(09-20-2023 03:21 AM)Gitanole Wrote: (09-20-2023 02:38 AM)DavidSt Wrote: The question is this? Are these top rated schools in the Ivy League, ACC, Big 10, AAU, etc any better college and university that offers education? Nope. Those schools are mainly for the rich and snobby kids to get into. You have to look at all schools over all, the educators who are teaching depends on how will they are teaching. If a professor is not well like the students, and the students don't want to learn? But, other educators praise that same professor as the best professor? Then, you have an issue of a real disconnect right there.
Individual resentments have a way of bubbling up when the subject turns to higher education. I regret that your experiences have not been more gratifying.
All the same, I'd say it's healthier to operate on a curiosity/reality basis than a resentment/caricature basis. The more we can keep to that first track, the more productively discussions of the topic can go.
This brings us to a key reason why people try to quantify information so much. Verifiable numbers give people something to agree on, regardless of individual feelings about what they aim to measure.
Reality is a complex system. As is education, and human community.
This is indeed true for those conducting the measurements and those satisfied with the overall results if their individual interests are favorable.
I’ve said this for decades, given the complexities of higher education institutions, stacking perceived value of 400+ institutions from #1 to whatever, incorporating multiple variables some of which are highly subjective, yield opinionated results and less so results based on a scientific research method. There is deliberate rank-order, but I am doubtful any USN&WR tabulators dealt with any standard deviations, analysis of variance, analysis of co-variance, control groups, etc. For example, there is no explaining how Villanova is better than the University of Tennessee beyond a ranked number. There is insufficient information for the observer to make calculations on substance by comparing one or more rankings.
An English professor at Boston University ranking the English Department at Ole Miss, and knows little to nothing about Ole Miss’ English Department is absurd. USN&WR does this flawed methodology. A source at the University of Virginia, knowing very little about Boise State for example, has no business ranking Boise State among 400 or so other colleges and universities. Pre-conceived notions doesn’t cut it. It would be more useful for USN&WR to use a “panel of experts” to conduct the subjective assessed values rather than incorporating a huge mass of poorly or narrowly informed evaluators.
SAT scores, enrollment sizes, spectrum of majors, library holdings, academic facilities, tuition costs, percentage of professors with doctorates, student-faculty ratios, endowments, student life/learning environment/safety and activities, job placements, graduation rates, meeting mission goals, diversity, student satisfaction surveys, etc, are real factors in determining institutional value. USN&WR can attempt to stack some data such as SAT/ACT scores or graduation rates or tuition costs, but certainly the magazine cannot synthesize all of it. And how much weight is given to each chosen variable to be assessed, is in itself, a subjective approach.
On another point, Ivy League schools and other elite Universities, have used “legacy admissions” from the get-go. An applicant who has a parent or another close relative, who is a generous contributor and/or has prominent career success, may receive special consideration for admissions.
Don’t think elite universities are not “dipping” when it comes to athletic recruiting. Some places that can extend to band members, cheerleaders, student government experience, etc.
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2023-24 US News & World Report College Rankings
