<p>"I could not disagree more. I believe – strongly – that Dartmouth’s undergraduate program (quality of student body, overall learning environment / experience, et. al.) is not simply just better than Cal – it is significantly better. "</p>
<p>None of the criteria you listed matter. Students will always gravitate toward classes and social events that attract students of equal calibre.Learning environment and preferences varry from person to person.</p>
<p>“And, frankly, the numbers back me on this. Why, if Cal is equal to Dartmouth, is it consistently ranked outside the Top 20, whereas Dartmouth is consistently ranked in the Top 10? Why do 8 out of 10 Cal/Dartmouth cross admits choose Dartmouth? Shouldn’t it be 50 / 50?”</p>
<p>The USNWR ranking is just one ranking and is flawed. Cal alone proves how flawed that ranking is. Most polls conducted on highly regarded individuals (such as corporate leaders, leading intellectuals and highly regarded professors and researchers) seem to support my opinion. One must be incredibly shallow to believe the BS that is the USNWR. And those students who chose Dartmouth over Cal at a rate of 8:2 are just impressionable young people who place too much weight on the USNWR…a for-profit ranking of non-profit institutions! Let us be honest, the USNWR’s sole purpose is to sell. 25% of the magazine’s revenues are generated by that single annual ranking. The numbers don’t back you the_prestige. Numbers cannot back anybody in thois arguement as numbers are meanongless when avaluating education. One cannot measure the quality of education. </p>
<p>“But it’s not just about numbers. I have spoken to a number of Cal graduates (undergrad) and I have spoken to Dartmouth graduates. The Cal graduates had a lot of gripes and complaints about their experience vs. Dartmouth grads who absolutely rave about theirs (and this is reflected in their alumni giving numbers).”</p>
<p>Alumni giving rates are not a reflection of satisfaction the_prestige. Alumni giving rates are a reflection of alumni size and agressiveness (and tradition) of the alumni office. And yes, Cal students (like Chicago and Harvard students) tend to bash their universities. I don’t know why that is, but it has nothing to do with quality of education. Those are three of the top 10 universities in the US. </p>
<p>“There is a difference – how big may be a point of conjecture – the fact there is one shouldn’t be.”</p>
<p>There is a difference, but not in quality. Cal and Dartmouth are two vastly different universities, but that does not mean one is better than the other.</p>