If Colleges were stocks ...

Colleges & Universities University of Pennsylvania
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<p>Which colleges would you go long on, and why? </p>

<p>Which colleges would you short ?</p>

<p>You go long on something if you believe its value is going to increase (in this case its ranking/ prestige etc)
You short something if you think its value is going to decrease. </p>

<p>I would go long on:</p>

<p>Stanford: great weather, great graduate medical, business, and law schools, and a strong college. It is only getting more selective and it is in the middle of Silicon Valley. It dominates the new technology industry something other HYPSM schools (yes, even MIT) don’t have. Only Harvard will be able to compete with Stanford in 10 years time. This is my number 1 pick. </p>

<p>Columbia: Even Fiske thinks Columbia is going to kick Yale’s ass. Location, location, location. They have a great academic reputation (look at those Nobel’s) and thanks to Furda they have become very selective. They have a strong college and strong graduate: business, law, and a decent medical school. It will beat out Yale and Princeton over the next 10 to 15 years, 20 years max.</p>

<p>Penn: It has everything in place to be a superb university. It has arguably the best business schools, the oldest and one of the best medical schools, and a decent law school (this needs work). It is also the most undervalued stock, once it gets more selective I see its value sky-rocketing. With Furda in charge of admissions (see above) I think that this stock is going through the roof. Pre-professionalism appeals to the new centers of the world: Indian and China. Name recognition is also in the rise in these two nations. The college is shaping up and will soon rank in the top 5 (within 20 to 30 years). Penn has better financial and fiscal management out of all the schools, and traditionally stronger leadership. If Judith Rodin was in charge (not that I have anything against A-gut, it is just that Rodin was a legend) I would take my largest position in Penn. </p>

<p>Harvard: Harvard is Harvard. It is not going anywhere and its prestige can only increase. </p>

<p>I would short:</p>

<p>Princeton: sure it is ultra selective, but its lack of graduate schools is going ot hurt it looking forward due to the increased professionalism of all schools. Also, its traditional strength in engeenering is being challanged (and actually surpassed) by Stanford to the west. Also its basketball team sucks and its girls look broke. I’d give it 30 years for it to drop from the top 3.</p>

<p>Yale: Very strong college and law school. But what else ? Everything else at Yale seems very mediocre at best. It does not have strong professional schools and New Haven is a dump with no culture (unlike west Philly, which is a dump but WITH culture). It has weak science, math, business, and engeenering programs compared to its peers. I just don’t see it staying in the top 3, as it has been, in the next 10 to 15 years. It has almost no connection with the new age. It is stuck in the past.</p>

<p>Dartmouth: same reasons as Yale. It is stuck in the past with precious few, if any, strong grad schools. It’s college is more like a small lac. I doubt it can compete on the international global scene (where grad schools trump colleges). It’ll drop within 10-20 years</p>

<p>Brown: What is the color of Sh ! T? BROWN! Ha, my fav. english teacher (who went to Dartmouth) taught me that one. (I’m kidding, I know it is a good school). In all seriousness though, it lacks any strong graduate programs, its college is far to lax (open cirriculum, pass/fail, etc.) That is not going to help it’s reputation as an academic powerhouse. I would short this one above all other, save possibly Yale. I’m putting a fuse of 10 years on this baby.</p>

<p>Not sure about:</p>

<p>MIT: very strong in many many respects. Probably the most respected PHD students anywhere in some fields. It is recognized as the top in many fields and it has close association with Harvard that helps boost it. BUT, it is competing with Stanford, I’m not sure it can win this race looking forward, given Stanford’s position in Silicon Valley. I just don’t get the sense that it is on the rise like I do about Penn, Columbia, and Stanford.</p>

<p>I hope this does not offend; it’s all just for laughs and to pass the time. Do make your own list; remember to justify your choices.</p>

<p>I suppose my title is a little misleading since I have discussed universities as a whole. Discuss Universities as a whole though; I think that makes for a more interesting debate.</p>

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<p>your portfolio is overweighted in large caps</p>

<p>I’d sell half of your holdings and go with Quinnipiac, Elon, Harvey Mudd and Cal Poly SLO</p>

<p>good value buys include McGill, Morehouse and U Delaware </p>

<p>Kei</p>

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<p>how about indexes?
I’d short private, buy Ivy (for a neutral position on Ivy schools) and buy state schools. With the economy in the dump and jobs not keeping up with rocketing tuitions, state schools are going to be the places to go in a couple of years. Wild card = Name-recognized Ivy League schools because China/India/Developing Countries are going to want those so I’m going to sit out on that.</p>

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<p>^I want to move to your state. In this economy, and given the “down state” legislators aversion to education, my state’s universities are sucking wind…</p>

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<p>I’d pick VA for college-oriented living. Would have in-state tuition to UVA and W&M</p>

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<p>Small Caps:</p>

<p>I would short Swathmore, LA colleges are not the future. Swathmore is not as good as W or A, so I think it will fall the furthest. Smaller colleges don’t have far to fall, and W and A will be the last to fall.</p>

<p>I would long HYPSM and Short IVY as a hedge. (Ivy is not as consistently strong as HYPSM as IVY has Cornell - which is a toxic asset - and liberal arts schools like Dartmouth and Brown). Since HYPSM contains a few Ivies, it should form an effective hedge. That is only for ten or so years as I believe the index: HSCPenn will be the future for the reasons I highlighted above.</p>

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<p>MIT? You think MIT’s value will fall???</p>

<p>Go say that when MIT finds a solution to global warming. Or builds nanobots that work as specific antibodies in your body. I sure hope Upenn engineering can solve that, when everyone knows that Upenn is NOTHING without wharton. </p>

<p>and Yale falling? ROFL are you high?</p>

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<p>Well, I had a few glasses of port so I may be a bit tipsy but I feel pretty sure that I’m right about Yale. I said I don’t know about MIT look at my post carefully, my only reason to second guess MIT was that it had to compete with Stanford, which I feel will probably beat it out.</p>

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<p>I’m gonna have to short caltech…it’s trying to be a niche player in a competitive market already dominated by MIT</p>

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<p>hahaha this is such a stupid thread. It’s great reading statements like “X School will drop in the next 10-20 years.” Who knows?!</p>

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<p>Nobody knows, but the same is true of stocks.When traders say stock X will rise in the next year they do not KNOW it will rise, it is an assumption based on facts. I thought you’d know that, apparently not. This is just based on our speculation and it is just for fun. If you don’t like it, don’t post.</p>

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<p>LOL. this thread is hysterical.</p>

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<p>Kafka - nah, it’s worth pointing out that this thread is ridiculous. I know very little about business and the stock market, but even I can tell that “speculation” on whether X school will drop TWENTY years from now is a useless exercise. </p>

<p>Is it fun? maybe. </p>

<p>Is it worth noting this is a dumb thread? Sure. That’s the beauty of a discussion board - to post and exchange ideas on a topic freely.</p>

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<p>Long Penn. Short everything else. Hedge with Brazilian oil options.*</p>

<p>*This post is not intended to be serious.</p>

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<p>Long Columbia
Long Penn
Long Chicago
Long Rice</p>

<p>Short Duke
Short the entire UC system (retired fire station chiefs need their $200k annual pensions, after all. thanks public sector unions!)
Short Dartmouth (and all LACs which will become increasingly niche and screwed as schools depend more and more on research for funding and prestige)
Short Brown (P/E ratio far too high, it’s a poo-colored bubble flush with hot money on Emma Watson)</p>

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<p>Why would you short Duke and long Rice ? I agree with the rest of your assesments though. Can’t believe I forgot about the UC system, shorting that has got to be golden.</p>

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<p>what about: william and mary, wustl, emory, boston college, uva, mich</p>

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<p>You’re being overdramatic imo. Even if your trends are all correct I find it ridiculous that schools like Yale and Princeton that have occupied their spots for hundreds of years will fall out of favor that fast. You may also want to diversify your portfolio, putting all of your stocks in the collegiate blue-chips will not have the most return–especially if we’re only talking 10-20 years. ;)</p>

<p>That being said, I suppose I would buy (long) Penn, Stanford, Harvard, the “University” of Phoenix, and several middle-tier schools (around Boston College level, research-oriented schools like Johns Hopkins would probably be best) that will only increase their value as the number of quality students rejected from the Ivy League increases. </p>

<p>As far as shorts go, I would probably go with SUNYs (a lot of people are mad about recent tuition hikes) and UCs, although I’m not as sure on these ones. Shorting any college for an extended period of time seems stupid IMO, since the overall trend in American higher education is, for now at least, overwhelmingly positive.</p>

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<p>long wustl on a pullback
long umbc</p>

<p>short USC
short HBCU index</p>

<p>daytrade the ivy’s</p>

<p>pick up top state flagships for cheap once they’ve bottomed (now?0</p>

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<p>Duke is overvalued and Rice is undervalued (it’s still a virtual nonentity in the northeast whereas Duke is nationally known already), that’s why.</p>