<p>I wasn't trying to be defensive. I was just correcting inaccuracies in collegeman102's post.</p>
<p>According to another thread, someone leaked this years US News ranking, and BC moved down THREE spots. The original thread is here:</p>
<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=89519%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=89519</a> </p>
<p>If accurate, the new top 50 would look like this, with the second number indicating change from 2005:</p>
<p>1 Princeton University 0</p>
<p>1 Harvard University 0</p>
<p>3 Yale University 0</p>
<p>4 University of Pennsylvania 0</p>
<p>5 Duke University 0</p>
<p>5 Stanford University 0</p>
<p>7 California Institute of Technology +1</p>
<p>7 Massachusetts Institute of Technology -2</p>
<p>9 Columbia University 0</p>
<p>9 Dartmouth College 0</p>
<p>11 Washington University in St Louis 0</p>
<p>12 Northwestern University -1</p>
<p>13 Cornell University +1</p>
<p>13 John Hopkins University +1</p>
<p>15 Brown University -2</p>
<p>15 University of Chicago -1</p>
<p>17 Rice University 0</p>
<p>18 University of Notre Dame 0</p>
<p>18 Vanderbilt University -1</p>
<p>20 Emory University 0</p>
<p>20 University of California/Berkeley +1</p>
<p>22 Carnegie Mellon University 0</p>
<p>23 Georgetown +2</p>
<p>University of Virginia -1</p>
<p>25 University of California/Los Angeles 0</p>
<p>University of Michigan/Ann Arbor -3</p>
<p>27 Tufts University +1</p>
<p>University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill +2</p>
<p>Wake Forest University 0</p>
<p>30 University of Southern California 0</p>
<p>31 William & Mary Univeristy 0</p>
<p>Lehigh University +6</p>
<p>University of California/San Diego +4</p>
<p>34 University of Wisconsin/Madison -2</p>
<p>Brandeis University -2</p>
<p>University of Rochester +3</p>
<p>37 Case Western Reserve University -2</p>
<p>Georgia Institute of Technology +4</p>
<p>New York University -5</p>
<p>40 Boston College -3</p>
<p>University of California/Irvine +3</p>
<p>42 University of Illinois/Urbana Champaign -5</p>
<p>43 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute +3</p>
<p>Tulane Universty 0</p>
<p>45 University of California/Santa Barbara 0</p>
<p>Washington University +1</p>
<p>Yeshiva University +1</p>
<p>48 Pennsylvania State University/University Park +2</p>
<p>University of California/Davis -6</p>
<p>50 Syracuse University +2</p>
<p>University of Florida 0</p>
<p>personally, I don't believe them. GIT ramked higher than BC? Legigh going up SIX? If they are true (which I dearly hope they aren't) then the people who work for USNEWS are on crack. BC deserves a spot in the top 30. I cannot think of any reason why it should be ranked low. They have incredible academics, a very large endowment, a good teacfher to student ratio, a high grad and retention rate, not to mention a beautiful campus :)</p>
<p>^^You've described BC well, with the exception of one thing: incredible academics?? IMHO, this is where BC falls short. Everything else is in place for a top 30 ranking.</p>
<p>eng_dude, why do you think BC falls short?</p>
<p>I agree with kgordon, but if BC really fell that far, I will definitely have to think twice about applying. I was under the impression that BC was on an up swing not the other way around. Might apply to Lehigh :)</p>
<p>Its just MHO, but I don't think anyone perceives BC as an "academic powerhouse". Whether it's justified or not, we all know that perception plays a large role in the peer ratings. BC is a great school with tremendous resources, however, it doesn't have the big names on its faculty, its students have a reputation for being very smart but clearly not the top of the heap, and lets face it, a big chunk of its rep and popularity has been derived from the success of its athletic teams. Don't get me wrong, BC is a great school, but it just is not taken (too) seriously by the creme de la creme of academia.</p>
<p>You mean the "Flutie Factor"?
or should I say facteur de la Flutie :)</p>
<p>Don't worry so much about rankings. Seriously! Its all about finding the place that's right FOR YOU. When I decided to transfer, people looked at me like I was crazy. I can't count the number of times I got the whole "but BC's not even in the Ivy League" and I did second guess myself a few times. But I know it was the right decision.</p>
<p>And in case it matters, the New York Times DID call BC an "intellectual powerhouse" (though in fairness it said BC is "on course to becoming the nation's Catholic intellectual powerhouse" so I guess its not there yet lol) :</p>
<p>The rankings are retarted. People REALLY should NOT base where the apply and go on a rank. Look and see what the school offers you and where you will be able to accomplish what you want to do with your life. Dont go somewhere just so you can be like: oh yeah my school is in the top 20 of US News.... Who the ***** would really care about that?</p>
<p>I just checked out the issue and it seems peer assessment is worth 25% of the ranking. It is just one category out of about 10-15 yet it is worth a full quarter of the ranking. This also explains BC's poor ranking because their peer assessment score of 3.5 is one of the lowest in the top 50, where as they beat out every other school within 5-10 ranks of them in most categories besides this one. This is why USNews rankings shouldn't be taken seriously....</p>
<p>The Catholic schools have lower peer rankings than those around them in the overall rankings. Georgetown has a 4.0, ND has a 3.9 and BC a 3.5. Taking out the peer ranking would move all 3 schools up.</p>
<p>What I would like to see is the ability to re-apply the weighting as I see fit to generate a "personalized" ranking. They have all the numbers so it would be easy.</p>
<p>A few years ago there was a study of high school seniors that asked the high school seniors to apply the weighting. The resulting rankings were changed quite a bit.</p>
<p>Eagle, nice username ... you should get into BC just for that :)</p>
<p>Let me ask you something, even if they provided a "personalized" ranking method, how would that really help you?</p>
<p>BC, Georgetown and Notre Dame are VERY different schools, in spite of their shared Catholicism. Each school expresses its religious identity in a very different way and you are likely to be turn on or turned off accordingly. Visit each school. Get to know their respective "cultures." Think about where your own interests and talents would best thrive and then choose. I think this is a better method than relying on a some rank or percentage.</p>
<p>Sorry if this comes off as preachy but, as a transfer I guess you can say I know this from experience. Good luck!</p>
<p>Kesmit,</p>
<p>I am not worried about colleges for myself . . . graduated from college many years ago. Yes, I know the cultures are quite different. I am investigating schools for my son who graduates next spring.</p>
<p>The point I was really making is what this topic is about, why is BC ranked so low. All of the catholic colleges have a lower peer rating than the schools ranked close to them. With peer ranking being 25% of the overall ranking of a school it has a pretty high impact on the objective rating.</p>
<p>Are you a BC alum? Just guessing from your username :)</p>
<p>kesmit,</p>
<p>I'd rather not say. Like my son I try to keep most of my personal information off the forums. I'd like to keep my objectivity and would prefer to make sure people do not confuse my opinions with some emotional position based upon what school I graduated from. To see what this can look like visit some of the Ivy league forums . . . I do not think they are always putting their best foot forward in some of the discussions.</p>
<p>BTW, there are many eagles, Philadelphia, Marquette (though they may become the Warriors again), etc. For a more complete list see:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.smargon.net/nicknames/#E%5B/url%5D">http://www.smargon.net/nicknames/#E</a></p>
<p>Further, on the ND board I was told not to reveal my CC screen name if I want my son to get in there. I guess the 2 schools are pretty competitive in recruiting students, though I thought Georgetown was more of a competitor to BC. Though I guess BC is actually in between the 2 philosophically. It will be interesting to see how the competitive dynamics may change with BC moving to the ACC.</p>