the University of Michigan affiliates to try and cast reasons for why the school dropped in rankings. From personal knowledge I am suprised that University of Michigan is ranked even in the top 30, I thought the school would have dropped much lower by now.</p>
<p>Rick Rodriguez will bail out the Wolverines. It is only a matter of time.</p>
<p>^^ Please, I would rather him stays!! </p>
<p>Go Bucks!! ;p</p>
<p>
I’m gonna go make some popcorn…</p>
<p>BTW, Coolbrezze, did that “personal knowledge” come to you before or after you were supposedly rejected by UofM? ;)</p>
<p>“I’m gonna go make some popcorn…”</p>
<p>Save me a seat, would you? ;p</p>
<p>"This is traditional for the University of Michigan affiliates to try and cast reasons for why the school dropped in rankings. From personal knowledge I am suprised that University of Michigan is ranked even in the top 30, I thought the school would have dropped much lower by now. "</p>
<p>Well let me put it to you like this. If The University of Michigan had accepted YOU, then I would be in 100% agreement. Instead you got REJECTED, so I know that the school has some standards. Good luck at Iowa, you’re going to need it!</p>
<p>
Lol, rejected when? My personal knowledge is from insight.</p>
<p>“My brother goes to UCSB, which isn’t even a top 10 or an “Ivy Plus.” Do you think I see him below me?”</p>
<p>Well to be honest, yes I do. Even the way you wrote that sentence indicates it to me.</p>
<p>“Lol, rejected when? My personal knowledge is from insight.” </p>
<p>The kind of insight you received from viewing Ann Arbor on an aerial photo at mapquest and deciding the university didn’t have enough trees without ever having stepped foot onto the campus? That kind of insight?</p>