Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just watched the documentary Ivy Tower on Apple TV. It gets right to the point. Colleges are way overpriced. Binge drinking on campuses is out of control and parents are supporting this party life style with a lot of debt. $60000+ a year is crazy. The ranking are insane. We have all gone crazy spending this type of money on college.

I pretty much agree, but in a world where the middle class is vanishing it might make sense to do anything in your power to keep your child among the "haves" and avoid slipping into the have nots.

+1. The middle class is voluntarily slipping into the lower class as educated indentured servants. Talk about creating the model society where the peasants are educated and civil. No worries about an uprising.

Because in every other place, like Hong Kong or France, people stand up for their rights. In America, we are too busy worrying about the NFL.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just watched the documentary Ivy Tower on Apple TV. It gets right to the point. Colleges are way overpriced. Binge drinking on campuses is out of control and parents are supporting this party life style with a lot of debt. $60000+ a year is crazy. The ranking are insane. We have all gone crazy spending this type of money on college.

I pretty much agree, but in a world where the middle class is vanishing it might make sense to do anything in your power to keep your child among the "haves" and avoid slipping into the have nots.

+1. The middle class is voluntarily slipping into the lower class as educated indentured servants. Talk about creating the model society where the peasants are educated and civil. No worries about an uprising.

There's no denying the incredible ripple effects of a winning football or basketball team. Even at schools like GMU and VCU -- both catapulted in national attention and huge increase in applications immediately after their Cinderella runs in the NCAA tourney. Certainly perennial powerhouse schools have staying power. Need I say it: Penn State.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The year after Northwestern went to the Rose Bowl, applications shot up and the school gained in the US News rankings. Moral of the story: a good football team = a better rated school.

Cute story, but apocryphal. Northwestern has always been high in the rankings and never made a significant move.

But popular exposure does drive applications. In the year after the Facebook movie came out, applications to Harvard (which had been steadily increasing along with those at peer schools) noticeably spiked. People termed it the Facebook effect, kids apparently believing that if they only went to Harvard they could be the next Mark Zuckerberg. Never mind that just about every character in the film came across as a jerk -- Zuckerberg, the Winkelvoss twins, the Larry Summers character, his secretary, etc.

Good football team -> increase in alumni donations -> increase in spending on programs to provide better facilities and instructors -> increase in recruiting top academic and athletic students to improve school #s and increase in overall # of students who will be future alumni to donate more money -> increase in higher ratings for the school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The year after Northwestern went to the Rose Bowl, applications shot up and the school gained in the US News rankings. Moral of the story: a good football team = a better rated school.

Cute story, but apocryphal. Northwestern has always been high in the rankings and never made a significant move.

But popular exposure does drive applications. In the year after the Facebook movie came out, applications to Harvard (which had been steadily increasing along with those at peer schools) noticeably spiked. People termed it the Facebook effect, kids apparently believing that if they only went to Harvard they could be the next Mark Zuckerberg. Never mind that just about every character in the film came across as a jerk -- Zuckerberg, the Winkelvoss twins, the Larry Summers character, his secretary, etc.

Anonymous wrote:How do the regional rankings correspond to the national ranking?

Is Top 5 regional comparable to Top 25 National?

There's no direct correlation. You need to read the criteria used. But, I think it's safe to say that no regional university is closely ranked to top 25 national universities (think JMU, Sewanee).

How do the regional rankings correspond to the national ranking?

Is Top 5 regional comparable to Top 25 National?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just watched the documentary Ivy Tower on Apple TV. It gets right to the point. Colleges are way overpriced. Binge drinking on campuses is out of control and parents are supporting this party life style with a lot of debt. $60000+ a year is crazy. The ranking are insane. We have all gone crazy spending this type of money on college.

I pretty much agree, but in a world where the middle class is vanishing it might make sense to do anything in your power to keep your child among the "haves" and avoid slipping into the have nots.

This is where we came out, and that's why we're paying for the Ivy. We can afford the Ivy and still retire. Also, DC is getting a fabulous education and taking classes, even as a freshman, with profs who have international reputations in their fields. DC loves the Ivy and not everybody there is into the party culture. In fact, DC teaches workshops on rape culture and consent (this isn't Dartmouth, BTW), so I feel like DC is avoiding some of the worse aspects.

If none of this were true, we'd seriously reconsider the Ivy.

Anonymous wrote:I just watched the documentary Ivy Tower on Apple TV. It gets right to the point. Colleges are way overpriced. Binge drinking on campuses is out of control and parents are supporting this party life style with a lot of debt. $60000+ a year is crazy. The ranking are insane. We have all gone crazy spending this type of money on college.

I pretty much agree, but in a world where the middle class is vanishing it might make sense to do anything in your power to keep your child among the "haves" and avoid slipping into the have nots.

I just watched the documentary Ivy Tower on Apple TV. It gets right to the point. Colleges are way overpriced. Binge drinking on campuses is out of control and parents are supporting this party life style with a lot of debt. $60000+ a year is crazy. The ranking are insane. We have all gone crazy spending this type of money on college.

Anonymous wrote:Times of London weights reputation among peer institutions
US news weights size of endowment
Shanghai world academic weights academic strength of faculty and graduates .

And colleges are obsessed with only one of these 3 rankings - any guesses?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/us-news-college-rankings-amid-predictability-some-major-shifts/2014/09/08/a2e17efc-3774-11e4-9c9f-ebb47272e40e_story.html

Anonymous wrote:The year after Northwestern went to the Rose Bowl, applications shot up and the school gained in the US News rankings. Moral of the story: a good football team = a better rated school.

Cute story, but apocryphal. Northwestern has always been high in the rankings and never made a significant move.

The year after Northwestern went to the Rose Bowl, applications shot up and the school gained in the US News rankings. Moral of the story: a good football team = a better rated school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have to say this thread has dissolved really quickly. Is there nothing else to say except to discuss Ted K. and Penn State. Penn State. Again? Let them rot quietly.

If only they would.

Anonymous wrote:I have to say this thread has dissolved really quickly. Is there nothing else to say except to discuss Ted K. and Penn State. Penn State. Again? Let them rot quietly.

OK, is Columbia really equivalent to Stanford? And Yale better than Stanford? Sorry USNEWS. You suck.

+1