What happened to W&M, Brandeis, Tulane, Pepperdine and others..from historically T50 to outside looking in?
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Anonymous
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It makes no sense to rank colleges when there are so many different kids of colleges thousands of miles apart with different areas of interest and excellence.
Ignore the ranking; it is the least important factor in choosing a school with your kid. And as you have noted: rankings change. |
Anonymous
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I have a professional connection to the rankings, and I find it crazy how smart people attribute so much value to them. They are particular indicators of specific things that "proxy" things a parent might care about, like academic excellence. But they don't actually measure that. It's worth thinking about what they are actually measuring and seeing if htat is something you value.
It's not just "the changes" to the weighting or indicators, it's that they never were a good way to assess the worth of a school. |
Anonymous
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1. Metrics (and weights) have changed- so when looking at rankings, evaluate what you care about (e.g., social mobility emphasized in current ratings vs. class size/research, faculty degrees, which were more prominent in the ratings before changes in 2023).
2. Be careful how you interpret the metrics. Data to evaluate performance on level of debt after graduation, for example, is only using data on students who receive federal aid. |
Anonymous
| As a parent of a senior applying to more than one of these schools, I am pleased they are dropping in the rankings. |
Anonymous
Why? Most remain a competitive and selective admit. |
Anonymous
If others are improving and Pepperdine is not, it is going to get passed by those that are. |
Anonymous
| Guys U.S. News has to stay relevant so they change the way they rank schools. That is it. |
Anonymous
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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. |
Anonymous
Psst: it never had credibility. |
Anonymous
+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. |
Anonymous
The current rankings are fine. Publics can get some love too. If you want to go to Tulane or Virginia Tech, go for it. |
Anonymous
This 1000%. While I am very happy if my kid's school supports the Pell Grant Recipients and other lower income students on campus (it's best for our society if we help ensure everyone gets a college degree that wants one), it doesn't affect my kid's education at all. However, taking majority of courses with only 25-40 students has a major impact on my kid's education. It means better access to professors as well (profs know you when you actually have discussions during classes and when the Prof actually has office hours as well rather than 10+ TAs holding various office hours.) |
Anonymous
I concur, Pepperdine is a shill of a school. The others OP mentioned are excellent. |
Anonymous
| The true top schools were not negatively affected by the change in methodology. Schools that made business decisions based on the former methodology appear to have suffered in the rankings as a result. |
Anonymous
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UC Merced=UMichigan, Purdue, Wisconsin, UVA, William and Mary, VA Tech
According to US News. With a 1080 SAT, 90% acceptance rate, and 9% yield. |