WSJ/Times Higher Education: College Rankings for 2021

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
True. It is same the situation with many other fine research type public universities, like UIUC, UMichigan, for example. Great place to do graduate study, undesirable for undergrads. Just too big the schools are. You hardly see a professor in lower classes. They are not interested in teaching undergrads and many of them are not required to. This is why the elite private schools are better for undergrads, but of course they are more expensive and much harder to get in.

Total and complete nonsense. Undergrads hardly see professors at Michigan? You are beyond clueless. It’s embarrass the amount of stupidity one reads here.

PPP is correct. Many freshman and sophomore classes taught at places like Michigan will have 300+ students. TA or Professor will do the lecture. Professor shows up once or twice a week for the lecture. The freshman English composition classes will be smaller and have about 40 students and still generally have a professor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Scheduling/CS/schedule.html?_ga=2.86858008.1436108233.1600652896-290863879.1600652896

This is the list of courses in EECS from Berkeley this fall. Most are taught by professors, with lots of TA in the lower level courses. The list of courses offered is broad and expansive.

Certainly the classes in Berkeley are large due to the big size of the university.

Yes, Berkeley has a large class list, but what I've heard students have difficulty getting required classes for their majors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
True. It is same the situation with many other fine research type public universities, like UIUC, UMichigan, for example. Great place to do graduate study, undesirable for undergrads. Just too big the schools are. You hardly see a professor in lower classes. They are not interested in teaching undergrads and many of them are not required to. This is why the elite private schools are better for undergrads, but of course they are more expensive and much harder to get in.

Total and complete nonsense. Undergrads hardly see professors at Michigan? You are beyond clueless. It’s embarrass the amount of stupidity one reads here.

PPP is correct. Many freshman and sophomore classes taught at places like Michigan will have 300+ students. TA or Professor will do the lecture. Professor shows up once or twice a week for the lecture. The freshman English composition classes will be smaller and have about 40 students and still generally have a professor.

.....that’s not the same as saying students hardly ever see a professor in lower level classes. The only places where students are going to get a true hand holding experience are at smaller LAC type schools. So called elites universities are also going to have larger lecture halls with TAs as well. What do you think those upper level PhD graduate program students are doing at Harvard when they’re there, twiddling their thumbs all day? By the way, Michigan is rated in the top 20 at US News for undergraduate teaching if you follow the rankings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting.. my DD got into NYU (#27) but was rejected as in-state at the University of Washington (45).

Both are fairly selective. I wonder if the situation in NYC is affecting applications.

NY is safer than more than 30 states. People from hot states need to quarantine upon entering NY.

My husband is a consultant who's worked with several major municipalities. His words: inner-city crime data is fake, it's at least 2x worse than they claim. The only accurate data point are homicides, because you can't really conceal or manipulate cold bodies.

My investment guy was walking with his wife a block away from St Patricks Cathedral in Manhattan. He got hit on the brick from behind by a male and crashed to the ground. The assault was so severe he thought scaffolding had fallen on him. The dude did not want money or cell phone. THis was mid afternoon. He just wanted to sucker attack a white dude wearing a suit from behind.

Dude doing the sucker attack was arrested but bailed out after 3 hours. This was last fall (pre Covid).

What do you mean "my investment guy"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I speak on good authority:
nobody chooses Northwestern over Ivies
nobody chooses Brown over Princeton
nobody chooses Chicago over Columbia
and Georgetown is 10 spots too low

So glad to know you have decided you have good authority, but Brown and Princeton are very different schools and there are plenty of people who would love to go to Brown and wouldn’t even apply to Princeton (and v.v. of course)

While this may seem hard to believe, it is absolutely true and my kid is one of them. It’s not a qualitative decision, many kids pick fit over prestige.

One of my Princeton graduate friends says many of his fellow alums agree “it’s a great place to have gone but not a great place to go“ Or something of that nature and probably with better grammar than I am using!

I do understand it is quite possibly the greatest academic institution in the country, for the record. Just not the right place for every kid no matter how smart.

If kids picked on fit rather than rankings, they would probably be happier and better off. I know many do, but others just end up choosing the highest ranked one at the time they are deciding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I speak on good authority:
nobody chooses Northwestern over Ivies
nobody chooses Brown over Princeton
nobody chooses Chicago over Columbia
and Georgetown is 10 spots too low

So glad to know you have decided you have good authority, but Brown and Princeton are very different schools and there are plenty of people who would love to go to Brown and wouldn’t even apply to Princeton (and v.v. of course)

While this may seem hard to believe, it is absolutely true and my kid is one of them. It’s not a qualitative decision, many kids pick fit over prestige.

One of my Princeton graduate friends says many of his fellow alums agree “it’s a great place to have gone but not a great place to go“ Or something of that nature and probably with better grammar than I am using!

I do understand it is quite possibly the greatest academic institution in the country, for the record. Just not the right place for every kid no matter how smart.

If kids picked on fit rather than rankings, they would probably be happier and better off. I know many do, but others just end up choosing the highest ranked one at the time they are deciding.

PP would never choose CC for his or her kids. Yet, s/he is here to tell everyone else that school’s prestige and rankings don’t count.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I speak on good authority:
nobody chooses Northwestern over Ivies
nobody chooses Brown over Princeton
nobody chooses Chicago over Columbia
and Georgetown is 10 spots too low

Lots of people choose Chicago or [b]WUSTL or Vanderbilt[/b] over any of the Ivies. The east coast freaks some Midwesterners out.

That's why they are known as Ivy rejects.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I speak on good authority:
nobody chooses Northwestern over Ivies
nobody chooses Brown over Princeton
nobody chooses Chicago over Columbia
and Georgetown is 10 spots too low

So glad to know you have decided you have good authority, but Brown and Princeton are very different schools and there are plenty of people who would love to go to Brown and wouldn’t even apply to Princeton (and v.v. of course)

While this may seem hard to believe, it is absolutely true and my kid is one of them. It’s not a qualitative decision, many kids pick fit over prestige.

One of my Princeton graduate friends says many of his fellow alums agree “it’s a great place to have gone but not a great place to go“ Or something of that nature and probably with better grammar than I am using!

I do understand it is quite possibly the greatest academic institution in the country, for the record. Just not the right place for every kid no matter how smart.

If kids picked on fit rather than rankings, they would probably be happier and better off. I know many do, but others just end up choosing the highest ranked one at the time they are deciding.

PP would never choose CC for his or her kids. Yet, s/he is here to tell everyone else that school’s prestige and rankings don’t count.

My point was rankings shouldn't completely dominate decision making. There is no perfect way to rank, and fine distinctions between say 8 and 12 or 15 and 25 are typically relatively insignificant. And if you are interested in career earnings, particularly early career earnings, the choice of major is likely more significant than the choice of college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I speak on good authority:
nobody chooses Northwestern over Ivies
nobody chooses Brown over Princeton
nobody chooses Chicago over Columbia
and Georgetown is 10 spots too low

So glad to know you have decided you have good authority, but Brown and Princeton are very different schools and there are plenty of people who would love to go to Brown and wouldn’t even apply to Princeton (and v.v. of course)

While this may seem hard to believe, it is absolutely true and my kid is one of them. It’s not a qualitative decision, many kids pick fit over prestige.

One of my Princeton graduate friends says many of his fellow alums agree “it’s a great place to have gone but not a great place to go“ Or something of that nature and probably with better grammar than I am using!

I do understand it is quite possibly the greatest academic institution in the country, for the record. Just not the right place for every kid no matter how smart.

If kids picked on fit rather than rankings, they would probably be happier and better off. I know many do, but others just end up choosing the highest ranked one at the time they are deciding.

PP would never choose CC for his or her kids. Yet, s/he is here to tell everyone else that school’s prestige and rankings don’t count.

My point was rankings shouldn't completely dominate decision making. There is no perfect way to rank, and fine distinctions between say 8 and 12 or 15 and 25 are typically relatively insignificant. And if you are interested in career earnings, particularly early career earnings, the choice of major is likely more significant than the choice of college.

Many in the ivies have full-ride offers from state universities. Many will choose ivies even if they have to pay.

[Anonymous]

Looks like a nice list of great schools. Ranking is nuts. Kids should go where they are comfortable. A good student will do well anywhere, so find a school that fits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I speak on good authority:
nobody chooses Northwestern over Ivies
nobody chooses Brown over Princeton
nobody chooses Chicago over Columbia
and Georgetown is 10 spots too low

So glad to know you have decided you have good authority, but Brown and Princeton are very different schools and there are plenty of people who would love to go to Brown and wouldn’t even apply to Princeton (and v.v. of course)

While this may seem hard to believe, it is absolutely true and my kid is one of them. It’s not a qualitative decision, many kids pick fit over prestige.

One of my Princeton graduate friends says many of his fellow alums agree “it’s a great place to have gone but not a great place to go“ Or something of that nature and probably with better grammar than I am using!

I do understand it is quite possibly the greatest academic institution in the country, for the record. Just not the right place for every kid no matter how smart.

If kids picked on fit rather than rankings, they would probably be happier and better off. I know many do, but others just end up choosing the highest ranked one at the time they are deciding.

PP would never choose CC for his or her kids. Yet, s/he is here to tell everyone else that school’s prestige and rankings don’t count.

My point was rankings shouldn't completely dominate decision making. There is no perfect way to rank, and fine distinctions between say 8 and 12 or 15 and 25 are typically relatively insignificant. And if you are interested in career earnings, particularly early career earnings, the choice of major is likely more significant than the choice of college.

Many in the ivies have full-ride offers from state universities. Many will choose ivies even if they have to pay.

My kid turned down a "lesser" Ivy in favor of a state U. Why? $$$ Free ride at State U. We could not pay the Ivy tuition. My kid is at an Ivy now for grad school, so it really didn't matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I speak on good authority:
nobody chooses Northwestern over Ivies
nobody chooses Brown over Princeton
nobody chooses Chicago over Columbia
and Georgetown is 10 spots too low

My sister chose Northwestern over Stanford!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I speak on good authority:
nobody chooses Northwestern over Ivies
nobody chooses Brown over Princeton
nobody chooses Chicago over Columbia
and Georgetown is 10 spots too low

So glad to know you have decided you have good authority, but Brown and Princeton are very different schools and there are plenty of people who would love to go to Brown and wouldn’t even apply to Princeton (and v.v. of course)

While this may seem hard to believe, it is absolutely true and my kid is one of them. It’s not a qualitative decision, many kids pick fit over prestige.

One of my Princeton graduate friends says many of his fellow alums agree “it’s a great place to have gone but not a great place to go“ Or something of that nature and probably with better grammar than I am using!

I do understand it is quite possibly the greatest academic institution in the country, for the record. Just not the right place for every kid no matter how smart.

If kids picked on fit rather than rankings, they would probably be happier and better off. I know many do, but others just end up choosing the highest ranked one at the time they are deciding.

PP would never choose CC for his or her kids. Yet, s/he is here to tell everyone else that school’s prestige and rankings don’t count.

My point was rankings shouldn't completely dominate decision making. There is no perfect way to rank, and fine distinctions between say 8 and 12 or 15 and 25 are typically relatively insignificant. And if you are interested in career earnings, particularly early career earnings, the choice of major is likely more significant than the choice of college.

Many in the ivies have full-ride offers from state universities. Many will choose ivies even if they have to pay.

My kid turned down a "lesser" Ivy in favor of a state U. Why? $$$ Free ride at State U. We could not pay the Ivy tuition. My kid is at an Ivy now for grad school, so it really didn't matter.

By the same argument, if someone went to a community college but ended with about same earning like some of his high school classmates who went to ivies, he should argue that community schools are same as ivies? Or, you may find examples that going to no college is better than ivies. You have to look at statistics to make such kind of claims.

[Anonymous]

Wow. Guess times have changed. When I was in school, Boston College was always ranked higher than Boston University.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I speak on good authority:
nobody chooses Northwestern over Ivies
nobody chooses Brown over Princeton
nobody chooses Chicago over Columbia
and Georgetown is 10 spots too low

My sister chose Northwestern over Stanford!

Yeah I know several kids from my orbit who choose Northwestern over schools like Dartmouth, Penn, and Brown. This is just a wrong take.