Reply to Are the NESCACs worth the money?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote]  Do you like the fact that US News Best Colleges has separate rankings for National Universities & LACs ?

I do--especially because the WSJ/THE rankings combines their rankings of LACs and National Universities and Regionals into one ranking of 796 schools.[/quote]

Actually, the good college evaluation systems list all undergrad degree granting institutions in a single list (whether ranked or unranked) -- WSJ, Forbes, Princeton, Fiske, Niche.   If you're trying to assess the quality of an undergraduate education -- the education one acquires in freshman, sophomore, junior and senior years -- then whether it's at a four-year college or at a university with graduate level programs isn't a fundamental distinction (similar classrooms, similar curriculum, same degrees).   It's just a personal choice or preference -- and for many students, one that matters less than the quality of the education involved.   The widely-discredited US News rankings are the principal exception to this approach.  US News probably never imagined that over time, the impact of their splitting these lists into universities and colleges would result in a perception among low-information readers that the educational experience at "national universities" is generally higher -- or to borrow a phrase you see a lot on this site, "more prestigious" -- than at "liberal arts colleges."   Just another disservice USNews has done to higher education and to readers who don't have enough background to put its "findings" in proper context.    
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