<p>“Now really, can anyone with a straight face really say that the quality of education at the two campuses differ that significantly?”</p>
<p>Yes. Because of the experience of the students on both campuses IS different, and is reported by them as qualitatively different.</p>
<p>Reported where and by whom? If you want to see how students feel about their education read the NSSE surveys. At least they survey known students at the school. Nobody knows who fills out a Ratemyprofessor or why.</p>
<p>And they, Stanford students, reported this where?</p>
<p>1 Princeton University NJ 47,975 1,242<br>
2 California Institute of Technology CA 46,560 231<br>
3 Harvard University MA 48,550 1,668<br>
4 Swarthmore College PA 48,215 365<br>
5 Williams College MA 47,140 540<br>
6 United States Military Academy NY NA 1,272<br>
7 Amherst College MA 48,352 NA<br>
8 Wellesley College MA 47,870 590<br>
9 Yale University CT 50,350 1,318<br>
10 Columbia University NY 49,260 1,333<br>
11 Northwestern University IL 49,779 1,981<br>
12 Wabash College IN 35,550 250<br>
13 Centre College KY 37,000 316<br>
14 Massachusetts Institute of Technology MA 48,200 1,067<br>
15 Bowdoin College ME 48,260 476<br>
16 United States Air Force Academy CO 0 1,214<br>
17 Middlebury College VT 50,160 644<br>
18 University of Chicago IL 49,976 1,300<br>
19 Smith College MA 47,976 656<br>
20 Pomona College CA 47,580 375<br>
21 Wesleyan University CT 49,346 733<br>
22 Haverford College PA 48,932 315<br>
23 Stanford University CA 49,227 1,721<br>
24 Hamilton College NY 47,900 468<br>
25 Sarah Lawrence College NY 52,210 363 </p>
<p>[America’s</a> Best Colleges sorted by Rank - Forbes.com](<a href=“Forbes List Directory”>Forbes List Directory)</p>
<p>Forbes’ ranking is not better than putting Princeton on top and everyone else in a random order.</p>
<p>Found this from Forbes. Discuss.</p>
<p>[America’s</a> Best Colleges sorted by Rank - Forbes.com](<a href=“Forbes List Directory”>Forbes List Directory)</p>
<p>LOL. This Forbes list (link in post #143) is hilarious. A lot of big names get gored here. Among those not making the top 50 “best colleges in America,” according to Forbes:</p>
<ol>
<li>Harvey Mudd</li>
<li>Carleton</li>
<li>Penn</li>
<li>UNC Chapel Hill</li>
<li>Wesleyan</li>
<li>UC Berkeley</li>
<li>Georgetown</li>
<li>Notre Dame</li>
<li>Duke (14 places behind UNC! LOL)</li>
<li>Johns Hopkins</li>
<li>Emory</li>
<li>Vanderbilt</li>
<li>UCLA</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>Dartmouth (bottom of the Ivies!)</li>
<li>WUSTL</li>
<li> Michigan</li>
<li> U Rochester</li>
<li>U Texas</li>
<li>UC San Diego</li>
<li>Carnegie Mellon</li>
<li>Lehigh</li>
<li>NYU</li>
<li>Wisconsin-Madison</li>
<li>George Washington</li>
<li>Boston U</li>
<li>Case Western</li>
<li>U Miami</li>
<li>RPI</li>
</ol>
<p>Renssalear at 499!? It is to laugh.</p>
<p>The list has been discussed in many threads:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-confidential-cafe/554153-yale-accepts-97-percent-applicants.html?highlight=forbes[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-confidential-cafe/554153-yale-accepts-97-percent-applicants.html?highlight=forbes</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/552120-forbes-mag-college-rankings-princeton-1-a.html?highlight=forbes[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/552120-forbes-mag-college-rankings-princeton-1-a.html?highlight=forbes</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-florida/553842-forbes-magazine-2008-uf-rankings.html?highlight=forbes[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-florida/553842-forbes-magazine-2008-uf-rankings.html?highlight=forbes</a></p>
<p>The general consensus is that, because the rankings are in part based on self-selected student reviews, they’re essentially worthless. [i.e. a student who really hates his teacher is more likely to write a review, most likely critical, than one who simply likes the teacher]</p>
<p>^ The Forbes ranking is silly. But not much sillier than US News which is obsessed with rewarding colleges that are popular for being popular and have the highest cost per unit of output.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No, it is much sillier than US News. As much as I dislike US News, at least the methodology is reasonably sound, and the rankings from year to year are reasonably consistent. Forbes’ methodology is laughable, and I would confidently label the people who put the list together as idiots. Compare their new list to this list, which they put out 3 months ago. See how many colleges retained their positions: [How</a> to Choose a College - Forbes.com](<a href=“http://www.forbes.com/opinions/forbes/2008/0519/030_2.html]How”>http://www.forbes.com/opinions/forbes/2008/0519/030_2.html).</p>
<p>^ Look, far be it from me to defend their methodology, which as I said is silly. But it’s not entirely fair to compare this list with the one they published three months ago because the methodology is different; it’s just not the same study. Some of the same people are involved, some of the same factors are used, but they’re very clear to label the newly released list the “first ever” Forbes list of “America’s best colleges.” The one published three months ago under the headline “How to choose a college” was under the byline of a sole author, Dr. Richard Vedder, who is also involved in the new Forbes study.</p>
<p>I would also note that US News changes its methodology frequently and when it does there are often wild swings in the rankings of some schools. The 2008 and 2009 US New methodology remained constant, and lo and behold, the rankings of the top schools remained very stable.</p>
<p>Yea, USMA is a better school than Yale. Right.</p>
<p>Worst list I’ve ever seen.</p>
<p>Dude, I think the list is a joke. Literally. As in the author intended it as a parody.</p>
<p>bclintonk: just to clarify, wesleyan made #21 of forbes rankings… the school at #72 is wesleyan college in georgia…</p>
<p>carry on</p>
<p>bclintonk that’s Wesleyan College in Macon (GA)</p>
<p>Wesleyan Wesleyan is actually listed at #21 in the Forbes list.</p>
<p>Otherwise, I agree with you. USNews basically measures where upper-middle class American families (using standardized aptitude tests as a hermeneutic), send their kids in the greatest droves. If it’s anything more complicated than that, perhaps I’m missing it.</p>
<p>Many of the comments about the Forbes college rankings below</p>
<p>[America’s</a> Best Colleges sorted by Rank - Forbes.com](<a href=“Forbes List Directory”>Forbes List Directory) </p>
<p>reflect little knowledge of the Forbes methodology. For those who are uninformed, here is the methodology in detail:</p>
<p>[Methodology</a> - Forbes.com](<a href=“http://■■■■■■■.com/6hm98o]Methodology”>Methodology)</p>
<p>As Mini alluded to earlier, who better to evaluate The College of the Atlantic, administrators from Arizona State or the Atlantic’s very own students. Forbes gives a 25% weighting to what students say, US News gives the same weighting to outsiders, some of whom are clueless.</p>
<p>centre college and DePawwww university(NEVER HEARD OF IT) are better than Duke and Georgetown!!</p>
<p>Arkansas state is much better than Harvard</p>
<p>Seriously, if you guys grew up with this ranking, and then you see the US news report rankings, you’d think that that one was a joke. It’s a matter of which one your used to.</p>
<p>You’d be like whats harvard instead.</p>