<p>I just came by this comprehensive college ranking on the CC site. I am not sure everyone is aware it is there, but it seems to rank approx. 170 colleges in a variety of different areas. Only 3 schools received an A+ for academics: Princeton, MIT and Stanford.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visits/college_rank_summary.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visits/college_rank_summary.html</a></p>
<p>Those are supposed to be based on student surveys by an outfit called College *******. Can’t vouch for them.</p>
<p>The only thing wrong is that lots of “top” universities are missing. Like the entire University of California system. And Caltech.</p>
<p>A survey that rates “guy” and “girls” isn’t to be taken too seriously.</p>
<p>At least, I hope not.</p>
<p>And what does a D+ for “drug scene” mean? No drugs? Too many drugs?</p>
<p>Just to have a little fun with this…</p>
<p>How would you weight the categories that they list? Here is what I got on my first attempt:</p>
<p>Academics 30.0%
Local Atmosphere 7.5%
Safety & Security 1.0%
Computers 1.0%
Facilities 10.0%
Campus Dining 2.5%
Off-Campus Dining 2.5%
Campus Housing 2.5%
Off-Campus Housing 2.5%
Diversity 5.0%
Guys 1.0%
Gals 1.0%
Athletics 7.5%
Nightlife 7.5%
Greek Life 5.0%
Drug Scene 1.0%
Campus Strictness 2.5%
Parking 2.5%
Transportation 2.5%
Weather 5.0%</p>
<p>what about UChicago?</p>
<p>Well, these seem to be based on campus visits, not reports by actual students, so calling them a ranking would seem to have pretty little utility.</p>
<p>I’d give this ranking a C-.</p>
<p>Why can’t you say College *******? College Pr0Wler</p>
<p>CC is in the college consulting business. It is unlikely they would be posting anything useless. I think some schools are missing because the data for them is insufficient. Remember recently when Chicago finally gave US News “correct” information, it altered its ranking dramatically. There seem to be very few schools missing (at least those commonly discussed here).
At least from my vantage point the academic rankings seem as expected.</p>
<p>Seems like the Ultra-liberal powerhouses have yet to crack this rather conservative group of high achieving schools. Could this be a ranking still untainted by the leftist faculty and administration? </p>
<p>Funny how the source of ths infornation --not the CC’s visitors-- can both be a banned word and a “trusted” source of information on CC! </p>
<p>Massachusetts Institute of Technology A+<br>
Princeton University A+<br>
Stanford University A+ </p>
<p>Claremont McKenna College A<br>
University of Chicago A<br>
Dartmouth College A<br>
Duke University A<br>
Georgetown University A
Harvard University A<br>
Harvey Mudd College A<br>
McGill University A<br>
Middlebury College A<br>
University of Rochester A<br>
Swarthmore College A<br>
Washington and Lee University A
Washington University in St. Louis A<br>
Williams College A
Yale University A
Brown University A
Bowdoin College A</p>
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<p>Do you mean … when Chicago learned how to “maximize” the USNEWS model to its benefit and learn how to account for ghost faculty and other neat tricks? The only surprise is that it took Chicago so long to figure it out. Small remote schools in the maple wilderness and large public schools paved the way!</p>
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<p>I asked one of Jr’s schools why their “employment after graduation” percentages were so dismal in USN&WR. Their reply was that the data USN&WR used was incorrect and that it hadn’t been updated yet. I wonder how much of this goes on.</p>
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<p>Could it be that this is a category that is not -or no longer-- used in the USNews Undergraduate rankings. </p>
<p>Here’s a list of what is counted:</p>
<p>Peer assessment<br>
Student selectivity
High school class standing
SAT/ACT scores<br>
Faculty resources
Faculty compensation<br>
Percent faculty with top terminal degree<br>
Percent full-time faculty
Student/faculty ratio<br>
Class size, 1-19 students
Class size, 50+ students
Graduation and retention rate
Average graduation rate<br>
Average freshman retention rate<br>
Financial resources
Average educational expenditures per student
Alumni giving
Average alumni giving rate<br>
Graduation rate performance</p>
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<p>They may not use it to calculate their rankings anymore, but it is in their profiles. I cut and pasted this within the last five minutes, from the USN&WR “Best Colleges” Website. It’s blank for some schools, but this is what it had for Rose-Hulmans:</p>
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<p>I’m guessing (without evidence of any kind) that colleges either didn’t want the hassle of gathering the data, or it proved not very interesting to future college students.</p>
<p>I really don’t see why Parking should be an issue unless it is a large campus…</p>
<p>Tell that to B Obama. He just paid off some parking tickets from his college days.</p>
<p>THIS MAY BE THE ULTIMATE “CONSUMER” RANKING</p>
<p>From what I understand this ranking is based in large part on the opinions of students who ACTUALLY attend the schools. Who better to know and evaluate a product?</p>
<p>CC site now has comprehensive College Rankings: Princeton, MIT & Stanford have captured the top academic ranking.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visits/college_rank_summary.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visits/college_rank_summary.html</a></p>
<p>The top two academic tiers:</p>
<p>Massachusetts Institute of Technology A+
Princeton University A+
Stanford University A+ </p>
<p>Claremont McKenna College A
University of Chicago A
Dartmouth College A
Duke University A
Georgetown University A
Harvard University A
Harvey Mudd College A
McGill University A
Middlebury College A
University of Rochester A
Swarthmore College A
Washington and Lee University A
Washington University in St. Louis A
Williams College A
Yale University A
Brown University A
Bowdoin College A</p>
<p>Washington and Lee and University of Rochester over schools like U Chicago, Penn, Vanderbilt, Columbia, and Cal Tech? Huh?</p>