<p>PENN State is ranked higher by some nebulous group of Academics than USC is; but as if the fun stopped there…Davis? San Diego? NYU below UCSF?</p>
<p>But in all seriousness. I wonder how many people decided to attend University of Illinois over USC or heck…Harmon Raju’s old haunt…NYU based on these “findings.” I would love to see their faces in a year…</p>
<p>As an aside, the field of higher academia, in case you have not noticed is extremely catty and competitive. USC has managed to vault in the national and international rankings by leaps and bounds in the last decade. Doing so, while recruiting some of the best faculty from both: U.S.A. and abroad does not go without upsetting people.</p>
<p>Much as we like to believe that all Ph.Ds out in the big big world are the walking images of integrity and propriety; such is not always the case. People can and will down-rank a school for a number of factors, especially in perception based surveys. At the end of the day what counts more than the school’s reputation is your own willingness to put in hard work, and the intensity of your program.</p>