"Ranking The Rankings"

lydia08 · 10-09-2008, 02:34 AM

Just found this article: Science News / Rating The Rankings about the US News rankings bias and how drastically rankings can change when different factors are emphasized. It's too bad they don't publish lists with different factors favored (I wonder how Colgate's position would shift...), or have a program where prospective students can input what's most important and it calculates a list for them! Though of course nothing compares to visiting campuses.

gellino · 10-09-2008, 10:30 AM

Quote:

It's too bad they don't publish lists with different factors favored (I wonder how Colgate's position would shift...), or have a program where prospective students can input what's most important and it calculates a list for them! Though of course nothing compares to visiting campuses.

You can do this type of thing for grad schools on the phd.org website.

ColdWind · 10-09-2008, 11:59 AM

As you know, Colgate University is highly ranked by USNews already. I think that it would be quite difficult for Colgate to pass Amherst, Williams, Swarthmore, Bowdoin, Pomona, or the USMA at West Point. But that certainly leaves room to move up into the top 10 from #18.

gellino · 10-09-2008, 02:52 PM

Colgate was in front of West Point last year. It certainly isn't because of student profile that West Point is in front of Colgate this year and also makes me wonder why there is such a large disrepancy between Army and Navy.

lydia08 · 10-09-2008, 05:13 PM

I was all excited to hear about phds.org, but they only have "popular" programs, not the ones I'm looking at (Japanese language or literature), boo. Someone really should create this for undergraduate programs; I bet it would be insanely popular. If it exists, they certainly haven't marketed it well, since no one seems to be aware of alternatives to the "official" USNews rankings.

I don't think Colgate would shoot up to number one, but I'd be interested in seeing its relative strengths and weaknesses.