Which Colleges in California are consistently ranked #1 in the nation or world in any particular Discipline or Field (Berkeley: schools, universities)

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by slo1318

Exactly right. No school is always #1 (not even UC Davis). You'll see Stanford and Harvard #1 in the nation and then the next year they'll be #4 or 5.

It'd be better to say consistently top 10.

Yes, UC Davis is consistently #1 in Veterinary Programs/Medicine more often than any other college in the nation/world.

I'm trying find out which discipline(s) at which California college(s) are consistently #1, not consistently in the top 10, but consistently #1. It can be different rating groups.

This isn't a contest, just simple fact finding.

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by Chimérique

Yes, UC Davis is consistently #1 in Veterinary Programs/Medicine more often than any other college in the nation/world.

I'm trying find out which discipline(s) at which California college(s) are consistently #1, not consistently in the top 10, but consistently #1. It can be different rating groups.

This isn't a contest, just simple fact finding.

And to what extent does all this matter whether to be #1? It's not like a school has to be like the Green Bay Packers and win the Super Bowl every year. If a university's program are generally known to be top-class, that should be good enough.

And remember, most of the so-called rankings are for their graduate programs, rather than undergraduate education.

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by silverkris

And to what extent does all this matter whether to be #1? It's not like a school has to be like the Green Bay Packers and win the Super Bowl every year. If a university's program are generally known to be top-class, that should be good enough.

And remember, most of the so-called rankings are for their graduate programs, rather than undergraduate education.

Is it perhaps that it's UC Davis that holds this #1 distinction for Veterinary Medicine that you take your point of view. I mean what is the big deal. People talk about the Julliard School as being the #1 for performing arts. They have been talking about that school "forever", does it bother me, not in the slightest, it's good to know it happens to be the Best. That doesn't mean if you go there you will the best performing artist that ever lived; it just means that you likely have will have one of the best educational experiences in your chosen field.

And why do you care? Isn't it obvious, being the best or #1 is valued in our society. I mean if you want to be a Veterinarian it would be good to know which university is consistently ranked #1 in Veterinary Medicine.

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by Chimérique

Is it perhaps that it's UC Davis that holds this #1 distinction for Veterinary Medicine that you take your point of view. I mean what is the big deal. People talk about the Julliard School as being the #1 for performing arts. They have been talking about that school "forever", does it bother me, not in the slightest, it's good to know it happens to be the Best. That doesn't mean if you go there you will the best performing artist that ever lived; it just means that you likely have will have one of the best educational experiences in your chosen field.

And why do you care? Isn't it obvious, being the best or #1 is valued in our society. I mean if you want to be a Veterinarian it would be good to know which university is consistently ranked #1 in Veterinary Medicine.

Look, I have no problem with UCD being the tops in vet medicine (I had an uncle who went there and did research at the Animal Medical Center in NYC after that for decades). But not going to that school doesn't mean you won't be a good veterinarian, or your life is over.

Why do I care? Well, I counsel high school kids and their families and many of them are sooo obsessed with school rankings when they apply for college - a lot of them have a "Ivy League, UC or bust" mentality - when those schools may not be a fit for them from a standpoint - it's for prestige or bragging rights - and it puts too much pressure on themselves. What matters is what you do with your education, not where you went to school.

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by silverkris

Look, I have no problem with UCD being the tops in vet medicine (I had an uncle who went there and did research at the Animal Medical Center in NYC after that for decades). But not going to that school doesn't mean you won't be a good veterinarian, or your life is over.

Why do I care? Well, I counsel high school kids and their families and many of them are sooo obsessed with school rankings when they apply for college - a lot of them have a "Ivy League, UC or bust" mentality - when those schools may not be a fit for them from a standpoint - it's for prestige or bragging rights - and it puts too much pressure on themselves. What matters is what you do with your education, not where you went to school.

Why can't you just give credit where credit is due? I mean if you want to be a Veterinarian it doesn't hurt to know that UC DAVIS is the very best school and consistently rated the BEST. Nobody says you have to go to the best school to be a Veterinarian, nor that your "life will be over" if you don't. It just means that you are informed.

It matters what you do with your education, but also matters where you go to school. It doesn't hurt to be informed and it doesn't hurt to know which college is the best college in ones field of study.

[Elliott_CA]

Originally Posted by silverkris

...I counsel high school kids and their families and many of them are sooo obsessed with school rankings when they apply for college ... What matters is what you do with your education, not where you went to school.

Bingo. There's a lot of wisdom in what you wrote. Consider the professional sports drafts: history has shown, repeatedly, that a 2nd or 3rd round draft pick can often outperform the #1 draft picks. When you're dealing with young adults there's hidden potential can emerge later. It's the same way with colleges, their rankings and their students. A really good kid who graduates from CSU can outperform a Stanford grad in their careers. A Fresno State football player can outperform a top Alabama player in the NFL.

Sometimes I think the alumni get a little carried away with college rankings as a way of "rah rah" for their schools.

[slo1318]

^^i agree

The rankings are great recognition for the programs, but it doesn't mean a kid who goes to #10 vs #1 won't learn and do as well.
His premise is flawed anyway, no school is consistently #1 at anything including UCD vet school.

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by Elliott_CA

Bingo. There's a lot of wisdom in what you wrote. Consider the professional sports drafts: history has shown, repeatedly, that a 2nd or 3rd round draft pick can often outperform the #1 draft picks. When you're dealing with young adults there's hidden potential can emerge later. It's the same way with colleges, their rankings and their students. A really good kid who graduates from CSU can outperform a Stanford grad in their careers. A Fresno State football player can outperform a top Alabama player in the NFL.

Sometimes I think the alumni get a little carried away with college rankings as a way of "rah rah" for their schools.

I don't mind people expressing opinions, but silverkris's post is distracting from the thread. It would have been respectful and courteous if he/she even cared to answer the premise of the thread like you did earlier with your Harvey Mudd's Engineering program response. But he didn't.

Instead, what he did was rather arrogant by posting in the thread without answering the question or premise and basically saying the question and thread is not worthy of an answer. It's fine expressing an opinion but at least be courteous enough to answer the question posed by the original poster.

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by slo1318

^^i agree

The rankings are great recognition for the programs, but it doesn't mean a kid who goes to #10 vs #1 won't learn and do as well.
His premise is flawed anyway, no school is consistently #1 at anything including UCD vet school.

So if Cal poly's undergrad program is ranked #1 for 5 years in a row then we will just ignore that information as being flawed; that's basically what your are saying. Just stick with Cal Poly's Number #1 Architecture ranking for 2014; it's respectable.

You guys are making Non-Sequitur arguments because it bothers you that UC DAVIS is ranked the BEST in Veterinary Programs and no other California college can make that claim.

I mean who doesn't love dogs and animals and we all know Veterinarians make a ton of money.

Nobody is saying that the other schools that are highly ranked are not worthy, or that your kid will not get a good education. Nor are we saying that your kid has to go to the #1 ranked school.

It's so obvious these arguments are all about UC DAVIS, if Stanford, Berkeley, Harvard, or UCLA were ranked #1 for Veterinary Medicine these arguments you guys are making would be few and far between.

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by Chimérique

It's so obvious these arguments are all about UC DAVIS, if Stanford, Berkeley, Harvard, or UCLA were ranked #1 for Veterinary Medicine these arguments you guys are making would be few and far between.

So this thread is about a chip on the shoulder, then? Relax, nobody is interested in dethroning the self-avowed kings of cow nursing. But this whole treatise sounds much more like an SEC football chest-puff than a rational analysis of academic programs.
Fine, you're #1. Shout it to the heavens. Thing is, folks from other schools with the highest rankings (people make these, and people in such positions get...influenced) don't engage in such rooster calling, maybe because they are busy doing the work their fine institution helped set them up for, or their alma mater is one whose reputation is well enough known that it's alumni don't feel compelled to break out the foam finger in it's defense. (We UCSB alumni know this. We are content enough with our departments that no one cares if faceless busy bodies rank them #1 or not. They didn't go there. Probably never even studied on the beach.)
BTW, went to Davis on the college - search tour in high school. It was 104 degrees. Tour guide's highest, most repeated praise was for how many bikes are there, and the greatness of the turf management program. Awesome. Perhaps if they had emphasized advanced stump analysis, more of us would have been swayed.