<p>If you are looking for the best undergraduate school where you would spend the next 4 years of your life, what sort of things are important for you to determine your ideal college?</p>
<p>In other words, what sort of criteria should USNews be using to rank schools for undergraduate? </p>
<p>How can you differentiate or separate undergrad from postgrad?</p>
<p>To the moderators: kindly delete those two other threads of similar contents. my internet connection has faltered, thus the triple sent. thank you.</p>
<p>I think you look for a culture and philosophy consistent amongst administrators, faculty, and students which matches your own educational needs. Then you make sure that the outcomes match your desired outcomes at the end of that process.</p>
<p>As far as quantitative metrics are concerned, I look at three main things:</p>
<p>SAT scores (average of math 75%, math 25%, CR 25%)</p>
<p>This examines the academic strength of the student body. The SATs are flawed, but I believe they still have some merit. The math SAT is (in my opinion) fairest, so I look at it. While the CR section is more “gameable” I think there is a point at which a lower score represents a serious problem.</p>
<p>Size of programs that interest me (capped at 300)</p>
<p>I give credit to schools with strong, large departments in fields that interest me. The 300-point cap is in place because a critical mass is more important than pure size.</p>
<p>Retention rate (freshman -> sophomore)</p>
<p>A school that loses a significant portion of its students after the first year worries me.</p>
<p>The final system works like this:</p>
<p>[(SAT Math 75% + SAT Math 25% + SAT CR 25%)/3 + Department Size (max 300)] * Retention Rate</p>
I should add that the above has two main caveats:</p>
<p>a) This only works well for match and reach schools. Safeties will by definition have lower score ranges and therefore get lower scores.</p>
<p>b) Nothing is truly exact. A school with otherwise lacking stats may have an amazing honors program (ASU comes to mind). Or some programs may be competitive while others let you slide (Purdue). So there is always some room for flexibility.</p>
<p>With that said, I do feel that SAT ranges matter. The University of Utah (my current favorite potential safety) has many great programs, but I have concerns about the academic possibilities OUTSIDE of class when the score ranges are so low.</p>
<p>^ how applicable is that to large state schools such as Berkeley and UCLA which do run by department? </p>
<p>For example, at Berkeley, it is a lot harder to get into the college of engineering (COE) than to L&S. So, the average HS GPA and SAT scores of the students at CoE is higher than those of L&S. How would that reconcile with your school selection process?</p>
One could use the departmental statistics if available. This is purely opinion, but I personally feel that statistics about the student body are relevant in a social sense. Colleges with many high-scoring students are more likely to have an intellectual life outside of class and strong study support. This will apply across the board (unless you live in all-engineer dorms or something). So I think that the school must be considered as a whole when looking at social factors. Academically, departmental strength is key, and that’s why I give up to 300 points for large departments. NRC rankings could also be used, but I am waiting for the new ones to come out since the current list is very old.</p>
<p>Among universities with engineering programs and at least 675 as the SAT Math 75%ile, Berkeley (as a whole) ranks at #12 for someone interested in IE/math/physical science. So it definitely doesn’t get shafted.</p>
<p>By the looks of it , It seems as if you people know a lot about undergrad universities in the US .So Here’s my story so far :- </p>
<p>I am an International Student currently in India . Since many members on this website are not familiar with my academic credentials , it would be safe to say that I would have B- to maximum of B average if converted to the US credentials. My SAT scores are :-</p>
<p>Critical Reading 440
Math 620
Writing 510</p>
<p>Critical Reading 420
Math 520
Writing 460 </p>
<p>I will be taking it again on October 10 and i hope to break the (1800-2000) barrier . My E.C’s again are not to great .</p>
<p>I plan to engineering (EE/Mechanical most probably ) and since international student pay a lot of money , my parents will only be paying for my Undergrad (which I am grateful for) . My plan is not to study in my home country (although it has great education facilities , i just feel it’s not me) . I want to initially attend the best engineering school within my range and transfer to a better school , if possible (Michigan , Harvey Mudd , Stanford and UC - Berkley come to mind , when I think of my dream schools ) . </p>
<p>Though , I face a dilemma . Due to limited work permits , It would only be safe if I attend a prestigious universities (Because NAME matters , It attracts top companies and will definitely provide me with a good education with which I can survive anywhere )</p>
<p>So which all schools would you people recommend ? .</p>
<p>P.S- I do not require financial aid, but I wouldn’t want to go to a school which is not worth 50K . I want to get a good/excellent job in the US , work for 2-3 years and the either do my MBA or my graduate degree . (I have heard that a few companies pay their employees to go to grad school !)</p>
<p>I am really sorry . Its just that I have created threads in the past and I did not get a clear response (It was either lowly public or rich privates with not-worth-45-50K-education) . I just felt that member’ such as RML and yourself could help me with my search . </p>
<p>Returning to the topic, I see metrics such as my own above as a general guide for use in creating an initial list, which can then be narrowed down with qualitative variables such as “fit” and individual program strength.</p>