Reply to Sept. 6 WSJ Rankings

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The list is absurd.  Florida International is ranked 29 while Williams is 31.

Lehigh is 14, NJIT is 19, BYU is 20.  Garbage in garbage out.[/quote]

Disagree.

Just suggests that you are unfamiliar with FIU, Lehigh, NJIT, & BYU job placement statistics.[/quote]

Schools with engineering and business programs seem to do better here. Obviously an accounting major has better salary prospects than an anthropologist. This doesn’t make Babson (number 10) better than Bowdoin (89) in any reasonable sense. [/quote]

It does if one's focus is ROI (return on investment).[/quote]

Not really. Kids attend these schools with different motivations.  It’s measuring apples and oranges. [/quote]

Then let them research & create their own college rating & ranking system that would be useful to millions of readers.[/quote]

USNWR for all its flaws is a lot more sensible when comparing schools. [b]Statistical analysis detached from reason is potentially more harmful than helpful.[/b] [/quote]

All analyses [b] detached from reason are potentially harmful. Look, I would be wary about the WSJ analysis as it is still very tricky to get one size fit all number / ranking for school, even with a more narrow focus on return on financial investment.

However, that is true for all these rankings, it's complex and the profiles and preferences of those about to apply vary widely in many dimensions. What is more, the summary statistic, i.e., the ranking by the various sources, are ballpark ordinal, while it to some extent is read as precise and cardinal, i.e., School A ranked #20 is twice as good as School B ranked #40, while there in practice may a wash and interchangeable depending on the profile of the college searcher.

Having said all this, I maintain, an analysis focused on financial return on investment is a very useful exercise for any household where $300,000-$400,000 is not a trivial expense. Unfortunately, I don't think the WSJ ranking will do it. You have to do your own analysis, at least some rough back of the envelope style. [/quote]

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