| Sorry, collegehelp, but I cannot agree about any of your comments on PA and frankly blame measures like it for promoting the unhealthy overweighting of prestige factors.
What you have written is what YOU think PA means-others can and do have different interpretations of what it means. If clear guidelines were provided for what this measure means and greater transparency were provided on who was saying what, then perhaps I could accept its results as helpful, but as it is currently constructed, I think that PA is a sinister number and does more harm to USNWR's ranking system than any other aspect of their ranking.
Where you and I possibly can agree is that when wide differences in quality are seen (and this is reflected in quantifiable data), then there is a quality difference and then the student should take this into consideration. For example I would not equate the quality at Cornell with the University of Arizona and there are many objective data points to substantiate that view. But I would equate Cornell’s quality with Tufts where again there are many objective data points to support that view. And yet both U Arizona and Tufts have PA scores of 3.6 while Cornell has a PA score of 4.6.
I don't intend this to be a Cornell thread, but I am using that college as an example due to your close affiliation with the school. |