Will schools like Wake and Tulane fall in popularity as they fell in rankings?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So people think that instead of Wake Forest and Tufts, high achieving upper income kids are going to be applying to Davis, Merced and Rutgers? I don’t see it.

No, more like Florida State, Minnesota, etc.

Not necessarily the wealthy kids but plenty of upper middle class kids will think twice.

We fit in this demographic. We have HHI $450K. Healthy college savings. But spending $90K for a university ranked 50 or 75 seems much less appealing than spending it on a school ranked in the 20s.
Why not spend $25K for Florida and leave the rest for graduate, medical or law school?

So when US News reorders everything again in a year or two, what then? Chasing ratings that clearly can be manipulated dramatically year by year seems beyond idiotic.

[Anonymous]

Wake wasn't really relatively popular compared to lower ranked schools like BU, BC, Tufts, Northeastern.

I'm not sure why it was ranked so high in the first place, but it has appeal to some kids.

I don't think they will suddenly switch to large public.

[Anonymous]

funny that some of you all think that the drop in ranking means that the quality of education is an issue. You cant tell me that all those public schools that have climbed up offer better education than these. It's a known fact that Diversity is an issue at some of the privates like Wake Forest and few are on Pell Grants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wake wasn't really relatively popular compared to lower ranked schools like BU, BC, Tufts, Northeastern.

I'm not sure why it was ranked so high in the first place, but it has appeal to some kids.

I don't think they will suddenly switch to large public.

Wake was more popular last year at our private than any of these schools other than BC. I don’t see that changing. I expect all of these schools will be just fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wake wasn't really relatively popular compared to lower ranked schools like BU, BC, Tufts, Northeastern.

I'm not sure why it was ranked so high in the first place, but it has appeal to some kids.

I don't think they will suddenly switch to large public.

Wake was more popular last year at our private than any of these schools other than BC. I don’t see that changing. I expect all of these schools will be just fine.

I think Wake will be hurt but I think it’s a pretty good school still. Along with Case Western and Rochester. But BU, Tulane, and Northeastern? I think they were overhyped recently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So people think that instead of Wake Forest and Tufts, high achieving upper income kids are going to be applying to Davis, Merced and Rutgers? I don’t see it.

No, more like Florida State, Minnesota, etc.

Not necessarily the wealthy kids but plenty of upper middle class kids will think twice.

We fit in this demographic. We have HHI $450K. Healthy college savings. But spending $90K for a university ranked 50 or 75 seems much less appealing than spending it on a school ranked in the 20s.
Why not spend $25K for Florida and leave the rest for graduate, medical or law school?

Why? The rankings do not indicate quality of education. For an upper middle class family, a significant percentage of the rankings criteria (specifically the part that hurt these schools) is absolutely irrelevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:funny that some of you all think that the drop in ranking means that the quality of education is an issue. You cant tell me that all those public schools that have climbed up offer better education than these. It's a known fact that Diversity is an issue at some of the privates like Wake Forest and few are on Pell Grants.

Where is anyone correlating the drop in rankings with some new drop in quality? Clearly we all knew that they just changed the algorithm.
Some are just saying that perhaps the new ranking (somewhat randomly) correlates with long-standing quality.

Again, I think we can all agree that the rankings mean nothing---except that there are plenty of people that make college lists off the rankings.
There are kids in the class of 2025 who will look at US News for the first time in their lives next summer and make their lists accordingly.
Many of their parents have not given a single thought to college rankings since they themselves graduated in 1996.
They too will look at the rankings for guidance.

[Anonymous]

Not great schools tbh

[Anonymous]

I love wake forest.
Tulane otoh, rich kid party school that gamed the ratings. Back where it should be

[Anonymous]

Schools will adapt to the new criteria. Wake had already added EA only for first gen applicants after the Supreme Court decision.

[Anonymous]

USNWR built up the overrated reputations of many of the privates. So now the same schools and their partisans will complain that USNWR is now worthless.

[Anonymous]

Yay now maybe my full pay white ds will have an easier chance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My senior DD has both on her list. The drop in rankings does give me pause but I was already skeptical given the high cost. On the other hand, the criteria that was dropped seems to be things that matter to us so I am not sure that rankings alone are a reason not to consider these schools.

I've had family members attend and graduate from William and Mary, Tulane, Davidson, and Wake Forest. They loved their time at those schools, made many wonderful friends, had excellent professors, and their degrees have served them well!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yay now maybe my full pay white ds will have an easier chance.

probably will! Not revolutionary but I can see a 5% decline in interest. You will lose some of the prestige hunters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:funny that some of you all think that the drop in ranking means that the quality of education is an issue. You cant tell me that all those public schools that have climbed up offer better education than these. It's a known fact that Diversity is an issue at some of the privates like Wake Forest and few are on Pell Grants.

Where is anyone correlating the drop in rankings with some new drop in quality? Clearly we all knew that they just changed the algorithm.
Some are just saying that perhaps the new ranking (somewhat randomly) correlates with long-standing quality.

Again, I think we can all agree that the rankings mean nothing---except that there are plenty of people that make college lists off the rankings.
There are kids in the class of 2025 who will look at US News for the first time in their lives next summer and make their lists accordingly.
Many of their parents have not given a single thought to college rankings since they themselves graduated in 1996.
They too will look at the rankings for guidance.

And at some point, they will speak with friends with older children, and college counselors (at school and private counselors). The ratings are not the only criteria for decisions and most kids apply to a range of schools. The pubic schools that moved up in the rankings to T30 aren’t going to be taking a slew of new oos kids.