Which universities have gone DOWN in stature over the years?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think UMD has gone down recently. I remember a few years ago it was something like 35% acceptance rate and it's shot up to 45%

Wrong direction when applications are at an all time high and the Ivies are in single digits.

Do you really think acceptance rate is an indication of quality? You are misguided.

Wow.

Any school can market to get more apps and reject more students in order to lower their acceptance rate. See: U of Chicago.

Tell that to 95% of the population lady.

I’m not sure what you are saying but PP is correct. It doesn’t matter what 95% of the population thinks (although I doubt they are thinking much at all on this point, just blindly eating what is being spoon fed to them).

[Anonymous]

I think different things go in and out of vogue. If you're from a family that doesn't value liberal arts, then a school such as Williams might not make your list no matter what the college's ranking is. If value is the top priority, you'd likely want your kids to accept a free ride via a Jefferson Scholarship to UVA over Princeton. If your priority is that professors are teaching your student and getting to know them well, then you'll choose Dartmouth over Harvard. If the Greek system is a non-starter, then you'll choose Williams over Dartmouth. I'm not saying it's that simple, but every kid and family isn't prioritizing the same things. My child turned down Columbia last year (despite it being ranked #3, and at the time no one knew those numbers were fudged) because they didn't want to take the Common Core curriculum. They didn't want to do that much reading and have that many prescriptive classes. For another kid, that might be WHY they would choose Columbia. Over the next few years, as we get more used to the way things are right now, people will broaden their perspective and include schools that they might have considered objectionable in the past. It's hard to be tip of the spear, and to be blindsided by admissions, but now that I have another child about to start that process, I'm far more interested in a school's stability over time, whether or not students are employed when they graduate, whether the school offers their area of focus, and whether or not we can afford the school. I do know that I will spend the bulk of our time visiting schools that would, using the new metrics, be considered targets or safeties. I want them to be excited about wherever they go, and to have at least one safety that gets them feeling pumped and good. What are we doing to kids when we start poo-pooing schools because they fall from 13 to 17 in the rankings? As one last anecdotal point, the most talented person I ever worked with went to Emerson in Boston, and the second most talented colleague went to Catholic in DC. I went to top five schools for undergrad and grad myself, and I think those two both run circles around me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard, Brown, Dartmouth, Berkeley and Cornell have gone down.

Columbia, Hopkins, U Chicago, Stanford, Rice, MIT, CalTech came up.

Oh, you! First by assuming "stature" is a thing that matters and can be put on a scale. Second by starting your list with "Harvard" which literally has been the generic term for the #1 college since it's inception in 1636.

You silly person! Just stop!

Brown, Dartmouth, Berkeley down. Cornell down too (just look at rankings)

UP: JHU, Stanford and Chicago

You silly, silly person!

First, rankings don't matter. But if they did:

Brown has bounced between 10-17 consistently since the inception of USN.
Dartmouth between 6-12
Berkeley between 13-22
Cornell between 11-16 (with one outlier year at 6)

This is out of 3,000 colleges.

You are, as they used to say in my neighborhood, talking out of your ass.

Dartmouth has actually fallen out of the top 10, and Cornell is now ranked below Vanderbilt, JHU, etc.

This is where you double down on silly.

You think that when minor statistical numbers for 3,000 colleges change which cause a university's ranking to change from 9 to 12 is significant in some way.

That's ridiculous.

Dartmouth has been ranked 9, 10, 11 or 12 every year since 1999. Just around the time USN startled ranking comprehensively.

You continue to be very very silly. Stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think different things go in and out of vogue. If you're from a family that doesn't value liberal arts, then a school such as Williams might not make your list no matter what the college's ranking is. If value is the top priority, you'd likely want your kids to accept a free ride via a Jefferson Scholarship to UVA over Princeton. If your priority is that professors are teaching your student and getting to know them well, then you'll choose Dartmouth over Harvard. If the Greek system is a non-starter, then you'll choose Williams over Dartmouth. I'm not saying it's that simple, but every kid and family isn't prioritizing the same things. My child turned down Columbia last year (despite it being ranked #3, and at the time no one knew those numbers were fudged) because they didn't want to take the Common Core curriculum. They didn't want to do that much reading and have that many prescriptive classes. For another kid, that might be WHY they would choose Columbia. Over the next few years, as we get more used to the way things are right now, people will broaden their perspective and include schools that they might have considered objectionable in the past. It's hard to be tip of the spear, and to be blindsided by admissions, but now that I have another child about to start that process, I'm far more interested in a school's stability over time, whether or not students are employed when they graduate, whether the school offers their area of focus, and whether or not we can afford the school. I do know that I will spend the bulk of our time visiting schools that would, using the new metrics, be considered targets or safeties. I want them to be excited about wherever they go, and to have at least one safety that gets them feeling pumped and good. What are we doing to kids when we start poo-pooing schools because they fall from 13 to 17 in the rankings? As one last anecdotal point, the most talented person I ever worked with went to Emerson in Boston, and the second most talented colleague went to Catholic in DC. I went to top five schools for undergrad and grad myself, and I think those two both run circles around me.

Well said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think UMD has gone down recently. I remember a few years ago it was something like 35% acceptance rate and it's shot up to 45%

Wrong direction when applications are at an all time high and the Ivies are in single digits.

Do you really think acceptance rate is an indication of quality? You are misguided.

Wow.

Any school can market to get more apps and reject more students in order to lower their acceptance rate. See: U of Chicago.

Tell that to 95% of the population lady.

I’m not sure what you are saying but PP is correct. It doesn’t matter what 95% of the population thinks (although I doubt they are thinking much at all on this point, just blindly eating what is being spoon fed to them).

Sock puppet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard, Brown, Dartmouth, Berkeley and Cornell have gone down.

Columbia, Hopkins, U Chicago, Stanford, Rice, MIT, CalTech came up.

Oh, you! First by assuming "stature" is a thing that matters and can be put on a scale. Second by starting your list with "Harvard" which literally has been the generic term for the #1 college since it's inception in 1636.

You silly person! Just stop!

Brown, Dartmouth, Berkeley down. Cornell down too (just look at rankings)

UP: JHU, Stanford and Chicago

You silly, silly person!

First, rankings don't matter. But if they did:

Brown has bounced between 10-17 consistently since the inception of USN.
Dartmouth between 6-12
Berkeley between 13-22
Cornell between 11-16 (with one outlier year at 6)

This is out of 3,000 colleges.

You are, as they used to say in my neighborhood, talking out of your ass.

.
Cornell is currently 17, and all of these schools are at the lower end of these ranges. I agree these schools are down while Vanderbilt, washU are up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:James madison if you’re from Virginia. Used to be for the kids that just missed UVA. Now, not so much.

Huh?

This contradicts everything I have ever read or heard about VA state schools

If anything, JMU seems to be on the rise.

JMU nearly doubled its enrollment size over the course of two decades, which of course increased its acceptance rate, giving the appearance that its quality was diminished, which it's not. Was it more desirable when it had 10,000 undergrads in the late 80s compared to over 20,000? For some, yes, but its increase in size makes a great public education accessible to many more Virginia residents. Eventually, that acceptance rate will continue to creep back down to its closer to 55% of the 80s and 90s. And since the only thing NOVA parents care about is stature and elitism, that acceptance rate will make it desirable again.

Not sure why you think the acceptance rate will come down. What I know is this:

Long time ago JMU was better than VT and much better than GMU. Now VT is overall better and GMU is about equal. Maybe JMU has declined, or GMU and VT rose, or both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Duke ... what a fall from "grace" ...

Really? It seems like everyone is moving to the RTP area

How does people moving to RTP have any correlation to Duke being a good school? You know they’re other schools in the RTP? And Duke has only about 10% North Carolinians in their student body. 90% come from somewhere else.

Job Opportunities? Impact of the university on the surrounding community?

Chapel Hill and the Wolfpack say hold my beer.

Seriously. RTP is so great because of all the universities there, and Duke is the smallest of them. Nice try though.

Are you kidding? UNC and NCSU are better because Duke is the smallest?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:James madison if you’re from Virginia. Used to be for the kids that just missed UVA. Now, not so much.

Huh?

This contradicts everything I have ever read or heard about VA state schools

If anything, JMU seems to be on the rise.

JMU nearly doubled its enrollment size over the course of two decades, which of course increased its acceptance rate, giving the appearance that its quality was diminished, which it's not. Was it more desirable when it had 10,000 undergrads in the late 80s compared to over 20,000? For some, yes, but its increase in size makes a great public education accessible to many more Virginia residents. Eventually, that acceptance rate will continue to creep back down to its closer to 55% of the 80s and 90s. And since the only thing NOVA parents care about is stature and elitism, that acceptance rate will make it desirable again.

I don’t remember a time when JMU was better than VT— when was that exactly in your mind?

Not sure why you think the acceptance rate will come down. What I know is this:

Long time ago JMU was better than VT and much better than GMU. Now VT is overall better and GMU is about equal. Maybe JMU has declined, or GMU and VT rose, or both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:James madison if you’re from Virginia. Used to be for the kids that just missed UVA. Now, not so much.

Huh?

This contradicts everything I have ever read or heard about VA state schools

If anything, JMU seems to be on the rise.

JMU nearly doubled its enrollment size over the course of two decades, which of course increased its acceptance rate, giving the appearance that its quality was diminished, which it's not. Was it more desirable when it had 10,000 undergrads in the late 80s compared to over 20,000? For some, yes, but its increase in size makes a great public education accessible to many more Virginia residents. Eventually, that acceptance rate will continue to creep back down to its closer to 55% of the 80s and 90s. And since the only thing NOVA parents care about is stature and elitism, that acceptance rate will make it desirable again.

I don’t remember a time when JMU was better than VT— when was that exactly in your mind?

Not sure why you think the acceptance rate will come down. What I know is this:

Long time ago JMU was better than VT and much better than GMU. Now VT is overall better and GMU is about equal. Maybe JMU has declined, or GMU and VT rose, or both.

70s and 80s and maybe even in early 90s. In other words, before VT’s success in football.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think UMD has gone down recently. I remember a few years ago it was something like 35% acceptance rate and it's shot up to 45%

Wrong direction when applications are at an all time high and the Ivies are in single digits.

Do you really think acceptance rate is an indication of quality? You are misguided.

Wow.

Any school can market to get more apps and reject more students in order to lower their acceptance rate. See: U of Chicago.

Tell that to 95% of the population lady.

I’m not sure what you are saying but PP is correct. It doesn’t matter what 95% of the population thinks (although I doubt they are thinking much at all on this point, just blindly eating what is being spoon fed to them).

Sock puppet

95% of the population supported the war with Iraq.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard, Brown, Dartmouth, Berkeley and Cornell have gone down.

Columbia, Hopkins, U Chicago, Stanford, Rice, MIT, CalTech came up.

Oh, you! First by assuming "stature" is a thing that matters and can be put on a scale. Second by starting your list with "Harvard" which literally has been the generic term for the #1 college since it's inception in 1636.

You silly person! Just stop!

Brown, Dartmouth, Berkeley down. Cornell down too (just look at rankings)

UP: JHU, Stanford and Chicago

You silly, silly person!

First, rankings don't matter. But if they did:

Brown has bounced between 10-17 consistently since the inception of USN.
Dartmouth between 6-12
Berkeley between 13-22
Cornell between 11-16 (with one outlier year at 6)

This is out of 3,000 colleges.

You are, as they used to say in my neighborhood, talking out of your ass.

Dartmouth has actually fallen out of the top 10, and Cornell is now ranked below Vanderbilt, JHU, etc.

This is where you double down on silly.

You think that when minor statistical numbers for 3,000 colleges change which cause a university's ranking to change from 9 to 12 is significant in some way.

That's ridiculous.

Dartmouth has been ranked 9, 10, 11 or 12 every year since 1999. Just around the time USN startled ranking comprehensively.

You continue to be very very silly. Stop.

Does anyone care about the bottom 2,750? Does a kid considering any school in the top 30 or a company recruiting on campuses at flagships and T20s even acknowledge whatever schools is ranked 2,8750?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the point of this thread? To trash schools you probably know little about to make others feel bad about their choices/options?

Agree

Agree. what a bunch of pretentious a$$holes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard, Brown, Dartmouth, Berkeley and Cornell have gone down.

Columbia, Hopkins, U Chicago, Stanford, Rice, MIT, CalTech came up.

Oh, you! First by assuming "stature" is a thing that matters and can be put on a scale. Second by starting your list with "Harvard" which literally has been the generic term for the #1 college since it's inception in 1636.

You silly person! Just stop!

Brown, Dartmouth, Berkeley down. Cornell down too (just look at rankings)

UP: JHU, Stanford and Chicago

You silly, silly person!

First, rankings don't matter. But if they did:

Brown has bounced between 10-17 consistently since the inception of USN.
Dartmouth between 6-12
Berkeley between 13-22
Cornell between 11-16 (with one outlier year at 6)

This is out of 3,000 colleges.

You are, as they used to say in my neighborhood, talking out of your ass.

Dartmouth has actually fallen out of the top 10, and Cornell is now ranked below Vanderbilt, JHU, etc.

This is where you double down on silly.

You think that when minor statistical numbers for 3,000 colleges change which cause a university's ranking to change from 9 to 12 is significant in some way.

That's ridiculous.

Dartmouth has been ranked 9, 10, 11 or 12 every year since 1999. Just around the time USN startled ranking comprehensively.

You continue to be very very silly. Stop.

Does anyone care about the bottom 2,750? Does a kid considering any school in the top 30 or a company recruiting on campuses at flagships and T20s even acknowledge whatever schools is ranked 2,8750?

Honest answer to you question? No. Because no one cares about the rankings, except you. And no one cares if any college drops from 9 to 11. Except you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard, Brown, Dartmouth, Berkeley and Cornell have gone down.

Columbia, Hopkins, U Chicago, Stanford, Rice, MIT, CalTech came up.

Oh, you! First by assuming "stature" is a thing that matters and can be put on a scale. Second by starting your list with "Harvard" which literally has been the generic term for the #1 college since it's inception in 1636.

You silly person! Just stop!

Brown, Dartmouth, Berkeley down. Cornell down too (just look at rankings)

UP: JHU, Stanford and Chicago

You silly, silly person!

First, rankings don't matter. But if they did:

Brown has bounced between 10-17 consistently since the inception of USN.
Dartmouth between 6-12
Berkeley between 13-22
Cornell between 11-16 (with one outlier year at 6)

This is out of 3,000 colleges.

You are, as they used to say in my neighborhood, talking out of your ass.

.
Cornell is currently 17, and all of these schools are at the lower end of these ranges. I agree these schools are down while Vanderbilt, washU are up.

I think the LACs and LAC-like schools (like Dartmouth and Brown) lost most grounding vs. research-focused schools like Vandy, WashU, Rice etc.