Here Are America's Top Colleges for 2018

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm puzzled by UChicago's dismal salary outcomes. It's not like everyone there goes into social work. And if you argue so many kids go onto be researchers and tenured professors, well, those aren't exactly low paying fields.

Payscale shows UChicago grads average approximately $60000-65000.

What amazes me is that UChicago admit rate just 15 yrs ago hovered around 40%. In short 15 yrs, their admit rate, selectivity, is down to a single digit. I am guessing a huge manipulation.

I thought Chicago was producing all kinds of surgeons, corporate lawyers, management consultants, and financiers. Something off about that salary data. Chicago has top 3 incoming GPAs/SATs but sort of mediocre salaries. What the hell happens to all those ambitious brains once there?

Well, the salary info could be off or just misleading. Payscale is self-reported and the Scorecard is only based on federal aid recipients, which might not be representative. I have also noticed that at least on initial salaries, STEM-heavy schools tend to do well as engineering graduates get significantly higher than average salaries and don't go to graduate school (deferring earnings) right away. Also, schools that tend to send graduates to urban areas tend to be higher. Also, colleges with a higher ratio of males to females tend to have higher salaries as male college graduates make, for some reason, significantly more than female college graduates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't help but notice that Georgetown , Hopkins, Annapolis and UMCP all being so close to each other may be the nations highest concentration of academic firepower.

Not even close. Take southern CA: UCLA, USC, Cal Tech, Pomona, Harvey Mudd....

Ehh, not really a fair analogy in my opinion. The Greater LA metropolitan area has 18.6 million people living there, which would make it the fourth most populous state if it were separated out. All the schools you mentioned are good, but I would expect the area to have a higher amount of top schools given the sheer number of people and the wealth of the region.

Boston and MA as a whole definitely takes the crown with MIT, Harvard, Tufts, BC, BU, Northeastern, Williams, Amherst, Wellesley, Olin, Babson, Brandeis, Smith, UMass-Amherst, College of the Holy Cross, etc. all within a state of just under 7 million people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In what universe is Brown better than Columbia, Duke, and Dartmouth?

I know - so funny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In what universe is Brown better than Columbia, Duke, and Dartmouth?

I know - so funny.

it depends on what you want to major in but i'm more impressed by brown grads than duke and dartmouth grads.

columbia grads (sans fat meg) are a cut above the other three.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"There are some changes at the top of Forbes’ America’s Top Colleges list this year. Harvard remains in the No. 1 slot, but Yale is No. 2 and Stanford, No. 3, switching places since last year. MIT and Princeton are No. 4 and No. 5, also switching from the 2017 list.

But those are minor blips. More surprising is that for the first time a state school, the University of California, Berkeley, is as high as No. 14 (up from No. 29 last year), and that California makes such a strong showing near the top of the list. After Stanford, California Institute of Technology, a private STEM-focused school where 95% of undergraduates participate in research, ranks No. 6. Private Pomona College is at No. 19, and Harvey Mudd is at No. 23. Both schools are in the five-school Claremont Colleges consortium 35 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. One other public school ranks in the top 25, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, at No. 22.

Other top-ranked public schools include the University of Virginia at No. 34, College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA, at No. 43 and University of California, Los Angeles, at No. 46. UCLA was the most applied-to college in the country last year, with 113,000 applications for the fall 2018 freshman class (it admitted 14%)."


https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2018/08/21/here-are-americas-top-colleges-for-2018/?share=9c4597bc#1c7236c83710

One good thing about USNWS is that they at least break out SLACS separately. Forget "comparing apples and oranges" trying to comparing such vastly different schools is like trying to compare and rank every fruit vegetable and herb in grocery store.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Georgetown and still think #12 is a bit high. I think Georgetown is very strong in certain areas, but doesn't have the strength across departments that UChicago and Michigan have, for example. I'd put it below both schools, but still in the top 25.

It does incredibly well due to absurdly high alumni salaries relative to other schools, and that's a big factor for the Forbes ranking.

PayScale ranks Georgetown 18th for earning potential, while the CollegeScoreCard has Georgetown with the third highest salary among alumni between elite schools (only MIT and Harvard rank higher).

Also explains why LACs do so poorly in general- they're not really known for highly paid alumni.

i'm curious how true this is. georgetown is a secondary tier target to MBB consulting and Ibanking after hypsm, wharton. it also sends a lot of kids into public sector/politics which pay like shit when you start out.

is it all of the kids that get funneled to pwc, deloitte, accenture and fed consulting/contracting that makes it have a high median?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Georgetown and still think #12 is a bit high. I think Georgetown is very strong in certain areas, but doesn't have the strength across departments that UChicago and Michigan have, for example. I'd put it below both schools, but still in the top 25.

It does incredibly well due to absurdly high alumni salaries relative to other schools, and that's a big factor for the Forbes ranking.

PayScale ranks Georgetown 18th for earning potential, while the CollegeScoreCard has Georgetown with the third highest salary among alumni between elite schools (only MIT and Harvard rank higher).

Also explains why LACs do so poorly in general- they're not really known for highly paid alumni.

i'm curious how true this is. georgetown is a secondary tier target to MBB consulting and Ibanking after hypsm, wharton. it also sends a lot of kids into public sector/politics which pay like shit when you start out.

is it all of the kids that get funneled to pwc, deloitte, accenture and fed consulting/contracting that makes it have a high median?

Georgetown is a much better school by any metric.

[Anonymous]

The 4 year graduation rate dings universities w coop programs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Georgetown and still think #12 is a bit high. I think Georgetown is very strong in certain areas, but doesn't have the strength across departments that UChicago and Michigan have, for example. I'd put it below both schools, but still in the top 25.

It does incredibly well due to absurdly high alumni salaries relative to other schools, and that's a big factor for the Forbes ranking.

PayScale ranks Georgetown 18th for earning potential, while the CollegeScoreCard has Georgetown with the third highest salary among alumni between elite schools (only MIT and Harvard rank higher).

Also explains why LACs do so poorly in general- they're not really known for highly paid alumni.

i'm curious how true this is. georgetown is a secondary tier target to MBB consulting and Ibanking after hypsm, wharton. it also sends a lot of kids into public sector/politics which pay like shit when you start out.

is it all of the kids that get funneled to pwc, deloitte, accenture and fed consulting/contracting that makes it have a high median?

Georgetown is a much better school by any metric.

I am not sure I agree. Georgetown is closer to the liberal arts side. DD chose ND over Gtown because Gtown has no engineering programs at all. That’s a big differentiator for top schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In what universe is Brown better than Columbia, Duke, and Dartmouth?

Duke? Did you really think you could throw that one in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In what universe is Brown better than Columbia, Duke, and Dartmouth?

My son goes to Brown. Should he transfer out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Georgetown and still think #12 is a bit high. I think Georgetown is very strong in certain areas, but doesn't have the strength across departments that UChicago and Michigan have, for example. I'd put it below both schools, but still in the top 25.

It does incredibly well due to absurdly high alumni salaries relative to other schools, and that's a big factor for the Forbes ranking.

PayScale ranks Georgetown 18th for earning potential, while the CollegeScoreCard has Georgetown with the third highest salary among alumni between elite schools (only MIT and Harvard rank higher).

Also explains why LACs do so poorly in general- they're not really known for highly paid alumni.

i'm curious how true this is. georgetown is a secondary tier target to MBB consulting and Ibanking after hypsm, wharton. it also sends a lot of kids into public sector/politics which pay like shit when you start out.

is it all of the kids that get funneled to pwc, deloitte, accenture and fed consulting/contracting that makes it have a high median?

Georgetown is a much better school by any metric.

I am not sure I agree. Georgetown is closer to the liberal arts side. DD chose ND over Gtown because Gtown has no engineering programs at all. That’s a big differentiator for top schools.

huh? that makes no sense at all. if your daughter isn't majoring in engineering, why does it matter whether or not the school has engineering?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In what universe is Brown better than Columbia, Duke, and Dartmouth?

I know - so funny.

Brown is a hot college. I bet most cool smart teens would choose Brown if they were holding offers to all 4.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm puzzled by UChicago's dismal salary outcomes. It's not like everyone there goes into social work. And if you argue so many kids go onto be researchers and tenured professors, well, those aren't exactly low paying fields.

Payscale shows UChicago grads average approximately $60000-65000.

What amazes me is that UChicago admit rate just 15 yrs ago hovered around 40%. In short 15 yrs, their admit rate, selectivity, is down to a single digit. I am guessing a huge manipulation.

I thought Chicago was producing all kinds of surgeons, corporate lawyers, management consultants, and financiers. Something off about that salary data. Chicago has top 3 incoming GPAs/SATs but sort of mediocre salaries. What the hell happens to all those ambitious brains once there?

lotta dead-end academic desk jobs, community organizers, non-profit grant writers, public school teachers, public policy grunts

[Anonymous]

It seems more Asian students doesn’t hurt the schools ranking, cal tech and Berkeley are doing fine.