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Monkey see Monkey do and people repeat US News and World Report ratings despite severe problems in its methodology as pointed out in the Wall St Journal.
Washington Monthly, The Chronicle of Higher Ed, and the American Council of Education are all way better.
Here is one based on the college's contribution to society
Washington Monthly, The Chronicle of Higher Ed, and the American Council of Education are all way better.
I don't think I would necessarily say that. Different, yes; 'way better', not necessarily.
For example, this study measures, " Social Mobility (recruiting and graduating low-income students), Research (producing cutting-edge scholarship and PhDs), and Service (encouraging students to give something back to their country)."....
Why those areas are important, they say little about the quality or rigor of the academic setting. For instance, to increase ones rating, the school could simply start admitting more low-income students and make the coursework less rigorous. That immediately bumps up it "Social Mobility Rating"...and overall rating.
I guess the point I'm getting at is that all these studies are just games that school administrations can play...they can easily manipulate the numbers to bump up in the spots while offering no real improvement in the academic arena (or worse).
ocean you complain about people caring too much about US NEWS ranking, yet you are listing another ranking? cmon all rankings have up and downs, this particular ranking... top 3 are UC schools? interesting
zoo i complain about the US News because of the expose the Wall St Journal did ( Washington Monthly did one too). US News intentionally left colleges out that disagreed or complained about its methods. In 1999 they left out Lewis & Clark, one of the best private colleges on the West Coast ( maybe 2nd after Stanford).
Zoo I did find it odd to see the diff U C branches rated so high. I live in Texas and I do know A&M does lots for farming and agriculture and glad to see them receive recognition.
Read the methodology and you'll look smarter. This is about what colleges do for the country- I don't know Jackson State but perhaps like Texas A&M they help farms and agriculture. Do you know what specifically Yale does for us? if you do - tell us !
Monkey see Monkey do and people repeat US News and World Report ratings despite severe ...
Cal-Berkeley also leads in the percentage of its students that were in the top 10% of their high school class although Harvard is a very close second.
Berkeley is the top school for Asians, yes.
I'd like to see a list of schools that turn ordinary, well-rounded students not only into exceptional mothers and fathers, but successful doctors, lawyers, scientists, businessmen, and people able to engage and respect people of any race and culture.
Last edited by LexusNexus; 09-15-2009 at 08:15 PM..
I went to one of the top colleges on there and it was a pathetic experience. Changed colleges that isn't on that list and I feel that I've learned so much more. It's amazing how stupid these rankings are. LOL.
The college has to fork over money and some good ole "statistics" and they can easily make the top of any ranking list. It's called marketing.
Read the methodology and you'll look smarter. This is about what colleges do for the country- I don't know Jackson State but perhaps like Texas A&M they help farms and agriculture. Do you know what specifically Yale does for us? if you do - tell us !
SC State puts out next to no research, per the ranking. It has a 45% graduation rate, per the ranking (and somehow is 1st in that category....maybe because it's twice as high as its expected rate of 22%? ). The only good thing I see is that it has high ROTC participation. Would you say 1 strong point out of several terrible ones is worthy of a #6 ranking?
And Jackson State has the same "strengths" and weaknesses, although to a lesser standing than SC State.
I think what they are referring to are things like Texas A&m providing agricultural services through extension to farmers all over the country. Cal - Berkeley operates the Los Alamos Laboratory- a Cal professor pretty much invented the atomic bomb ( Oppenheimer but was that a positive thing?), and Cal has plenty of other scientific breakthroughs.
I know nothing about Jackson State except someone was killed there during Anti-Vietnam Riots. SC state is another unknown
I doubt Washington Monthly is corrupt - they have been doing this for years with pretty good reviews.
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). The only good thing I see is that it has high ROTC participation. Would you say 1 strong point out of several terrible ones is worthy of a #6 ranking?
