29 Comments
Tomorrow, US News & World Report will release the most important list of our time or any other: its annual ranking of the best colleges and universities.
Bwog received an exciting advance press release, the only information on which was that this year Columbia, Duke, and the University of Chicago share the 8th place spot for top universities. (UChicago and Columbia were tied for the #9 spot last year, while Duke ranked 8th.)
We look forward to seeing the rest of the list in all its schadenfreude-y glory tomorrow, and will update with the rest of the rankings as soon as we receive them.
UPDATE 11:51 AM: Full list — well, full list of the portion you’re interested in — after the jump. (Or check comment #1, because this comment foretold the future quite accurately.)
1. Harvard
2. Princeton
3. Yale
4. MIT
4. Stanford
6. Cal Tech
6. U. Penn
8. Columbia
8. Duke
8. U. of Chicago
11. Dartmouth
12. Northwestern
12. Wash U St. Louis
14. Cornell
15. Johns Hopkins
16. Brown
17. Rice
18. Emory
18. Notre Dame
18. Vanderbilt
21. Berkeley
22. Carnegie Mellon
23. Georgetown
23. U. of Virginia
25. UCLA
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29 Comments
@Tuition I heard one theory that because of the high degree of competitiveness that the U.S. News and World Report encourages, places are more and more sought after, admission rates keep dropping, endowments keep growing, and ultimately there is no incentive for universities to keep tuition at a reasonable price, causing us all into the commitment of taking out massive loans…or just not be able to go to the college of our choice at all. Thoughts?
@conspiracy theorist my friend belongs to the same synagogue as one of the us news and world report editors who works on this list. he frequently shares with her such juicy details as:
princeton foots the bill for many vacations, weekends in expensive hotels and private dining experiences in top restaurants.
its all about buying your ranking. im surprised columbia couldnt pay their way above penn
@prezbo i invited mahmoud ahmadinejad and all i got was this lousy usnews ranking?
@More good news According to the Academic Ranking of World Universities, Columbia is #7 and beats Princeton and Yale!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_Ranking_of_World_Universities
@Hm Hmm. I wonder the latest is from 2007. When does the next one come about?
@what Harvard, are you kidding. Harvard!! hahahahahahahahahahahaha these rankings are sooooooooooooooo funny.
@The Truth Penn is literally living off Wharton for all their hype. CAS is such a joke, and their SEAS can’t hold a candle to ours
@I think Columbia could reach number 1 next year if we just rejected every single applicant except for one. The class of 2013 will be: _______.
@ruh roh http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/college/liberal-arts-search
West Point and Naval Academy both in the top 25 for liberal arts. I guess we can expect another great 3-part series in the spec about how evil they are because the author’s brother isn’t getting along there very well.
@meh before everyone starts making conspiracy theories as to why the rankings are the way they are, please read the methodology so you don’t come off as an ass.
http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/best-colleges/2008/08/21/how-we-calculate-the-rankings.html
@alum Roar, lion, roar. We don’t need these stinking rankings to tell us we’re the best.
@more http://www.wikicu.com/US_News_rankings
@... college rankings are dumb and serve no purpose other than to give people an excuse to be lazy.
@re Penn despite what chest-thumping quaker alumni say to the contrary there is something fishy about Penn’s ranking. Let’s go to the videotape: http://chronicle.com/stats/usnews/index.php?category=Universities
Note how Penn goes from being perennially dead last or second to last (with the exception of 96) from 1988-1997. And then magically they jump to perennial 4th best?
This is what we like to call ‘gaming the system’. Do you want to know how easily Columbia could play this game? Consider this: In recent years Penn has ranked at or close to the top of the “faculty resources” ranking. 30% of the faculty resources score is based on the percentage of classes that are under 20 students. Columbia’s core classes are capped at 21 students. That’s 178 ‘small’ sections this semester alone that USNews doesn’t think is small enough.
So yeah. Rankings are only worth the methodology that they’re based on. USNews’s just isn’t very good.
@#14 again Correction – I meant Penn was the worst Ivy in the rankings almost every year until 1998, magically.
@but if you rank schools based on their presence in New York, everyone on that list loses. Except Columbia. And NYU. But we all know a bout NYU.
@... Penn’s ranking is probably given a big advantage due Wharton which has probably the top undergraduate business program in the country…
I think if you seperated Penn from Wharton, the rankings would make a little bit more sense in that regard
@lalala Penn is always incredibly over-ranked by USNews. They were 4th a couple years back…only surpassed by HYP.
Anyways, at least they consider us on par with Duke now. I think they had them at #5 a couple years back.
Sucks for Brown.
@perhaps brown would do better if it were a real school
@Alum US News always puts Penn ahead of Columbia, and I have no idea why. They even rate Penn ahead of Columbia in selectivity. If anyone can explain that one, I’d love to hear it.
@Sigh Politics, that’s why. These rankings are mired in politics. Columbia and Brown are significantly under ranked, especially Columbia considering its hyper selectivity. Maybe they hate the most liberal of the ivies because it’s a joke that Penn (who?) is before CU or was ever as high as 4. Wasn’t CC the most selective last year at 9 or 8% selectivity or something?
In any case, research the politics of the head honchos at the USNWR and you’ll see why.
Also, I’m really surprised at Yale being only three, Princeton’s no better than Yale. Then again I’m partial to CU and YU.
@EAL Wait…Caltech and UPenn are at the same level? The very thought is beyond laughable.
@Wait, really? U. Penn?
@ditto Columbia > UPenn for sure.
Whatev. At this rate we’ll be beating ’em next year.
@better than bwog 1. Harvard
2. Princeton
3. Yale
4. MIT
4. Stanford
6. Cal Tech
6. U. Penn
8. Columbia
8. Duke
8. U. of Chicago
11. Dartmouth
12. Northwestern
12. Wash U St. Louis
14. Cornell
15. Johns Hopkins
16. Brown
17. Rice
18. Emory
18. Notre Dame
18. Vanderbilt
21. Berkeley
22. Carnegie Mellon
23. Georgetown
23. U. of Virginia
25. UCLA
@Anonymous “Michigan plummeted” is my first thought. Then I remember that these things only adjust by one or two spots– only ever because USNews is fond of somewhat maintaining the status quo, but has to have variation to sell copies. The latter it accomplishes by new methodologies each time.
Why do I find myself so fascinated with these things despite it being batshit? I do generally align my considerations with what these say, loathe as I am to admit that though.
@wtf that list does not make any sense columbia should be number unoooooo
@Anonymous This might be my favorite comment ever.
@ABC Thanks to alphabetical order, Columbia looked like it’s beating Duke and UChicago at first glance.