What happened to W&M, Brandeis, Tulane, Pepperdine and others..from historically T50 to outside looking in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The popular professors in large classes are creating shows for the students: https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2024/12/outlandish-skits-bring-flair-to-one-of-browns-largest-cs-courses
Top private universities like Brown are cutting course sections and increasing class sizes. I don't know what average class size means, when the popular majors have mostly large (to very large) lecture courses.

This professor isn’t popular, because they’re good. They’re popular because their class is necessary for software engineering jobs and a cs majoe. They could very well be a mediocre teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The popular professors in large classes are creating shows for the students: https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2024/12/outlandish-skits-bring-flair-to-one-of-browns-largest-cs-courses
Top private universities like Brown are cutting course sections and increasing class sizes. I don't know what average class size means, when the popular majors have mostly large (to very large) lecture courses.

It’s really embarrassing that an elite institution not only thinks this is okay, but actively promotes this to its students, wasting time and tuition dollars. This is also not good teaching; it’s a mockery of education. I’m hoping this ridiculous show doesn’t spread to DS’s ivy

Honestly there probably already is in some form. Something different, to be sure, but still outlandish and silly.

[Anonymous]

As a W&M alum, I could not care less if people think its "behind" VT. Great, more slots for my kids. Its truly a special place, and really doesn't have any contemporaries for the price. Not too big, not too small, small class sizes, competitive but not impossible to get into, nice campus. Instate tuition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:US News changed it’s rankings formula in a way that adversely affected these schools.

Pepperdine, unlike the others, really deserves the slide down. They really have not innovated with the times and still signal “white wealthy students at a very expensive school.” I understand they have obligations as a Christian institution, but they seem to be slacking under that title.

If the education is the same then they don't deserve the slide down.

They really do. Most colleges at the top have significantly improved their education and their academic offerings the past few years. What has Pepperdine done? Conservative principles are fine, but you need to progress your education.

What does that even mean?

It means nothing except that the poster is liberal and wants to bash in ignorance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mom wakes up in the year 2024 and realizes things have changed.

Social equity trumps academic excellence.

Ask UC Merced with SAT average of 1080 pre-covid now is a supposed top 50 school according to US News.

Thank you US News for becoming even more irrelevant.

Wait: UC-Merced has an 89% acceptance rate, has a HS GPA of only 3.6, only a 49% graduation rate, and is somehow ranked #58 by USNWR ?

How does that make any sense?

Appears the USNWR rankings are increasingly meaningless and irrelevant.

[Anonymous]

Long thread title

[city-lover]

The rankings aren’t real. Never have been. There was no magical point in history where the rankings reflected the “truth”. They are and always have been a marketing tactic to sell subscriptions.

So to answer OP’s question, nothing happened to those colleges. They were never T50 because there is no such thing as the “top 50 universities”. They may have improved in some ways, stagnated in others, and even regressed in some others. Just like every other institution on the planet.

This 1 million percent. Do your own research on the school that is right for your kid. Start with the Fiske guide. US News is garbage and any list of "the best" as told by a magazine are mostly for marketing. If you look at their metrics you will see that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mom wakes up in the year 2024 and realizes things have changed.

Social equity trumps academic excellence.

Ask UC Merced with SAT average of 1080 pre-covid now is a supposed top 50 school according to US News.

Thank you US News for becoming even more irrelevant.

Wait: UC-Merced has an 89% acceptance rate, has a HS GPA of only 3.6, only a 49% graduation rate, and is somehow ranked #58 by USNWR ?

How does that make any sense?

Appears the USNWR rankings are increasingly meaningless and irrelevant.

It's trajectory will put it in the Top 20 in a couple of years.

[Anonymous]

Students are choosing University of Florida over Tulane and Brandeis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wake Forest is barely "t50", somehow beat out by Rutgers. W&M has exactly the same entering class stats and %s as UVA yet is beat out by Virginia Tech on US News. Michigan State (no offense to Michigan State) is somehow t70 now. Did the average student at Rutgers suddenly become much smarter than the average Wake student? No. Is the average Virginia Tech student smarter than the average student at Tulane? No.

So-called "t50" schools with ranks that now reflect their ability to be large, pell-grant numbers, etc. will always be on the outside looking into the group of schools whose intellectual character remains clear to those who make any effort at all to look.

OMG. This has got to be one of the most smug, clueless posts I've ever read. I'm so sorry you and your favored schools have been left behind.
NP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mom wakes up in the year 2024 and realizes things have changed.

Social equity trumps academic excellence.

Ask UC Merced with SAT average of 1080 pre-covid now is a supposed top 50 school according to US News.

Thank you US News for becoming even more irrelevant.

Wait: UC-Merced has an 89% acceptance rate, has a HS GPA of only 3.6, only a 49% graduation rate, and is somehow ranked #58 by USNWR ?

How does that make any sense?

Appears the USNWR rankings are increasingly meaningless and irrelevant.

It's USNWR score was tremendously boosted by UC-Merced's 85% minority enrollment.

Ie; DEI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vanderbilt's reaction to the changes in methodology.

https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/views/2023/10/09/why-new-us-news-rankings-are-flawed-opinion

From the article (written by someone at Vanderbilt):
“In Vanderbilt’s case, 83 percent of students graduate with no debt whatsoever. If a family chooses to borrow anyway, this is usually done to better manage cash flow on a short-term basis.”

Vanderbilt doesn’t include student loans in their FA packages - but they do tell parents to borrow money via parent plus loans if the FA they offer isn’t enough. I’d love to see how many Vanderbilt parents/families have debt when their student graduates.

I loved the tantrum Vanderbilt threw when they plummeted in the rankings.
DP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:US News regards UC Merced - with its 90 percent acceptance rate and average SAT score of 1080 - as a top 50 school.

US News has no credibility anymore. They threw away their legitimacy two years ago when they abandoned things like class size, qualifications of professors, number of years to graduate, and all the other useful metrics in favor of social justice metrics that most people don't find useful when comparing colleges. So I wouldn't take any US News ranking seriously anymore. Niche and Forbes seem to be a little more useful these days.

What a joke. People like you are so transparent. Your favored schools tank in the USNWR rankings, so you discredit USNWR - but then try and promote other sources that play along and give high ranks to your favored schools. And then you splutter and try your very best to get people to believe you, over a long-trusted college ranking magazine. It's all pretty amusing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:US News changed it’s rankings formula in a way that adversely affected these schools.

+1

USNWR no longer considers class sizes. Doesn't make sense at all. Because most educators would consider classes of 25-40 students a much better educational experience than 300+ (as they and parents should)

Ditch the rankings and go by what you know matters.

Most schools do not have classes of 300+. And if they do, only a few. But do continue to exaggerate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:US News changed it’s rankings formula in a way that adversely affected these schools.

+1

USNWR no longer considers class sizes. Doesn't make sense at all. Because most educators would consider classes of 25-40 students a much better educational experience than 300+ (as they and parents should)

Ditch the rankings and go by what you know matters.

Most schools do not have classes of 300+. And if they do, only a few. But do continue to exaggerate.