The Absurdity of U.S. News College Rankings - Per Malcolm Gladwell

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DP. I will jump in to comment on HYP. As an alum, the focus of these undergraduate schools appears to be to attract the wealthy/those who they think will be leaders who make a lot of money, and then solicit unending donations from them as alums to maximize endowment. I enjoyed my undergraduate experience, but as a non-wealthy but comfortable alum, I have probably received no less that 30 appeals this year, averaging 3-4 per month - from various general and specific funds, including a call to donate to rebuilt the men's boathouse (which did in fact meet its stated $100MM goal). College wealth appears to drive many of the categories of the USNews rankings; if the uni cannot fund investment (what some on this thread call gaming)in the categories, it falls. HYP are so rich, they can fund all categories, and so will never fall in the rankings, if ability to build a $100MM boathouse from alumni donations during Covid-19 is any indication.

It's about time they all started paying State, Local and Federal taxes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. I will jump in to comment on HYP. As an alum, the focus of these undergraduate schools appears to be to attract the wealthy/those who they think will be leaders who make a lot of money, and then solicit unending donations from them as alums to maximize endowment. I enjoyed my undergraduate experience, but as a non-wealthy but comfortable alum, I have probably received no less that 30 appeals this year, averaging 3-4 per month - from various general and specific funds, including a call to donate to rebuilt the men's boathouse (which did in fact meet its stated $100MM goal). College wealth appears to drive many of the categories of the USNews rankings; if the uni cannot fund investment (what some on this thread call gaming)in the categories, it falls. HYP are so rich, they can fund all categories, and so will never fall in the rankings, if ability to build a $100MM boathouse from alumni donations during Covid-19 is any indication.

It's about time they all started paying State, Local and Federal taxes.

As long as the churches and country clubs do also, right? And all the charities? And political groups?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. I will jump in to comment on HYP. As an alum, the focus of these undergraduate schools appears to be to attract the wealthy/those who they think will be leaders who make a lot of money, and then solicit unending donations from them as alums to maximize endowment. I enjoyed my undergraduate experience, but as a non-wealthy but comfortable alum, I have probably received no less that 30 appeals this year, averaging 3-4 per month - from various general and specific funds, including a call to donate to rebuilt the men's boathouse (which did in fact meet its stated $100MM goal). College wealth appears to drive many of the categories of the USNews rankings; if the uni cannot fund investment (what some on this thread call gaming)in the categories, it falls. HYP are so rich, they can fund all categories, and so will never fall in the rankings, if ability to build a $100MM boathouse from alumni donations during Covid-19 is any indication.

It's about time they all started paying State, Local and Federal taxes.

As long as the churches and country clubs do also, right? And all the charities? And political groups?

And "non-profit" healthcare systems that gobble up competition and drive up costs.

Churches are likely going to have First Amendment protections from taxation the others cited don't have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DP. I will jump in to comment on HYP. As an alum, the focus of these undergraduate schools appears to be to attract the wealthy/those who they think will be leaders who make a lot of money, and then solicit unending donations from them as alums to maximize endowment. I enjoyed my undergraduate experience, but as a non-wealthy but comfortable alum, I have probably received no less that 30 appeals this year, averaging 3-4 per month - from various general and specific funds, including a call to donate to rebuilt the men's boathouse (which did in fact meet its stated $100MM goal). College wealth appears to drive many of the categories of the USNews rankings; if the uni cannot fund investment (what some on this thread call gaming)in the categories, it falls. HYP are so rich, they can fund all categories, and so will never fall in the rankings, if ability to build a $100MM boathouse from alumni donations during Covid-19 is any indication.

If you factor in tax exempt status along with government grants for research, tuition, etc., the biggest recipients of government benefits are all private universities like Princeton and Harvard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. I will jump in to comment on HYP. As an alum, the focus of these undergraduate schools appears to be to attract the wealthy/those who they think will be leaders who make a lot of money, and then solicit unending donations from them as alums to maximize endowment. I enjoyed my undergraduate experience, but as a non-wealthy but comfortable alum, I have probably received no less that 30 appeals this year, averaging 3-4 per month - from various general and specific funds, including a call to donate to rebuilt the men's boathouse (which did in fact meet its stated $100MM goal). College wealth appears to drive many of the categories of the USNews rankings; if the uni cannot fund investment (what some on this thread call gaming)in the categories, it falls. HYP are so rich, they can fund all categories, and so will never fall in the rankings, if ability to build a $100MM boathouse from alumni donations during Covid-19 is any indication.

If you factor in tax exempt status along with government grants for research, tuition, etc., the biggest recipients of government benefits are all private universities like Princeton and Harvard.

Nice self selecting data example by including criteria only colleges get. Pretty much guarantees colleges will be the result.

Funny thing is if you had taken 10 seconds of google you would have found actual data supporting the point you pulled out of your ass. Try it next time:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wealthiest_organizations

However, I will point out those are assets and not revenue, and we tax (mostly) revenue in the US. So this kind of list is more appropriate, IMHO:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/williampbarrett/2015/12/09/the-largest-u-s-charities-for-2015/?sh=352b7c8347cb

Princeton's $2B budget wouldn't crack the top of those lists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lmao at the suburban vanilla Karens lecturing about what is or isn't en vogue with international students. Probably hasn't even had a proper conversation with anyone from these aforementioned regions, like, ever.

Why post about yourself? Do you know anyone at any top school or is your entire crowd state U people?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lmao at the suburban vanilla Karens lecturing about what is or isn't en vogue with international students. Probably hasn't even had a proper conversation with anyone from these aforementioned regions, like, ever.

Why post about yourself? Do you know anyone at any top school or is your entire crowd state U people?

I went to HYPS but you won’t see me lecturing others on the false notion that NYU is one of the most elite schools. It’s also genuinely funny that people who only speak English and don’t know a single non-American are preaching about what the “newly rich” in the Middle East and Asia think and feel about schools like NYU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lmao at the suburban vanilla Karens lecturing about what is or isn't en vogue with international students. Probably hasn't even had a proper conversation with anyone from these aforementioned regions, like, ever.

What is with this creepy obsession with "international reputation" on DCUM? Getting the vibe it's some Indian caste status obsession thing. Because 99% of students will never work outside the U.S., and even even those that do, nobody really gives a damn about their undergraduate college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lmao at the suburban vanilla Karens lecturing about what is or isn't en vogue with international students. Probably hasn't even had a proper conversation with anyone from these aforementioned regions, like, ever.

Why post about yourself? Do you know anyone at any top school or is your entire crowd state U people?

I went to HYPS but you won’t see me lecturing others on the false notion that NYU is one of the most elite schools. It’s also genuinely funny that people who only speak English and don’t know a single non-American are preaching about what the “newly rich” in the Middle East and Asia think and feel about schools like NYU.

And, yea, I don’t know anyone from the top 10 schools that would consider NYU undergrad prestigious. In fact, quite the opposite. It signals the kind of gauche privilege and wealth that even Ivy grads would balk at. The stereotype is a naive wealthy kid on daddy’s credit card paying full tuition just to be able to say they go to school in New York, while overlooking Washington Square Park and wishfully thinking it’s their campus. Also, Columbia exists.

[Anonymous]

I also don't understand the importance of international reputation.

This thread has "USN rankings" in the headline. NYU is ranked #30 out of 3,000 or so. I am not gifted in the maths, but doesn't that put it in the top 1%?

Someone needs to define what percent is "elite". If that number is 0.25%, then NYU is not elite.

So what is the number?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. I will jump in to comment on HYP. As an alum, the focus of these undergraduate schools appears to be to attract the wealthy/those who they think will be leaders who make a lot of money, and then solicit unending donations from them as alums to maximize endowment. I enjoyed my undergraduate experience, but as a non-wealthy but comfortable alum, I have probably received no less that 30 appeals this year, averaging 3-4 per month - from various general and specific funds, including a call to donate to rebuilt the men's boathouse (which did in fact meet its stated $100MM goal). College wealth appears to drive many of the categories of the USNews rankings; if the uni cannot fund investment (what some on this thread call gaming)in the categories, it falls. HYP are so rich, they can fund all categories, and so will never fall in the rankings, if ability to build a $100MM boathouse from alumni donations during Covid-19 is any indication.

It's about time they all started paying State, Local and Federal taxes.

What boathouse are you referring to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also don't understand the importance of international reputation.

This thread has "USN rankings" in the headline. NYU is ranked #30 out of 3,000 or so. I am not gifted in the maths, but doesn't that put it in the top 1%?

Someone needs to define what percent is "elite". If that number is 0.25%, then NYU is not elite.

So what is the number?

It's the NYU boosters bragging about NYU being the bests school in the nation, in part because of their supposed international reputation and because the "newly wealthy" in Middle East and Asia are apparently just dying to attend. It's like orientalist but 100% more self-serving and oblivious, which is saying a lot.

I think NYU is moderately prestigious, but it does not belong in the absolute upper crust of American higher education, which most would agree is the top ~20 schools in the nation.

[Anonymous]

It's actually really hard to attract and retain good faculty, particularly at the assistant professor level, for any school which is located in an extremely high cost of living city. Therefore, they use a lot of adjuncts, etc. People don't want to take a job that pays 70K in one of the most expensive cities in the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also don't understand the importance of international reputation.

This thread has "USN rankings" in the headline. NYU is ranked #30 out of 3,000 or so. I am not gifted in the maths, but doesn't that put it in the top 1%?

Someone needs to define what percent is "elite". If that number is 0.25%, then NYU is not elite.

So what is the number?

It's the NYU boosters bragging about NYU being the bests school in the nation, in part because of their supposed international reputation and because the "newly wealthy" in Middle East and Asia are apparently just dying to attend. It's like orientalist but 100% more self-serving and oblivious, which is saying a lot.

I think NYU is moderately prestigious, but it does not belong in the absolute upper crust of American higher education, which most would agree is the top ~20 schools in the nation.

The MOST elite undergraduate schools in this country are HYPSM. That’s it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also don't understand the importance of international reputation.

This thread has "USN rankings" in the headline. NYU is ranked #30 out of 3,000 or so. I am not gifted in the maths, but doesn't that put it in the top 1%?

Someone needs to define what percent is "elite". If that number is 0.25%, then NYU is not elite.

So what is the number?

It's the NYU boosters bragging about NYU being the bests school in the nation, in part because of their supposed international reputation and because the "newly wealthy" in Middle East and Asia are apparently just dying to attend. It's like orientalist but 100% more self-serving and oblivious, which is saying a lot.

I think NYU is moderately prestigious, but it does not belong in the absolute upper crust of American higher education, which most would agree is the top ~20 schools in the nation.

The MOST elite undergraduate schools in this country are HYPSM. That’s it.

Did anyone say otherwise?