US News and World Report College Rankings
So look through one of the lists.
You may want to choose a lesser known list, like A+ colleges for B students in the North.
Read about the methodology for how the colleges were ranked.
Look for the ranking of one of the colleges you plan to apply to.
Post one comment or statistics about what you read.
I was not aware Princeton was ranked so high. I figured it was top ten however I thought Harvard would still hold the number one spot. Also, I have heard about University of Chicago but I was very surprised to see it at number 5. I would have thought all of the Ivy's would be above it. Also, the majority of my schools are in the top 60!
ReplyDeleteIt was cool to see that one of my top schools was ranked #1 for best undergraduate entrepreneurship program.
ReplyDeleteEven though my top choice school was unranked, it was cool to see that nearly all of my other choices fall into the top 50. It was also great to see so many Massachusetts schools doing pretty well in national rankings!
ReplyDeleteIt was awesome to see that the vast majority of my 10 schools were ranked on the top liberal arts, best value, or top university/college lists. Even more interesting is the fact that one of my schools, Elon, although not my top choice, was ranked in the top 10 up and coming universities! That made me re-think things. Love looking at these lists!
ReplyDeleteI thought the spread of my schools was interesting. My top choice, Temple, is #121, but I'm also looking at schools as high as McGill, the #1 school in Cananda which is ranked above Duke in the global rankings, but obviously does not appear on this list. The issue I run into is that most of the top schools don't offer music education, so I find myself not looking at schools based on rank so much as programs they offer.
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ReplyDeleteI looked at the list for the Best Undergraduate Engineering programs and while I wasn't surprised to see MIT as #1, I didn't think UCal Berkeley would be ahead of California Tech and Georgia Tech. Then I looked at the list for the Best Pediatrics Programs and one of my top schools is #9 for graduate med-schools and #52 overall for national universities.
ReplyDeleteThe criteria by which the colleges were ranked by. Tuition, graduation rate, and freshman retention rate were some of the criteria. If this data was self-reported by the Universities, there could be room for data manipulation!
ReplyDeleteI was interested to see that one of my reach schools was listed #5 on Top Public Schools. I was also impressed Harvard was the #1 Best Value College.
ReplyDeleteI was interested in looking at the list "A+ schools for B students" because I had thought of many of the schools on that list, such as Indiana University, were harder to get into and more selective. I was also happy to see my top choice was listed in the top 25 on the list "Top Public Schools".
ReplyDeleteIn the list of National Universities, three of the schools I am applying to are listed in the top thirty. I was impressed to see that when looking at "best undergraduate engineering programs", one of the schools I am applying to comes up 7th.
ReplyDeleteI am surprised that University of Virginia is ranked #2 on Top Public Schools. I thought that was interesting, because I did not expect that. I was also interested to see that the University of Florida was #14 on the list of Top Public Schools. I was interested to see that my top choice college is #16 in Regional Universities in the North.
ReplyDeleteIn the National University Rankings, Tufts is ranked 28th. I am not surprised that it is ranked so high because it is such a challenging school to get admitted to and it is very popular for students in the New England area. Tufts is known for its graduate programs such as Medicine and Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. The School of Dental Medicine and Fletcher School for international affairs are other notable graduate schools. I am highly interested in Tufts because of its amazing veterinary program.
ReplyDeleteI am happy to see that my two top schools are ranked in the top 50 for liberal arts colleges. I am not extremely surprised because I am already aware of their prestigious reputations. Both are challenging to get accepted into because of their small size and academic rigor. I am very interested in receiving a liberal arts education because I am not sure about what I'd like to major in, and liberal arts schools allow for a lot of academic exploration.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to see that my top few schools are ranked fairly high in both National Universities and Best Value Schools. Also, its pretty crazy to see how selective the top schools in the nation are. Most of the schools in the national top 10 have an acceptance rating of under 10%. I'm also curious as why some schools are tied at certain ranks.
ReplyDeleteIt was nice to see that three of the colleges on my list, including my top choice were ranked in the top 25 public schools. Some of the colleges I am applying to were also in the A+ schools for B students which makes me feel more confident about applying to them.
ReplyDeleteI was happy to see that my top choice, Emerson College, is #11 regionally. It is certainly a high ranking for the type of school that it is but not high enough to be out of my reach as a student. I also was interested to read about the way the schools were ranked and thought it was a good and fair ranking. Also, BU and Northeastern, both secondary options for me, were ranked nationally and were in the top 50.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to see that my top school is ranked 3 on "up-and-coming schools". I'm surprised that Harvard is ranked number one for the best value schools, along with many other Ivy League schools.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised to see so many ties, especially in the top 15-20. With so many different judgement criteria, could this meaning indecision on the part of the authors, or even rounding to make schools look better/worse?
ReplyDeleteI was surprised to see that Massachusetts had two of top ranked liberal arts school. I also saw that 2 schools I applied to were in the top 33 colleges in the North. I also noticed that my top school, Northeastern, is ranked 49 nationally for universities. It was tied with another school. There were a lot of ties and that surprises me.
ReplyDeleteFlorida State University is a school I am considering applying to and it made the list of A+ schools for B students, which I though was interesting. It is also ranked 91st nationally.
ReplyDeleteI was glad to see that a few of the schools I'm looking at are ranked so well nationally. I was also pleased to find that Elon University, one of my top choices, is ranked first for Regional Universities in the South. I'm interested in what it is exactly they base all of the rankings on.
ReplyDeleteI was glad to see that all of my top schools ranked well in this list, especially the northern regional universities. It is also interesting how there is a list of great schools for B students, and that many of these schools are within my reach. I am curious to know the formula/information they used to rank these schools.
ReplyDeleteWas really surprised to see some universities that I had never heard about so high up on the list. I was happy to see that all of the schools on my list were in the top 50. I was surprised that there were so many ties in the rankings. Looking at this list was hard because it made me want to keep adding schools to my list when I'm still trying to narrow it down!
ReplyDeleteI looked at the Up and Coming Schools list and my top choice was number 14! This list was for schools that "are making improvements in academics, faculty, students, campus life, diversity and facilities. These schools are worth watching because they are making promising and innovative changes."
ReplyDeleteIt was good to see so many of the colleges that I have been thinking about ranked so highly on the list. The top 10-15 colleges nationally ranked did not seem too surprising because they are all well known schools that have earned their reputations. There were also a surprising amount of ties considering the amount of schools that had to be considered for the list. Looking at this has also made me think of other schools that I have not thought about yet.
ReplyDeleteI was really happy to now that my number one school,University of colorado at boulder was ranked 86th even though it is a public. another one of my posable schools university of California at los Angeles was ranked at 23ed.
ReplyDeleteCollege is cool!
ReplyDeleteMatt, did you comment on the methodology or one of the lists?
ReplyDeleteIts nice to see that a lot of the schools I want to apply to are on the lists. I think the A+ schools for B students was an interesting list. There was a large variety of schools on that list. It was also nice to see a lot of schools in New England on those lists.
ReplyDeleteIt was neat to see where the colleges I'm applying to rank on the list. The A+ schools for B students list has many of the colleges I'm applying to so that list fits my criteria, I just wonder what data they would use to make such a detailed list such as that.
ReplyDeleteI am glad to see that a lot of the colleges I am applying to are on the list. I at some of the colleges on the list and was very surprised that Harvard was not ranked number one and Princeton was. I wonder if that could be due to the colleges self reporting scores.
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