2021 USNews rankings

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UMD now ranked ahead of Penn State.

But behind Pitt.

And people here are also asking, "what is the appeal of pitt?"

It is a strong school!

Pitt and UMD are both much stronger academically than Penn State, yet PSU continues to have enormous appeal. Confusing!

That is your opinion. I don't agree (and didn't attend any of them).

Penn State is effectively an open-enrollment school. If you’re willing to drop 30k at one of their community colleges, you can attend. Half of University Park graduates began at one of the Penn State community colleges. Like it or not, every program on the main campus has to cater to average and below average high school students. For instance, you can get an economics degree from Penn State without even taking calculus! This is unheard of at serious universities.

Pitt has four satellite campuses, or community colleges as you describe them.

Not PP, but that’s a bit different because Pitt doesn’t really take transfers from the branch campuses. My DS was advised not to do it.

Don’t most big state schools take community college transfers?

It’s not that big of a deal since the “real” curriculum for your major usually begins in your junior year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UMD now ranked ahead of Penn State.

But behind Pitt.

And people here are also asking, "what is the appeal of pitt?"

It is a strong school!

Pitt and UMD are both much stronger academically than Penn State, yet PSU continues to have enormous appeal. Confusing!

That is your opinion. I don't agree (and didn't attend any of them).

Penn State is effectively an open-enrollment school. If you’re willing to drop 30k at one of their community colleges, you can attend. Half of University Park graduates began at one of the Penn State community colleges. Like it or not, every program on the main campus has to cater to average and below average high school students. For instance, you can get an economics degree from Penn State without even taking calculus! This is unheard of at serious universities.

Looking at Common Data Sets, Penn State middle 50% is 580-660 Verbal and 580-700 Math. Pitt is 560-660 Verbal and 580-670 Math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UMD now ranked ahead of Penn State.

But behind Pitt.

And people here are also asking, "what is the appeal of pitt?"

It is a strong school!

Pitt and UMD are both much stronger academically than Penn State, yet PSU continues to have enormous appeal. Confusing!

That is your opinion. I don't agree (and didn't attend any of them).

Penn State is effectively an open-enrollment school. If you’re willing to drop 30k at one of their community colleges, you can attend. Half of University Park graduates began at one of the Penn State community colleges. Like it or not, every program on the main campus has to cater to average and below average high school students. For instance, you can get an economics degree from Penn State without even taking calculus! This is unheard of at serious universities.

Looking at Common Data Sets, Penn State middle 50% is 580-660 Verbal and 580-700 Math. Pitt is 560-660 Verbal and 580-670 Math.

NP. Thinking out loud, the transfers from community college are not included in the Common Data Set freshman admission stats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UMD now ranked ahead of Penn State.

But behind Pitt.

And people here are also asking, "what is the appeal of pitt?"

It is a strong school!

Pitt and UMD are both much stronger academically than Penn State, yet PSU continues to have enormous appeal. Confusing!

That is your opinion. I don't agree (and didn't attend any of them).

Penn State is effectively an open-enrollment school. If you’re willing to drop 30k at one of their community colleges, you can attend. Half of University Park graduates began at one of the Penn State community colleges. Like it or not, every program on the main campus has to cater to average and below average high school students. For instance, you can get an economics degree from Penn State without even taking calculus! This is unheard of at serious universities.

Looking at Common Data Sets, Penn State middle 50% is 580-660 Verbal and 580-700 Math. Pitt is 560-660 Verbal and 580-670 Math.

NP. Thinking out loud, the transfers from community college are not included in the Common Data Set freshman admission stats.

In engineering, Penn State and Maryland tied at #22. Pitt is #53.

[Anonymous]

I just have to say that it is comforting it is that people are still obsessed with USN&WR ratings. Just like in the pre-pandemic days carry on...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems a bit off to call the Naval Academy a liberal arts college.

aren't most liberal arts colleges known for their nuclear engineering departments?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems a bit off to call the Naval Academy a liberal arts college.

I was curious about that as well. What is the culture at the naval academy? Are there a mix of liberal and conservative students there?

Liberal Arts refers to the graduation requirements. Students at LCs are required to take a wide variety of courses from different disciplines in order to graduate, in addition to their major. This is true of USNA, so yes, it is a liberal arts school.

That isn't how USNWR does its categories. It is based on Carnegie classification, not graduation requirements.

Yes, here is how they define it:

National Liberal Arts Colleges focus almost exclusively on undergraduate education and award at least 50% of their degrees in the arts and sciences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Caltech is tied for #9 nationally. Not bad for a "provincial" school.

Background: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/150/907991.page#18050256

Only someone who can't do the addition 2+2 would belittle Caltech as a "provincial" school. All others who are into sciences, math, and engineering know its reputation around the world.

Caltech belong in the cluster with Olin - not MIT. One dimensional.

That is your view, but misses how significant Caltech is. Caltech is ranked 4th in Times Higher Education World Rankings, 4th in QS World Rankings, 8th in Academic Ranking of World Universities, and 6th in USNWR World University Ranking. Only Harvard, MIT, Stanford, and Oxford rank higher on average.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Caltech is tied for #9 nationally. Not bad for a "provincial" school.

Background: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/150/907991.page#18050256

Only someone who can't do the addition 2+2 would belittle Caltech as a "provincial" school. All others who are into sciences, math, and engineering know its reputation around the world.

Caltech belong in the cluster with Olin - not MIT. One dimensional.

That is your view, but misses how significant Caltech is. Caltech is ranked 4th in Times Higher Education World Rankings, 4th in QS World Rankings, 8th in Academic Ranking of World Universities, and 6th in USNWR World University Ranking. Only Harvard, MIT, Stanford, and Oxford rank higher on average.

only an idiot or a troll would put Cal Tech as anything other that an elite university. It's one dimensional, but that dimension is the most important and it's one of the best if not the best at it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems a bit off to call the Naval Academy a liberal arts college.

I was curious about that as well. What is the culture at the naval academy? Are there a mix of liberal and conservative students there?

Liberal Arts refers to the graduation requirements. Students at LCs are required to take a wide variety of courses from different disciplines in order to graduate, in addition to their major. This is true of USNA, so yes, it is a liberal arts school.

That isn't how USNWR does its categories. It is based on Carnegie classification, not graduation requirements.

Yes, here is how they define it:

National Liberal Arts Colleges focus almost exclusively on undergraduate education and award at least 50% of their degrees in the arts and sciences.

Carnegie Classification: Baccalaureate Colleges—Arts and Sciences Focus.

Baccalaureate Colleges—Arts and Sciences Focus. There may be many National Universities with a similar curriculum at an undergraduate level, but they are not evaluated as National Liberal Arts Colleges because they are classified as Doctoral Universities with high or very high research.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems a bit off to call the Naval Academy a liberal arts college.

I was curious about that as well. What is the culture at the naval academy? Are there a mix of liberal and conservative students there?

Liberal Arts refers to the graduation requirements. Students at LCs are required to take a wide variety of courses from different disciplines in order to graduate, in addition to their major. This is true of USNA, so yes, it is a liberal arts school.

That isn't how USNWR does its categories. It is based on Carnegie classification, not graduation requirements.

Yes, here is how they define it:

National Liberal Arts Colleges focus almost exclusively on undergraduate education and award at least 50% of their degrees in the arts and sciences.

Carnegie Classification: Baccalaureate Colleges—Arts and Sciences Focus.

Baccalaureate Colleges—Arts and Sciences Focus. There may be many National Universities with a similar curriculum at an undergraduate level, but they are not evaluated as National Liberal Arts Colleges because they are classified as Doctoral Universities with high or very high research.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/ranking-category-definitions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rankings are BS. People need to look beyond the prestige and ranking and find a college that truly is a good fit.

Agree, up to a point. I think we can all agree that the classroom dynamic is going to be different at, say, American and Stanford - I have no problem with someone saying that Stanford is going to be generally better for the people who can get in. But when you are comparing between a given school and one 20 spots higher or lower? Probably the higher-ranked school would provide a better education for most students, but there will be plenty for which it will be the reverse.

And the big difference is the student and what they do and take advantage of - I think many people would have made more of my spot at top 3 LAC; I got a good enough education but mostly floated through.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Caltech is tied for #9 nationally. Not bad for a "provincial" school.

Background: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/150/907991.page#18050256

Only someone who can't do the addition 2+2 would belittle Caltech as a "provincial" school. All others who are into sciences, math, and engineering know its reputation around the world.

Caltech belong in the cluster with Olin - not MIT. One dimensional.

That is your view, but misses how significant Caltech is. Caltech is ranked 4th in Times Higher Education World Rankings, 4th in QS World Rankings, 8th in Academic Ranking of World Universities, and 6th in USNWR World University Ranking. Only Harvard, MIT, Stanford, and Oxford rank higher on average.

only an idiot or a troll would put Cal Tech as anything other that an elite university. It's one dimensional, but that dimension is the most important and it's one of the best if not the best at it

Cal Tech undergraduate has a total of 950 students. TINY!! Half the size of some of the local high schools. It has many more grad students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems a bit off to call the Naval Academy a liberal arts college.

I was curious about that as well. What is the culture at the naval academy? Are there a mix of liberal and conservative students there?

Liberal Arts refers to the graduation requirements. Students at LCs are required to take a wide variety of courses from different disciplines in order to graduate, in addition to their major. This is true of USNA, so yes, it is a liberal arts school.

That isn't how USNWR does its categories. It is based on Carnegie classification, not graduation requirements.

Yes, here is how they define it:

National Liberal Arts Colleges focus almost exclusively on undergraduate education and award at least 50% of their degrees in the arts and sciences.

Carnegie Classification: Baccalaureate Colleges—Arts and Sciences Focus.

Baccalaureate Colleges—Arts and Sciences Focus. There may be many National Universities with a similar curriculum at an undergraduate level, but they are not evaluated as National Liberal Arts Colleges because they are classified as Doctoral Universities with high or very high research.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/ranking-category-definitions

emphasize undergraduate education and award at least 50% of their degrees in the liberal arts.

since when is engineering a liberal art?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems a bit off to call the Naval Academy a liberal arts college.

I was curious about that as well. What is the culture at the naval academy? Are there a mix of liberal and conservative students there?

Liberal Arts refers to the graduation requirements. Students at LCs are required to take a wide variety of courses from different disciplines in order to graduate, in addition to their major. This is true of USNA, so yes, it is a liberal arts school.

That isn't how USNWR does its categories. It is based on Carnegie classification, not graduation requirements.

Yes, here is how they define it:

National Liberal Arts Colleges focus almost exclusively on undergraduate education and award at least 50% of their degrees in the arts and sciences.

Carnegie Classification: Baccalaureate Colleges—Arts and Sciences Focus.

Baccalaureate Colleges—Arts and Sciences Focus. There may be many National Universities with a similar curriculum at an undergraduate level, but they are not evaluated as National Liberal Arts Colleges because they are classified as Doctoral Universities with high or very high research.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/ranking-category-definitions

emphasize undergraduate education and award at least 50% of their degrees in the liberal arts.

since when is engineering a liberal art?

Focus on that 50% figure for a moment.