Is this really the gold standard for ranking academic universities?

USNWR national university rankings have some criteria that we will never rank ahead of state universities or private schools that have a diverse educational offering. Ironically the same course offerings that hamstring us in recruiting also hurt us in the national university rankings where you would expect us at least in the top 25 rather than top 50. We are a technology school and our bread and butter are the engineering school rankings and to a lesser extent the business school rankings, none of which helps in football recruiting.
 
USNWR are a sham. Know why it’s the gold standard? Because people in China believe it’s a government issued ranking. Seriously.

University rankings basically fall into one of 3 buckets:

1. Survey universities to see what other universities they rank as peers
2. Some how try to track research papers and try to track h-index
3. Create some BS ranking to generate the scores you want to see

USNWR falls into bucket 3. That’s why they could “alumni giving” and “admission rate” which have no impact on overall educational outcomes.

USNWR is also the cause of the student loan debt crisis. Because of their BS rankings, schools invest in things like water parks and armies of administrators which directly drives up the cost of education.
 
KrazieJacket said:
I saw gold standard and was extremely disappointed. Thread does not deliver IMO.
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Georgia Tech is a niche school. Our limited curriculum hurts our rankings. But when you factor out the kids from the fancy schools who have high salaries because mom and dad own a fortune 500 company, or they know somebody who does, Georgia Tech graduates incomes are in the top 10 I bet. Medical schools very much respect the Georgia Tech diploma.
 
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Damn we are a great deal comparatively speaking especially for instate students.

A lot of the elite places (especially Ivy League) base a great deal of emphasis on your high school resume. If you get into the Ivy League you almost cannot flunk out. That is where most of our "leaders" in govt come from.

Our govt "leaders" are where they are because they has some resume padding lines on their high school resumes.
 
Wow, some of y’all will get spun up about anything, or in this case nothing at all. Look at the definition of “national universities” on that page. “Full range of academic majors” means Not Us. As is brought up constantly come recruiting discussions. Check the engineering program rankings and calm down.
 
RoanokeJacket said:
Damn we are a great deal comparatively speaking especially for instate students.

A lot of the elite places (especially Ivy League) base a great deal of emphasis on your high school resume. If you get into the Ivy League you almost cannot flunk out. That is where most of our "leaders" in govt come from.

Our govt "leaders" are where they are because they has some resume padding lines on their high school resumes.
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So true. Two of the stupidest professionals I ever dealt with in my career both held degrees from Yale, and one of them was a U.S. Senator.

When I was accepted at MIT, I was told I had already won the lottery. Almost no one failed out there . . . hell, the classes were all pass/fail your freshman year. Smoke all the weed you want! My high school calculus teacher could not believe I turned them down to go to Tech. I told him it was because Tech had a better football team. :lol2:

USNWR college rankings are essentially no better than People Magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" awards.
 
Tampa Jacket said:
Georgia Tech is a niche school. Our limited curriculum hurts our rankings. But when you factor out the kids from the fancy schools who have high salaries because mom and dad own a fortune 500 company, or they know somebody who does, Georgia Tech graduates incomes are in the top 10 I bet. Medical schools very much respect the Georgia Tech diploma.
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So does Harvard's MBA program.
 
1982Jacket said:
So true. Two of the stupidest professionals I ever dealt with in my career both held degrees from Yale, and one of them was a U.S. Senator.

When I was accepted at MIT, I was told I had already won the lottery. Almost no one failed out there . . . hell, the classes were all pass/fail your freshman year. Smoke all the weed you want! My high school calculus teacher could not believe I turned them down to go to Tech. I told him it was because Tech had a better football team. :lol2:

USNWR college rankings are essentially no better than People Magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" awards.
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Tech has 10,000 trees on campus. MIT has 100. MIT is pretty tied in around the world however. But Tech is getting better.
 
gtphd said:
USNWR are a sham. Know why it’s the gold standard? Because people in China believe it’s a government issued ranking. Seriously.

University rankings basically fall into one of 3 buckets:

1. Survey universities to see what other universities they rank as peers
2. Some how try to track research papers and try to track h-index
3. Create some BS ranking to generate the scores you want to see

USNWR falls into bucket 3. That’s why they could “alumni giving” and “admission rate” which have no impact on overall educational outcomes.

USNWR is also the cause of the student loan debt crisis. Because of their BS rankings, schools invest in things like water parks and armies of administrators which directly drives up the cost of education.
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I agree with your assessment other than the China thing. I believe USNWR rankings are stupid like you but what does the Chinese thing have to do with why its a sham? The USA students all buy into it too and make decisions based upon the rankings.
 
TampaBayJacket said:
I agree with your assessment other than the China thing. I believe USNWR rankings are stupid like you but what does the Chinese thing have to do with why its a sham? The USA students all buy into it too and make decisions based upon the rankings.
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Why does anyone listen to USNWR and not Forbes or The Times? Does anyone actually subscribe to US News and World Report other than for college rankings? What gives them the right to they get to dictate what makes a college great?

Because colleges covet Chinese students, and Chinese students thought it was a government publication. Colleges jumped on the USNWR train and now it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's only authority is that people mistook a small publication with a formal sounding name for a government publication.

What does the rest of the world use? Times Higher Education (GT = 21 in the US and 45 in the world).
 
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