<p>GWU is not even in the top even in the top 50. It is ranked 54, which one would imagine is ridiculous knowing GWU's wonderful internship opportunites, well-educated professors (many of whom have phd's from ivy league schools), amazing dorms, and very focused, hard working students. GWU doesn't even have a reputation for having lots of crazy drinking or smoking parties. One would imagine GWU to be ranked at least on par with NYU, but instead, it is 20 spots worse.</p>
<p>So why is GWU ranked so low? What am I missing here?</p>
<p>they don't have as many full-time faculty, but they bring in part-time people who actually work in government and in their fields, which is a benefit that is actually counted as a negative in the rankings because the rankings are completely subjective and mean pretty much nothing.</p>
<p>This is something I have been paticularly interested in...GWU has an amazing reputation, and yet it's rank isn't even on the first page of the USNews rankings. What on earth is their criteria??? GW isn't even ranked among the top Poly Sci schools, which I find to be absurd.</p>
<p>It is possible that the rank is low in proportion to the high cost, but it is my personal opinion after having friends attending there, that the level of education there is phenomenal and the professors are outstanding. If I am able to afford it pending on the fin. aid status, I am leaning towards attending with no regrets.</p>
<p>I have heard and am not sure if this is true, but that they did not rank the business school and one other school so those did not factor into the overall ranking, was told if they did that they could move up close to 15-20 notches!
Was also told by next year they will be in the top 50 and by many other polls and reports, they are already well in the top 50 schools/universities, remember that is only ONE. By all accounts, it seems like an amazing school indeed!</p>
<p>"It is possible that the rank is low in proportion to the high cost"--Multitasker</p>
<p>I wouldn't imagine this as a big factor since statistically GWU also gives the most financial aid than any other school. I would imagine that would cancel the high tuition out. Plus, the tuition is not much higher than the other better ranked schools, like NYU.</p>
<p>I think we should keep this thread alive because I'm sure I'm not the only one pondering this critical question that may end up being a deciding factor when deciding between some very level schools.</p>
<p>Is it possible that GW could make a big jump in the ranks if they took into consideration the two schools that they left out? (if what ctmomo said is true of course) </p>
<p>Although the ranks dont really matter to a lot of people, I'm sure a lot of GW kids are frustrated when they see such an amazing school at 52 and 54. All that money should at least get us to the 20's!!!</p>
<p>I definitely like the school a lot, for the most part, but when making a tough decision between two great schools, the rankings, as much as I hate them, can play a somewhat deciding factor. I know the rankings are mostly nonsense, but it doesn't matter what the truth is, all that matters is how the rankings and supposed "prestige" from the rankings are perceived. I'm not sure if going to GW will hurt me in the career placement game more than say going to a school like NYU. </p>
<p>Are there any other possible weaknesses GW has that may cause it's relatively low ranking? I was thinking that perhaps it has to do with the possibility that GWU may be a bit less selective than the other schools like NYU, and thus that might be why it may be ranked lower. What do you all think?</p>
<p>I don't think the rankings will hurt you in any way shape or form. What you get out of college is what you put in, and anyone who knows about NYU's prestige, also recognizes GW's amazing reputation. I'm not too certain, but I'm pretty sure somebody interviewing you will not put on a concerned face, pull out your transcript and say "...says here you went to GW...thats only 50 something in USNews isn't it?" I think you'll probably get a "GW? Hey! Everybody in the world knows about GW...you must be filthy rich and really smart!"</p>
<p>Still, I can only imagine how hard of a decision it is for somebody to choose between GW and NYU. They both roll of the tongue nicely. Either school would be amazing.</p>
<p>Tuition costs doesn't appear to impact the rankings too heavily.</p>
<p>The commonly cited reason for GW's ranking is, as someone already pointed out, the very high number of part time professors. If you re-rank the schools based on that percentage alone, GW is way down around #80 or so. The (normal rank) #52 rank for instance is around 83% pt, while GW has about 67% part time.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you re-rank based on the low number of the SAT (i.e., the 25% cut off), GW comes in at #40.</p>
<p>Also, you know what's strange is that at all the college guides I looked at, I see that the professors at GWU are also given a better grade than the professors of other schools, such as those of NYU. I mean it wasn't just one guide, it was three. So clearly the GWU faculty is amazing, arguably more so than those of other higher ranked schools. This just adds to my anger at those stupid rankings!</p>
<p>All I know is that I'm going to GW and I am happy regardless. If I feel that I am not getting the education that I am (actually my parents are) paying for, I will transfer. I do think that we should continue this discussion though. One thing that I know prospective students like to see is a wide range of easily accessible and helpful facilities. GWU has that and more. It may sound weird, but possibly one of the biggest things I looked for in the colleges that I visited was its main library. Yale had an excellent selection of rare books, Cornell's library was really fancy and quiet indeed...GW has the Library of Congress. Let's weigh the three..hmmm</p>
<p>Sorry...here's my point from my above post ^^^: The Library Of Congress, Folger Library, the metro stop....all that stuff isn't as heavily weighed into rankings because they can only be showed off through positive student reviews/ratings, where as isolated universities such as Yale have everything under their name. Now I know I can't really be bringing this up in light of an NYU/GW decision, because they are both in the city, but I think we have to understand how a lot of these factors that make GW such an amazing university can't really be factored into the stupid criteria that USNews uses to come out with this-as one person called it- "subjective" list.</p>
<p>The NYU-GWU comparison is interesting. I've always thought that NYU is affected significantly in the rankings by the rankings of its two best known schools, Tisch and Stern. The quality of business schools impacts the view of the university as a whole, even when the rest of the school is not on par with the specialty school. It's one of the main reasons GW is now emphasizing its b-school.</p>
<p>So if you want to study business, GW is not up to the Stern level. If you're an actor, go to Tisch. But if someone wants to study areas in the "regular" school at NYU, you might find GW is equal to or even better than those areas at NYU.</p>
<p>"So if you want to study business, GW is not up to the Stern level. If you're an actor, go to Tisch. But if someone wants to study areas in the "regular" school at NYU, you might find GW is equal to or even better than those areas at NYU."</p>
<p>So how about economics? I know GW is widely known for mathematics and statistics, while NYU is widely known for for business. And economics falls right in between. ****!</p>
<p>Also, it doesn't appear quality of life is counted when computing the rankings, because from what I've heard and seen, GWU outcomforts schools that are ranked even in the top 10. Although I don't think comfort should be weighed nearly as heavily as academics, I still do think that a much better quality of living does have a positive influence on academics due to a better psychology.</p>