<p>There have been a few attempts here on CC to rank the top 25-50 universities based on different criteria. If I were to make a ranking of the top 30 universities in the US, what do you think would be the perfect criteria?</p>
<p>A survey of ~2,000 academics. ;)</p>
<p>My favorite: [Research</a> in Higher Education, Volume 49, Number 1 - SpringerLink](<a href=“http://www.springerlink.com/index/r1hh4608x27u7655.pdf]Research”>http://www.springerlink.com/index/r1hh4608x27u7655.pdf)
And my application of it to liberal arts colleges: [Research</a> in Higher Education, Volume 51, Number 3 - SpringerLink](<a href=“http://www.springerlink.com/index/g1u81p17282v6143.pdf]Research”>http://www.springerlink.com/index/g1u81p17282v6143.pdf)</p>
<p>Both are rankings (in a sense) based on the ability of institutions to graduate students given the resources (money, facilities, students, and faculty) that they have to work with.</p>
<p>It can’t be done. Institutions of higher learning are too complex; there are too many variables. You might as well rank the “Top 25 Countries.”</p>
<p>There is no perfect ranking other than one which you come up with for yourself, since the best school for you depends on your needs and preferences.</p>
<p>Hmmm These weren’t the responses he probably expected…</p>
<p>Which color is better, blue or red?</p>
<p>Is air better than water?</p>
<p>Who was better in his prime, John Elway or Miles Davis?</p>
<p>Is Juilliard better than the Naval Academy?</p>
<p>Revealed Preference studies such as those pioneered by Avery et al are pretty good. Although they don’t measure actual learning as that is clearly impossible to measure, they reflect what high school students think is important. Unfortunately, Avery’s sample was somewhat limited and the data is over 10 years old. Parchment has more recent data but it’s based on self-reporting online and is thus non-representative of the broader high school population. Both studies also have lots of noise past the most elite colleges as well. Hopefully in the future a more comprehensive revealed preference ranking will be done.</p>
<p>A weight of the following things in this order by accredited groups, attendees, professors of different schools(can’t rank their own), and counselors.
1.Academics
2.Campus
3.Lifestyle(Work hard vs. play hard balance, dorms, activities)
4.Athletics
5.Student Body “diversity”</p>
<p>It’s hard to imagine choosing a mate based solely on how desirable he/she was to other people, without taking into consideration your own desires. </p>
<p>It’s amazing how many people select colleges on this same basis.</p>
<p>I don’t think anybody is suggesting that students should base their college decisions solely on the basis of any college ranking. That being said there a lot of schools in this country and rankings help people narrow down the list of schools to a manageable size so that they can look into a smaller number of schools in depth.</p>
<p>I dont mean to be smug but in truth the ONLY ranking that matters is your own. You must make a list of schools you want to attend, rank them according to what is important to you (and include objective data and subjective factors), then pick your top 8 schools and apply there. No other ranking matters. You must own the decision because its your life. It makes zero difference whether your schools are ranked high by USNWR or Forbes or Washington Monthly or any other source. Your self worth is NOT measured by how high a ranking your college has. People who think like that are narcissistic, elitist and superficial…frankly not the kind of people you want to hang around anyway. Ranking is a curiosity factor. It gives you SOME measure of a program’s strength, but by no means exclusive. A lot of college rankings are based on factors that have nothing to do with your overall undergraduate experience. </p>
<p>If the colleges you pick happen to be highly ranked and you get in, then good for you. If not, who cares? Be proud of the schools that admit you and pick the best experience for you, based on whatever factors are important to you and your family. </p>
<p>Go where you can succeed and be happy. Period.</p>