ChatGPT College Rankings

[Lindagaf]

Because it’s hardly accurate, or consistent, or using good judgement or describing its methodology is it? Someone above put in criteria for <3000 student colleges with good music and strong environmental science. It came up with Ferrum College. Ever heard of it and its 800 students? No offense to that school. Maybe it’s amazing, but I can certainly think of many other colleges that might be a bit stronger than that one.

I am still playing the game.

I rephrased my question about friendly colleges.
Friendliest liberal arts colleges. This time Bates didn’t make the list.

Best colleges for friendly students between 6000-12000 students

1. Vanderbilt
2. Bates
3. Pepperdine
4. Skidmore
5. Macalester
6. Colorado College
7. William & Mary
8. St. Olaf
9. Claremont-McKenna
10. Davidson
    Clearly, at least eight of those colleges have nowhere close to 6000 students.

A game can be useful. Doesn’t mean it’s accurate. Interestingly, Bates is the only college that made both of my lists, thus definitively proving that Bates is almost certainly one of the friendliest colleges around, if you ignore the fact that it didn’t even make the list for friendliest liberal arts colleges, but did make two lists for friendliness and having friendly students. So perhaps being the friendliest is the odd man out? Or perhaps ChatGPT has a long way to go before it can be called reliable.

[NiceUnparticularMan]

I note all this seems consistent with how AI is currently being used in my profession (I am an attorney). It can be helpful in the sense it might get you started with suggesting some basic answers to simple questions (the kind that have well-known basic answers), and for more complex issues you can use it to generate some leads to check out. But you still have to verify everything yourself, even the seemingly simple stuff, because it is not reliable enough to use without that step.

[beefeater]

@Lindagaf

A game can be useful. Doesn’t mean it’s accurate.

100% this. I have played around with Claude in helping look for colleges my D26 and I haven’t thought about. It routinely gets wrong the programs available at various colleges. However, if I ask it to “verify” (the specific word it seems to like) then it’ll come back and tell me it got it wrong and then will force some verification of it’s own before sending me results. Funny thing is that it hasn’t really uncovered much that we hadn’t found on our own, but it might be useful as the earliest start if you haven’t done much research before using it.

[citivas]

Out of curiosity I just fed S23’s basic stats and profile and asked ChatGPT to come up with a list of reach, target and safeties schools he should apply to. I told it his interested his interested majors, his “slight bias” toward the northeast or mid-Atlantic and his intended post graduation goal. Other than test scores (including APs) and U/W GPA I told it about his top EC but didn’t list the rest. I didn’t say anything about urban, suburban or rural, class size, etc.

Feels like the “Targets” should be Reaches and the Safeties should be Targets. Otherwise it’s mostly the usual suspects.

Category	College
Reach	Princeton University
	Harvard University
	MIT
	Stanford University
	Caltech
	Yale University
	Columbia University
	University of Chicago
	Brown University
	University of Pennsylvania
Target	Cornell University
	Carnegie Mellon University
	Johns Hopkins University
	Northwestern University
	Duke University
Safety	University of Maryland, College Park (Honors)
	University of Rochester

[merc81]

@Lindagaf

Because it’s hardly accurate, or consistent, or using good judgement or describing its methodology is it?

Perhaps I wouldn’t use this method — initially I hesitated in even opening the topic. But it seems that, in this discussion, there has been a tendency to comment at least mildly favorably on the results, and then to walk back on the method itself.

[Lindagaf]

My search was clearly just for fun.

More dumb fun… A pleasing assortment of colleges here.

Colleges where students believe in extra terrestrials

1. University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley)

• UC Berkeley is known for its highly respected astronomy and space science programs. The university has hosted conferences and research related to UFOs and extraterrestrial intelligence, and some students and faculty take part in these areas of study.

2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

• MIT has an active student body interested in space exploration and scientific research on extraterrestrial life. They also have research groups like the MIT Space Systems Laboratory, which focuses on space exploration technologies. MIT has had notable scientists who are involved in the search for extraterrestrial life, such as their work on the “Breakthrough Listen” project.

3. Stanford University

• Stanford’s emphasis on space science, astrobiology, and SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) means that students and faculty are often at the forefront of extraterrestrial research. This culture might foster more belief or openness in such ideas.

4. Harvard University

• Harvard is known for having scientists who publicly entertain and study topics like extraterrestrial life. Avi Loeb, a prominent astrophysicist from Harvard, has written books and conducted research into the possibility that extraterrestrial life may have visited Earth. This has sparked much interest and discussion among students.

5. University of Arizona

• The University of Arizona is home to the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, which studies planets, moons, and other celestial bodies for signs of past or present life. Their research focuses on astrobiology, which often leads to discussions about extraterrestrial life.

6. The University of New Mexico

• Located near areas of high UFO activity, such as Roswell, New Mexico, this school has a community with a lot of interest in UFOs and extraterrestrials. The university also has programs and research related to space science.

7. Rice University

• Rice University in Houston, Texas, is near NASA’s Johnson Space Center, and students in this area often pursue research in space science. Their research into exoplanets and astrobiology means that students may be more likely to explore ideas about life beyond Earth.

8. University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

• UCLA has a reputable space science program that includes astrobiology and the search for extraterrestrial life. They also have multiple programs related to physics and astronomy, where students are encouraged to think beyond the known universe.

9. University of Oxford

• As one of the leading universities in the world, Oxford has a strong focus on space science, and several faculty members have worked on projects related to the search for extraterrestrial life.

10. The Ohio State University

• Ohio State’s Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics (CCAPP) conducts cutting-edge research in astrophysics, and some researchers at OSU are involved in discussions about extraterrestrial intelligence.

These schools tend to have more students who are likely to entertain the possibility of extraterrestrials, whether in the context of serious scientific inquiry or simply as a topic of intellectual curiosity.

[Izzy74]

I started a similar thread a year or so ago. We used Chat GPT to help create an initial list of schools for S25 to look at. It worked great.

[Data10]

@Lindagaf

it is a parlor game and nothing more
…
Because it’s hardly accurate, or consistent, or using good judgement or describing its methodology is it?

While ChatGPT is not perfect, saying it’s a “parlor game and nothing more” is understating the potential usefulness. Your statement about imperfect accuracy and consistency also applies to asking for assistance on this College Search and Selection forum? Does that mean this forum is “a parlor game and nothing more”?

ChatGPT has access to nearly infinite information about countless dimensions of colleges and can combine that information in ways that would be impossible for any person to do manually. It can be useful tool to assist in one’s college search, if you choose to use it as such; just as it can be a game, if you choose to use it as such.

[Franklynn]

A lot of the information that Chat GPT has access to is reddit posts. As someone who works in AI literacy, I urge you to pay attention to the accuracy of generative AI responses. They get the details wrong most of the time as Lindagaf has pointed out. I agree with her. For this purpose it is fun to see the lists, but you have to fact check every single response.

[Data10]

An increasingly large portion of industries find the value in using ChatGPT or other AI to assist with tasks. Accuracy is not always perfect, but the same could be said about humans. The primary benefit of AI is not improved accuracy over humans. AI can instead do things humans cannot, such as near instantly sort through, interpret, and rank volumes of information; which has countless uses related to college search and selection.

In my trials, when ChaptGPT searches the web, it provides links to the sources. While ChatGPT can use Reddit, I’ve never seen a Reddit post among those sources for my college inquiries. For example, in the college list at the bottom of this post; the referenced sources were websites of the listed colleges (and websites of some colleges that are not listed), various books, US News, Niche, College Transitions, Best Colleges . com, College Vine, the National Association of College Attorneys, and over a dozen other sources… but not Reddit, CollegeConfidential, or similar forum.

Lindagaf’s examples were subjective questions such as friendliest colleges or colleges where most students believe in UFOs. If you use objective questions, you can more accurate answers. As an example of objective measures, I tried the following prompt:

Make a table showing a ranked list of colleges based on the following 10 criteria.

Criteria 1: Majors – Importance = Very High
College must offer both engineering majors and computer science related major. Ideally the college would offer both an electrical engineering major and computer science major, or an EECS a major. A general major with concentrationin EE or similar is also acceptable. Show available EE and CS majors as a column in the table.

Criteria 2: Selectivity – Importance = High
The student prioritizes having a high concentration of high achieving students. The more selective the better. However, the student also wants to apply to some “target” and “safety” colleges where he may have a better chance of being accepted, so it is okay to display colleges that are not extremely selective in the table as a lower ranking. Include columns for acceptance rate and SAT score in the table.

Criteria 3: Cost – Importance = Moderate
The student is a New York State resident. Parents income is likely too high to qualify for need based FA. Student may be eligible for merit scholarships (4.0 GPA, 1500 SAT). Cost is not critical, but may influence decisions. Show cost for NYS resident as a column in table.

Criteria 4: Location – Importantce = Moderate
The student would prefer a college where he could regularly travel home to Albany NY. Ideally the college would be within in 3 hour drive from Albany. A 5 hour drive is also good. Distance is not a dealbreaker, but closer is better. Show driving distance to Albany, NY as a column in the table.

Criteria 5: Weather – Importance = Moderate
The student would prefer a moderate climate that supports outdoor weather, where both summer and winter high are as close to 70F as possible, with over 90% of days having no rain. This isn’t a dealbreaker, but all things being equal, better weather is preferable. Show median winter high temperature and % sunny days as columns in table.

Criteria 6: Jobs / Located Near Tech Hub – Importance = Moderate
The student would prefer a college located near a tech hub, like Silicon Valley, to improve odds of tech internships and jobs. Include as column in table.

Criteria 7: College Size – Importance = Moderate
Ideally the college would have ~5000 undergrads. 2000 to 10,000 is okay. <2000 may be too small. >10000 may be too big. List undergrad size as a column in the table.

Criteria 8: Prestige – Importance = Moderate
List prestige as a column in table. Interpret “prestige” as you feel is most appropriate. List a related column in table.

Criteria 9: Football Team-- Importance = Low
The student would prfer a college that has a football team, with good shcool spirit. Ideally the football team would be a Div I team with good win/loss record and rivalry with neighboring colleges. Div II / III are acceptable, but less preferable. List related column in table

Criteria 10: Good Resources – Importance = Medium
The student would prefer a college that has good campus resources, particualrly in related to engineering, as well as good spending on students. List endowmnet per student as a column in table.

The output was the following. One can quibble with things like while RPI has both Div I and Div III teams, football is Div III, not Div I; but I think overall accuracy was good. I also think it’s a reasonable list of colleges for the listed criteria. This is an arbitrary example. One could ask ChatGPT to combine dozens of criteria rather than just the 10 as listed, or include criteria for which results may be less commonly known, leading to outputs that would be near impossible for a person to manually discover on their own.

[Franklynn]

But honestly do you think this is a good list of schools even based on your criteria?

[Data10]

The post stated

@Data10

I also think it’s a reasonable list of colleges for the listed criteria

No single college is going to check all the boxes. The colleges that have the highest selectivity and “prestige” are not going be lowest cost for a NYS resident who has too high income for FA. The colleges that are located closest to Albany NY are not going to have the most moderate climate with the desired winter high temperatures, nor are they going to be located near the biggest engineering tech hubs. However, I think the list provides a good balance of the criteria, including colleges with different strengths in different criteria, allowing user to interpret results from table based on personal preference, considering the information listed in the columns of the table.

What colleges do you think meet the criteria better than the ones that are listed?

[Franklynn]

Just for fun I asked ChatGPT the same question with your same criteria (cut and paste)and the only overlapping schools were RPI and Syracuse. It also suggested University at Albany, Union College, and Syracuse. I still think it’s fun to see what it comes up with.

[Data10]

Did you clear your memory and past history first? What ChatGPT knows about your preferences from past inquiries influences the responses.

Clearing memory and repeating inquiry, I got the same top 5, although the order between RPI (#5 → #4) and Cornell (#4 → #5) was swapped. It also added a column for numerical rank, changed the majors offered to list EECS availability instead of EE and CS in different columns, and changed “prestige” scale from a numerical ranking to “very high” / “high”.