archileta

uc riverside > uc davis

hahahaha

ChaiMex

WHAT?????? SMU 13???? CRAZY, No way... SMU's credentials are not even as good as underrated UTD. UTD has more of its students in the top 10% in high school and a higher SAT score expectation...
I'm still disappointed with UTs ranking, it seems so much better then what all these rankings say.
Some of the UCs are more rightfully ranked in my opinion, they are good schools(I actually do want to go to them) but not uber top tier like they are in USNWR...
I've seen lists with Texas A&M ranked one... so this is not so off...
But even then some, they use different things to rank. So they may have excluded the strong spot of MIT and the weak spot of SMU

Momwaitingfornew

I agree. People put far too much stock in the USNWR rankings. I think it's important for people to see that those rankings are not hard and fast, and that different criteria yield different results. Yes, SMU seems like an anomaly in the midst of the others, but the rest on this list are merely reshuffled from the more famous list. UPenn, for example, drops much lower on this list. Does it mean that one ranking is wrong? Absolutely not. Both can be "right" because they value different aspects. The important thing to note is that UPenn remains in the top 20 of all universities nationwide, no matter which criteria are used. For this reason (and others), many on CC have expressed a wish for ranking tiers instead of individual numerical rankings. A university that slips a few spots in USNWR hasn't suddenly deteriorated; it's the same university that it was the year before.

I have been thinking about the use of RMP and Who's Who as quantifiable measures. RMP bothers me the most because some universities have internal professor rating sites that outsiders cannot access and others simply don't have a student body that uses it. While perhaps using this is on the right track to evaluating the quality of education, it certainly shouldn't be used as a reliable source. Who's Who is a different matter. While an invitation to supply an entry comes with a sales pitch to buy the expensive volumes, not everyone receives one. In fact, most people do NOT get one; first, Who's Who has to learn about the person. So, while being included in Who's Who is not an honor, it is a measure of public visibility.

I understand why rankings exist and how some colleges, particularly the LACs, have benefited from exposure. Still, high school students and their parents should take rankings with a grain of salt.

evil_asian_dictator

LOL

LMFAO

beefs

Why? Because Duke is 15th? Right.

evil_asian_dictator

There's no need to feel inferior beefs. I'm sure you are looking forward to those fun Cranium and Scrabble gaming sessions on the weekends at Chicago.

noobcake

^^^^
As someone who has committed to Duke this year, even I feel nauseated reading his post

B77

FYI, the CCAP rankings of national universities as published by Forbes.com is inaccurate as to CCAP's actual ranking of SMU. Forbes.com lists SMU as 13 when, in fact, it's ranked by CCAP as 43. Take a look at CCAP's own list at the bottom of its own home page:The Center for College Affordability and Productivity. As you will see, the top 20 schools now begin with Harvard and end with Brandeis. BTW, I confirmed the accuracy of the CCAP-published list by email with CCAP.

tokenadult

Interesting that the Forbes article doesn't even correctly represent the latest word from the Center for College Affordability & Productivity. Thanks for the direct link to that organization's ranking.