USNWR College Rankings 2018 - Reactions?
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Anonymous
Ya, I think this is the issue with comparing institution vs. institution instead of taking majors into consideration. JUST going off the institution gives you a list of almost entirely engineering/STEM heavy schools i.e. Rose Hulman, Colorado School of Mines, Purdue, Georgia Tech. But that doesn't really tell you anything if you want to be say, a history major or an political science major. For that, you'd need to look at "what is the starting salary of a history major at Purdue vs a history major at Williams"? Purdue overall has a MUCH higher starting salary than Williams because their most popular majors are in fields like engineering and business whose starting salaries are obviously higher than a school whose most popular majors are fields are in the humanities/social sciences. But if you compared a history major at Purdue vs. a history major at Williams, I bet Williams compares favorably. (History might not be the best example because a lot of majors tend to head straight into grad school, but I digress). |
Anonymous
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Yeah, college salary analysis are meaningless unless accounted for by interests and fields.
Mudd tends to have the highest starting salaries of any of the LACs due to its STEM focus. Colgate, W&L, CMC, and Williams generally round up the next five, largely because they heavily send graduates into business and finance. Schools like Oberlin and Vassar do poorly overall since a lot of their students go to public service, community engagement, and non-profit work. But I'd be willing to bet those who're working in finance or the tech industry are earning similar amounts of money. |
Anonymous
The best way to land a job working in finance is to play lacrosse in college. |
Anonymous
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Weight
75% SAT Scores 25% starting salaries Would be a good measure. |
Anonymous
I'd add in 4 year graduation rate |
Anonymous
| Everyone wants to reinvent the wheel. Take time to understand the evolution of the USNEWS metrics and you'll appreciate why USNEWS is the only ranking that matters. |
Anonymous
Hahahahaha!!! |
Anonymous
What about people who go on to higher ed? Seems like an indicator of a good college, but would actually negatively affect salaries. |
Anonymous
Isn't payscale bullsh*t because they just use surveys? Gov report card actually pulls tax returns. https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/ |
Anonymous
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Government data is based off those who get federal scholarships in college.
For the elite schools, that's often less than 10% of the student body. Hardly an indicative source. PayScale has its limitations but it targets everyone, not just the lowest income alums. |
Anonymous
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Starting salaries are useless because it punishes those who want to self actualize or pursue public service.
I'm sure his median income is higher than yls but that doesn't mean his is better |
Anonymous
| Sorry I meant HLS - autocorrect made it "his" |
Anonymous
| Anyone focused on starting salary out of college rather than life long earning potential is a fool. |
Anonymous
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Only slight changes over the years:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/apps/g/page/local/us-news-college-ranking-trends-2014/1292/ |
Anonymous
Interesting, thanks for this. Just a quick glance shows: * Rice has increased considerably from 17-19 to 14 this year * UCLA and USC have risen from 23-26 to 21 year * Boston U has gone from 56 to 37 this year * Tulane has gone from 54 to 40 * UF has gone from 58 to 42 * Villanova went from being regionally ranked to 46 * Haverford has fallen to 18 after consistently ranking in the top 10 * Washington and Lee is now in the top 10 after being 14 for several years * Colby is now 12, up from 23 * Colgate has gone from 22 to 12 * Wesleyan has gone from 12 down to 21 * Smith has gone up from 20 to 12 * Colorado College has gone from 31 to 22 * Barnard and Kenyon have gone from 32 to 26 * Pitzer has gone from 46 to 33 |