<p>Why is Penn State ranked higher? Why is Pitt ranked higher than Penn State when you look at academic and admission quality scores in Princeton Review, or how the schools fair in The Center for Measuring University Performance’s report, or why is Pitt ranked higher in US News and QS World University Rankings, or why is Pitt ranked better in all the Best Value rankings that I’ve know of despite similar sticker prices?</p>
<p>The answer is simply: Methodology. They each emphasize different things.</p>
<p>US News’ Best College ranking, the one everyone in the US blindly follows, derives 22.5% of its score from what are essentially popularity surveys that have a less than 50% rate of return (and 7.5% of that is ridiculously scored by guidance councilors who know less than most people on these message boards about particular schools). That compares to 15% of a school’s overall score being based on selectivity information like SAT scores and class rank, you know, actual, tangible quantitative data. When a school has 3X as many students and a cult-like following (and that is not hyperbole as I grew up 30 mins from there), it probably is going to do better on surveys.</p>
<p>The real question is, when approximately [60%</a> of all Penn State students transfer in after 2 years at branch campuses]( <a href=“http://admissions.psu.edu/pennstate/campuses/2plus2/]60%”>http://admissions.psu.edu/pennstate/campuses/2plus2/) that have, comparatively, very low admissions standards but otherwise don’t get factored in any of these rankings, what are the real numbers?</p>