<p>Using the rank is a fail dude. That’s like someone choosing Vandy or Rice over Emory simply because of the rank (20 vs. 17), or lay prestige. Vandy or Rice is not that academically different from us. I hear the same about Northwester. Those ranks are relatively trivial and kind of full of it. Many public schools deserve a place in the top 20. Also, as I always say, I don’t think Emory being more well-known would enhance the quality of the teaching or resources I receive. “School spirit” is important, but this is left to be defined by the student. What if one got into USC, Berkeley, or UVA? Are they to simply choose Emory, Vandy, NU, Rice, etc. b/c the rank is higher. Berkeley is more well-known than Emory, but we rank higher. See this is a gray area. Who should one choose? See, that’s a lame set of criteria to use in decision making. That’s how many end up attending schools that aren’t even happy at, simply because it’s ranked higher.</p>
<p>Also, people, be careful when saying that some school has stronger “liberal arts”. This shouldn’t be used interchangeably with “humanities/social sciences.” And for anecdotes sake, my former roommate (transfer from NU) says he can’t really feel or tell the difference from polisci here and polisci at NU. However, I have a friend who transferred (to do GBS) from Miami U in Ohio who says that so far, he prefers the polisci/history at Miami. Go figure. These stupid rankings manipulate many of us into believing in things we know nothing about, b/c many have no affiliations with the schools we speak of. I trust the words of those here who have attended these places way more than USNWR’s numbers.</p>