Why we're still fascinated by college rankings

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM loafers above are already showing their better than thou attitudes.

No, fit is not overrated - just wait till one of your kids is miserable and depressed at the wrong school.

Yes, super smart kids often attend the most party heavy schools.

People focus on fit when their kid can't get into a top 20 school. Sorry. Poor people say money can't buy you happiness. Of course it does. Vacations, nice restaurants, etc. It buys experiences which has been shown to be linked to happiness. I don't have enough money so I am not happy as I could be. I have some but not enough.

People focus on rankings more than fit when the care about their own egos more than their kids' well-being.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM loafers above are already showing their better than thou attitudes.

No, fit is not overrated - just wait till one of your kids is miserable and depressed at the wrong school.

Yes, super smart kids often attend the most party heavy schools.

People focus on fit when their kid can't get into a top 20 school. Sorry. Poor people say money can't buy you happiness. Of course it does. Vacations, nice restaurants, etc. It buys experiences which has been shown to be linked to happiness. I don't have enough money so I am not happy as I could be. I have some but not enough.

People focus on rankings more than fit when the care about their own egos more than their kids' well-being.

Or maybe when they care about career opportunities ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM loafers above are already showing their better than thou attitudes.

No, fit is not overrated - just wait till one of your kids is miserable and depressed at the wrong school.

Yes, super smart kids often attend the most party heavy schools.

People focus on fit when their kid can't get into a top 20 school. Sorry. Poor people say money can't buy you happiness. Of course it does. Vacations, nice restaurants, etc. It buys experiences which has been shown to be linked to happiness. I don't have enough money so I am not happy as I could be. I have some but not enough.

People focus on rankings more than fit when the care about their own egos more than their kids' well-being.

Not everyone can get to top rankings schools, so it's ok. No need to find explanations.

[Anonymous]

Serious Question: How do you define "fit" in the college selection process ?

After all, applicants' greatest control is in deciding to which schools to apply. Many applicants are admitted to selective schools because hat applicant is NOT a fit and, therefore, should add diversity to the college community.

The reality is that affordability is more important than any notion of fit--simply because "fit" is unaffordable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM loafers above are already showing their better than thou attitudes.

No, fit is not overrated - just wait till one of your kids is miserable and depressed at the wrong school.

Yes, super smart kids often attend the most party heavy schools.

People focus on fit when their kid can't get into a top 20 school. Sorry. Poor people say money can't buy you happiness. Of course it does. Vacations, nice restaurants, etc. It buys experiences which has been shown to be linked to happiness. I don't have enough money so I am not happy as I could be. I have some but not enough.

People focus on rankings more than fit when the care about their own egos more than their kids' well-being.

Or maybe when they care about career opportunities ?

If you take full advantage of what's offered, career opportunities are the same regardless of whether you attend a school ranked in the top 10 or one ranked 50-100.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM loafers above are already showing their better than thou attitudes.

No, fit is not overrated - just wait till one of your kids is miserable and depressed at the wrong school.

Yes, super smart kids often attend the most party heavy schools.

People focus on fit when their kid can't get into a top 20 school. Sorry. Poor people say money can't buy you happiness. Of course it does. Vacations, nice restaurants, etc. It buys experiences which has been shown to be linked to happiness. I don't have enough money so I am not happy as I could be. I have some but not enough.

People focus on rankings more than fit when the care about their own egos more than their kids' well-being.

Or maybe when they care about career opportunities ?

If you take full advantage of what's offered, career opportunities are the same regardless of whether you attend a school ranked in the top 10 or one ranked 50-100.

really? top 50-100 will offer same opportunity as top 10? you believe that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM loafers above are already showing their better than thou attitudes.

No, fit is not overrated - just wait till one of your kids is miserable and depressed at the wrong school.

Yes, super smart kids often attend the most party heavy schools.

People focus on fit when their kid can't get into a top 20 school. Sorry. Poor people say money can't buy you happiness. Of course it does. Vacations, nice restaurants, etc. It buys experiences which has been shown to be linked to happiness. I don't have enough money so I am not happy as I could be. I have some but not enough.

People focus on rankings more than fit when the care about their own egos more than their kids' well-being.

Or maybe when they care about career opportunities ?

If you take full advantage of what's offered, career opportunities are the same regardless of whether you attend a school ranked in the top 10 or one ranked 50-100.

really? top 50-100 will offer same opportunity as top 10? you believe that?

It's been consistently shown that if you could get in to the top 10, you'll succeed similarly if you go to the top 50-100 if you look at a slightly longer horizon than first job out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM loafers above are already showing their better than thou attitudes.

No, fit is not overrated - just wait till one of your kids is miserable and depressed at the wrong school.

Yes, super smart kids often attend the most party heavy schools.

People focus on fit when their kid can't get into a top 20 school. Sorry. Poor people say money can't buy you happiness. Of course it does. Vacations, nice restaurants, etc. It buys experiences which has been shown to be linked to happiness. I don't have enough money so I am not happy as I could be. I have some but not enough.

People focus on rankings more than fit when the care about their own egos more than their kids' well-being.

Not everyone can get to top rankings schools, so it's ok. No need to find explanations.

I went to a top ranked school and I don't believe in rankings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM loafers above are already showing their better than thou attitudes.

No, fit is not overrated - just wait till one of your kids is miserable and depressed at the wrong school.

Yes, super smart kids often attend the most party heavy schools.

People focus on fit when their kid can't get into a top 20 school. Sorry. Poor people say money can't buy you happiness. Of course it does. Vacations, nice restaurants, etc. It buys experiences which has been shown to be linked to happiness. I don't have enough money so I am not happy as I could be. I have some but not enough.

People focus on rankings more than fit when the care about their own egos more than their kids' well-being.

Nope. I care that my kids are at Ivies because we are paying a lot of money so want them to have the best opportunities they can. Has nothing to do with ego. By the way it's not about money always--it is about opportunities. One may want to be on the Supreme Court and Harvard undergrad Harvard Law goes a long way in that endeavor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM loafers above are already showing their better than thou attitudes.

No, fit is not overrated - just wait till one of your kids is miserable and depressed at the wrong school.

Yes, super smart kids often attend the most party heavy schools.

People focus on fit when their kid can't get into a top 20 school. Sorry. Poor people say money can't buy you happiness. Of course it does. Vacations, nice restaurants, etc. It buys experiences which has been shown to be linked to happiness. I don't have enough money so I am not happy as I could be. I have some but not enough.

People focus on rankings more than fit when the care about their own egos more than their kids' well-being.

Nope. I care that my kids are at Ivies because we are paying a lot of money so want them to have the best opportunities they can. Has nothing to do with ego. By the way it's not about money always--it is about opportunities. One may want to be on the Supreme Court and Harvard undergrad Harvard Law goes a long way in that endeavor.

That's assuming the future is going to be a lot like the past. I think there's a lot of backlash against Ivy privilege and will likely be more going forward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM loafers above are already showing their better than thou attitudes.

No, fit is not overrated - just wait till one of your kids is miserable and depressed at the wrong school.

Yes, super smart kids often attend the most party heavy schools.

People focus on fit when their kid can't get into a top 20 school. Sorry. Poor people say money can't buy you happiness. Of course it does. Vacations, nice restaurants, etc. It buys experiences which has been shown to be linked to happiness. I don't have enough money so I am not happy as I could be. I have some but not enough.

People focus on rankings more than fit when the care about their own egos more than their kids' well-being.

Or maybe when they care about career opportunities ?

If you take full advantage of what's offered, career opportunities are the same regardless of whether you attend a school ranked in the top 10 or one ranked 50-100.

This may be true for certain STEM majors, but it definitely is not true for business (except data science & accounting) or humanities majors. Of course, there are exceptions and there are special super honors programs that may yield similar opportunities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM loafers above are already showing their better than thou attitudes.

No, fit is not overrated - just wait till one of your kids is miserable and depressed at the wrong school.

Yes, super smart kids often attend the most party heavy schools.

People focus on fit when their kid can't get into a top 20 school. Sorry. Poor people say money can't buy you happiness. Of course it does. Vacations, nice restaurants, etc. It buys experiences which has been shown to be linked to happiness. I don't have enough money so I am not happy as I could be. I have some but not enough.

People focus on rankings more than fit when the care about their own egos more than their kids' well-being.

Or maybe when they care about career opportunities ?

If you take full advantage of what's offered, career opportunities are the same regardless of whether you attend a school ranked in the top 10 or one ranked 50-100.

really? top 50-100 will offer same opportunity as top 10? you believe that?

Career opportunities have more to do with majors. CS and engineering at a top 60 will beat many humanites in top 10
Rich people would be careless about career opportunity, go to a name brand college, and major in easy stuff much less marketable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM loafers above are already showing their better than thou attitudes.

No, fit is not overrated - just wait till one of your kids is miserable and depressed at the wrong school.

Yes, super smart kids often attend the most party heavy schools.

People focus on fit when their kid can't get into a top 20 school. Sorry. Poor people say money can't buy you happiness. Of course it does. Vacations, nice restaurants, etc. It buys experiences which has been shown to be linked to happiness. I don't have enough money so I am not happy as I could be. I have some but not enough.

People focus on rankings more than fit when the care about their own egos more than their kids' well-being.

Nope. I care that my kids are at Ivies because we are paying a lot of money so want them to have the best opportunities they can. Has nothing to do with ego. By the way it's not about money always--it is about opportunities. One may want to be on the Supreme Court and Harvard undergrad Harvard Law goes a long way in that endeavor.

High Court picks are an extremely lonely exception, and it's only since college rankings have become so prevalent that presidents have worn the Ivy blinders when making the very political decision of choosing justices. For the time being, if your kid has to be a Supreme Court justice in order to feel fulfilled professionally, then you may be correct. If they want to do pretty much anything else, then you're mistaken.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM loafers above are already showing their better than thou attitudes.

No, fit is not overrated - just wait till one of your kids is miserable and depressed at the wrong school.

Yes, super smart kids often attend the most party heavy schools.

People focus on fit when their kid can't get into a top 20 school. Sorry. Poor people say money can't buy you happiness. Of course it does. Vacations, nice restaurants, etc. It buys experiences which has been shown to be linked to happiness. I don't have enough money so I am not happy as I could be. I have some but not enough.

People focus on rankings more than fit when the care about their own egos more than their kids' well-being.

Or maybe when they care about career opportunities ?

If you take full advantage of what's offered, career opportunities are the same regardless of whether you attend a school ranked in the top 10 or one ranked 50-100.

really? top 50-100 will offer same opportunity as top 10? you believe that?

Yes. Choose almost any profession and look at where the leadership attended college. Read Where You Go is not Who You'll Be. Look at the study by Krueger and Dale regarding lifetime earnings.

Of course I'm not saying the AVERAGE graduate of a top 50-100 college will have the same opportunities, but that has nothing to do with the college they attend--it's because they're not as capable on average. But people with the same ability and ambition achieve at the same level from a huge variety of colleges. Joe Biden went to Delaware. Kamala Harris went to Howard. Tim Cook (Apple) went to Auburn. It's not because the went to these schools that they've achieved so highly, it's because of who they are as a person. The same is true for George W. Bush, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM loafers above are already showing their better than thou attitudes.

No, fit is not overrated - just wait till one of your kids is miserable and depressed at the wrong school.

Yes, super smart kids often attend the most party heavy schools.

People focus on fit when their kid can't get into a top 20 school. Sorry. Poor people say money can't buy you happiness. Of course it does. Vacations, nice restaurants, etc. It buys experiences which has been shown to be linked to happiness. I don't have enough money so I am not happy as I could be. I have some but not enough.

People focus on rankings more than fit when the care about their own egos more than their kids' well-being.

Or maybe when they care about career opportunities ?

If you take full advantage of what's offered, career opportunities are the same regardless of whether you attend a school ranked in the top 10 or one ranked 50-100.

This may be true for certain STEM majors, but it definitely is not true for business (except data science & accounting) or humanities majors. Of course, there are exceptions and there are special super honors programs that may yield similar opportunities.

What are you basing that on? Company leaders at almost any business you choose come from a wide diversity of colleges.