Stanford Vs. Duke

bluedevilmike
Fri, 21 Apr 2006 10:25:21 +0000

First off, peer assessment is, obviously, going to be the slowest measure to respond to changes in rankings.

Second, I’d see Penn’s rise as a sign of strength, not of weakness.

Third, my argument would simply be this: If you look at the hallmarks of good education (small class size, high freshman retention), I’m guessing - and I haven’t done the math here - that Penn beats Stanford pretty solidly. (This is based on the fact that USN has Penn and Stanford very even, and Stanford is much harder to get into.)

Fourth, the Asia thing - I hate to say it - doesn’t matter unless you’re intending to work in Asia. That’s certainly less important than, say, if Penn’s reputation is greater in NYC.

And whoa, we’ve gotten sidetracked. At least I have.



And BCG:

Sorry about this. I know I’m obsessing a little bit over this nonsense, but I was fascinated (coming from CA) by the discrepancy in Stanford’s reputation once I left the Bay Area - and it occurred to me that only a quantitative approach would really be objective. Having pored of the USN quantitative rankings, I think they leave a lot to be desired, but I also think they’re too easily ignored by students who have a preconceived mindset in the first place.