<p>I applied to a bunch of schools and havent really thought much about ranking my choices. I know it isn’t the best idea to do this before hearing back, I just wanted to get some feedback from CCers on some schools on my list and where they stand in comparison with eachother. I intend to major in Political Science, Econ, or Math, also thinking about taking a CompSci course or two as well as some arabic courses (if available).</p>
<p>After graduation, I intend to either a) do OCS in the Marine Corps and work as an officer for a few years b) go to law school c) go to school in public policy, or d) work in econ and eventually go to business school. So my career paths are pretty varied, but I can decide what I want to do as I go through college. </p>
<p>How would you rate the following schools on a) their academics in the fields I listed above and b) the amt they will help me get into a top graduate school/top job?</p>
<p>Wake Forest
University of Rochester
William and Mary
Bucknell
Hamilton
Bates
American</p>
<p>William and Mary
Hamilton
Bates, Rochester, WFU, Bucknell
American</p>
<p>Education quality you are probably splitting hairs. American has access to DC and might have an edge for political internships, but It’s probably not a great place to study math/compsci. I’d say Bates and William and Mary are probably more social science/humanity focused than the rest too. With schools this close it really comes down to personal preference</p>
<p>As far as the quality of the education you will get is concerned, what you put into the effort at whatever school you choose is a lot more important than the selection of the school.</p>
<p>Uh what? Wake Forest is every bit as prestigious as William & Mary and both are a notch above Rochester and Bates. Hamilton and American are probably your worst options but they’re not really bad schools either.</p>
<p>It’s amazing how low people on this site rate Southern colleges like Davidson, Wake, W&L and Vandy.</p>
<p>Or maybe you overrate them? All of those schools are just “US News” schools. I.e. their rankings are just inflated by USnews, whereas few, if any, other rankings holds them at a similar ranking. Look at Vandy for example.</p>
<p>ARWU: 36
Forbes: 53
U.S. News & World Report: 17
Washington Monthly: 59
Global
ARWU: 53
QS: 131
Times: 51</p>
<p>For example, Out of the 7 rankings on Vanderbilt’s wikipedia page, only in one does it crack the top 25 and in only one other ranking does it make the top 50 </p>
<p>the same things happen with Wustl and Darmouth, who do dreadfully poor in every ranking other than USNews. I couldn’t even compare WFU since they don’t even have the ranking box on their page (i doubt that’s a coincidence.)</p>
<p>Dartmouth and Wake Forest are heavily focused on their undergraduates. While both have graduate programs, they are generally not very strong. That this should be reflected in international rankings should surprise no one. </p>
<p>In any case, such rankings are hardly the be all, end all of higher education. I for one would happily take WUStL or Dartmouth for undergrad over a college that does well in such rankings like UCLA. (I say this due to my familiarity with that university, not as a personal attack.) Heck, I came incredibly close to choosing Wake over Duke, Chicago, Hopkins, and several other schools a few years back. </p>
<p>All of the schools listed by the OP are excellent options. William & Mary has superb policy and IR programs, and Wake is quite good for business. I’m less familiar with the others, but they all have good reputations, and one could undoubtedly do well at any of them.</p>
<p>Prestige is largely regional. For example, I’m from Florida, and the only ones I had heard of before my college search were William & Mary and American. I heard of Wake Forest during my college search, though I couldn’t tell you where it is (I think my school played them in football this year, too, but it was an away game). Also heard of Rochester, since a friend is going there. None of the others, though.</p>
<p>Someone in DC or in Virginia or the Northeast or California would likely have very different ideas of the “prestige” of these schools, mainly since prestige is merely how much people around you talk about and value certain schools, and most schools (other than a few of the most famous) have reputations that vary largely based on region.</p>
<p>Prestige may have a link to educational quality, but an indirect link at best. If I were you, I would research/contact each school, to find out the success rates for graduates entering grad schools or the job market. Most schools release these statistics, and it’s a good measure of what you’re asking.</p>
<p>
I’m from Florida, so no anti-southern college bias here, but I know virtually nothing about those schools, except maybe Vanderbilt, and all I know about it is that it’s named after the Vanderbilts and is apparently a very good school.</p>
<p>Also, William & Mary is in Virginia, so putting it above Wake Forest isn’t really an anti-southern bias.</p>
<p>To each his own i guess? I couldn’t imagine myself in the middle of nowhere, which pretty much rules out dartmouth, and i guess i might be able to do wustl, but i don’t see anything to appealing about St. Louis. And if i wanted to go to a school that focused on its undergraduate, i don’t see why i wouldn’t go to a LAC as opposed to these schools. (which would probably be the claremonts, or maybe Oxy.)</p>
<p>Personally i feel i’ve got a first-rate education from some of the finest professors in the world. That’s more than worth the small sacrafice of getting larger class sizes. I’ve also had many conversations with these professors in office hours, all of whom are very friendly. </p>
<p>granted i’m heavily biased. I go to UCLA and have lived in LA my whole life. Traffic might seem unbearable at times here, but you get used to it.</p>
<p>for the record, while I am from New York, Duke and Davidson were among my top choices when applying to colleges, so I don’t think I really “underrate” southern colleges. Students often overlook southern schools, and thats unfortunate for them. My list was completely based on regional prestige----as I pointed out educational quality and student competency are basically equal. Before I started my college search, I knew Wake as a school with a decent basketball team. I also knew that William and Mary was one of the oldest (maybe the oldest??) college in the U.S. That carries some prestige to it–whether it should or not is a completely different matter entirely.</p>
<p>You need to check the course and major offerings at each school, particularly the smaller schools, which are often lacking in some subjects (being lacking in math and CS seems to be particularly common; Arabic may not be as common as some other languages).</p>
<p>Someone majoring in a subject will probably take about eight semester long junior and senior level courses in his/her major (or twelve quarter long courses under the quarter system). Check to see whether there are sufficient courses in your possible majors to keep you interested.</p>