Reply to The Absurdity of U.S. News College Rankings

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Wasn't there an old magazine clipping or something that was shared on DCUM a while ago from like, the '60s that showed the rankings being almost virtually the same as today's US News rankings, except with the notable "decline" of some of the LAC's? That pretty much refutes the PP's point that the schools were never prestigious and have only US News to thank.[/quote]

American Council on Education University Rankings, included in “Our Wonderful World (1962),” a guide for ambitious college applicants:
Harvard
Chicago
Columbia
California (Berkeley)
Wisconsin
Yale
Cornell
Michigan
Princeton
Johns Hopkins[/quote]
You can certainly argue Berkeley, Wisconsin, Cornell, and Michigan aren't in the same group as the others anymore. [/quote]

Ranking methodologies back then were mostly based on research output and departmental peer-assessments by professors. Unlike today’s absurd criteria that makes no sense, rankings in the past actually tried to measure academic prowess.

With the exception of Wisconsin, the schools you listed are still premier research institutions. Even though such rankings are not good reflections of the undergrad experience at those colleges, neither is USNWR, so I’d rather take these rankings over it.[/quote]

Berkeley grad couldn't be more obvious.[/quote]

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