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Lergnom · 07-04-2009, 01:43 PM

An observation: the Reed link is about "percentage of graduates who go on to earn a Ph.D. in selected disciplines" - in footnote at bottom. The charts themselves are misleading as heck but the point is small schools should do better. Let's say NYU has 8 times the number of doctoral candidates in a field. The percentage should still be lower than Reed's or Kalamazoo College. Reed has 1400 students total.

I don't participate in arguments about which school is "better." Couple of reasons. First, if you analyze the rankings, they are mostly garbage - see the info on this site about how rankings are manipulated. (And spend some time going through the methodology.) At most, they reflect and perpetuate old images, even as schools game the ratings they want to associate themselves with the old names. Second, as noted, differences between schools mentioned in the same breath are tiny compared to the sturm und drang about them. I'm not talking only about HYP but pick any two schools that are lumped together and the real differences between them academically are usually negligible, allowing for differences in strengths between specific programs.

My advice is consistently: pick a school that you like and that has the specific program you want, if the latter is important to you. The important factor in your success is you, not the name on your degree. A Yale degree is not a golden ticket. At most it reflects two basic truths, that people who go to Yale are smart and motivated to begin with and that many start in life with substantial other advantages.

A question that's generally about science and math isn't about a program, but is more about the superficiality of rankings. And to be honest, if a person is heavily into math & science, so weighted personally that any relative difference between Yale and Princeton is important, then that kid should be looking at MIT or CalTech because Yale and Princeton are primarily liberal arts schools.

07-04-2009, 01:43 PM	#7
Lergnom Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 1,691	An observation: the Reed link is about "percentage of graduates who go on to earn a Ph.D. in selected disciplines" - in footnote at bottom. The charts themselves are misleading as heck but the point is small schools should do better. Let's say NYU has 8 times the number of doctoral candidates in a field. The percentage should still be lower than Reed's or Kalamazoo College. Reed has 1400 students total. I don't participate in arguments about which school is "better." Couple of reasons. First, if you analyze the rankings, they are mostly garbage - see the info on this site about how rankings are manipulated. (And spend some time going through the methodology.) At most, they reflect and perpetuate old images, even as schools game the ratings they want to associate themselves with the old names. Second, as noted, differences between schools mentioned in the same breath are tiny compared to the sturm und drang about them. I'm not talking only about HYP but pick any two schools that are lumped together and the real differences between them academically are usually negligible, allowing for differences in strengths between specific programs. My advice is consistently: pick a school that you like and that has the specific program you want, if the latter is important to you. The important factor in your success is you, not the name on your degree. A Yale degree is not a golden ticket. At most it reflects two basic truths, that people who go to Yale are smart and motivated to begin with and that many start in life with substantial other advantages. A question that's generally about science and math isn't about a program, but is more about the superficiality of rankings. And to be honest, if a person is heavily into math & science, so weighted personally that any relative difference between Yale and Princeton is important, then that kid should be looking at MIT or CalTech because Yale and Princeton are primarily liberal arts schools.
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