As an alternative to USN&WR rankings (for what it's worth...)

http://www.forbes.com/top-colleges/list/
(Rankings include liberal arts schools)

24 - Duke
26 - Boston College
36 - Virginia
47 - North Carolina
53 - Wake
127 - Virginia Tech
132 - Miami
135 - Georgia Tech
154 - Syracuse
168 - Maryland
193 - Florida State
218 - Clemson
235 - NC State
265 - Pitt

This is college academics rankings? I thought Pitt was a stellar college? This seems off.

(08-01-2012 03:55 PM)Ragu Wrote:  This is college academics rankings? I thought Pitt was a stellar college? This seems off.

I don't really consider Forbes legitimate. Here's USN&WR's rankings, you can see the obvious difference.

#10 - Duke
#25 - Virginia
#25 - Wake Forest
#29 - UNC
#31 - Boston College
#36 - Georgia Tech
#38 - Miami
#55 - Maryland
#58 - Pittsburgh
#62 - Syracuse
#68 - Clemson
#71 - Virginia Tech
#101 - Florida State
#101 - NC State

Average ACC Rank - #50

I guess with all those little liberal arts colleges in there that skews it, but for our purposes the USN&WR is much more accurate at portraying the ACC's academic prestige.

Yeah I agree with you there.

US News separates universities into tiers.
Examples:
Colgate is #48 on Forbes list, but US News ranks them as #21 out of national liberal arts colleges.
Villanova is #83 on Forbes list, but US News ranks them as #1 out of northern regional universities.
Boise State is #616 on Forbes list, but US New ranks them as #67 out of western regional universities.

(08-01-2012 05:29 PM)OrangeCrush22 Wrote:  US News separates universities into tiers.
Examples:
Colgate is #48 on Forbes list, but US News ranks them as #21 out of national liberal arts colleges.
Villanova is #83 on Forbes list, but US News ranks them as #1 out of northern regional universities.
Boise State is #616 on Forbes list, but US New ranks them as #67 out of western regional universities.

This is true - the rankings I used were National University rankings, so all universities were considered but liberal arts colleges were excluded.

I know Forbes uses a different ranking methodology than a number of the other rankings out there. For some reason, Pitt does not do very well in Forbes, and I haven't looked that closely into what they do that ends up making Pitt look so bad.

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings is much more favorable for Pitt. I didn't look to closely at the list to see where the rest of the ACC stacked up, but in this world ranking Pitt is ranked 59.

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/wo...p-400.html

Like it said, take a look at it for what it's worth.

Every school in the ACC has its own set of academic strengths and weaknesses.

The devil is in the details. Alot of these rankings don't normalize criteria per enrollment capita. Alot of these rankings value a great Art History department the same as a great Nuclear Engineering department. Most of them are utterly worthless.

(08-01-2012 03:55 PM)Ragu Wrote:  This is college academics rankings? I thought Pitt was a stellar college? This seems off.

Forbes rankings are garbage. Almost half of the score comes from rankings in RatemyProfessor.com, "Who's Who in America", and Payscale.com.....

Quote:The rankings are based on five general categories: post graduate success (32.5%), which evaluates alumni pay and prominence, student satisfaction (27.5%), which includes professor evaluations and freshman to sophomore year retention rates, debt (17.5%), which penalizes schools for high student debt loads and default rates, four-year graduation rate (11.25%) and competitive awards (11.25%), which rewards schools whose students win prestigious scholarships and fellowships like the Rhodes, the Marshall and the Fulbright or go on to earn a Ph.D.

Nothing there about academics. Well, maybe the "competitive awards" a little.

Governor McDonnell released a statement about UVA and W&M being the top public non-academy schools.

http://www.governor.virginia.gov/News/vi...fm?id=1363

(08-02-2012 10:59 AM)4x4hokies Wrote:  Governor McDonnell released a statement about UVA and W&M being the top public non-academy schools.

http://www.governor.virginia.gov/News/vi...fm?id=1363

The closest that bob has gotten to a Virginia school is Regent

(08-02-2012 11:53 AM)AtlanticLeague Wrote:  

(08-02-2012 10:59 AM)4x4hokies Wrote:  Governor McDonnell released a statement about UVA and W&M being the top public non-academy schools.

http://www.governor.virginia.gov/News/vi...fm?id=1363

The closest that bob has gotten to a Virginia school is Regent

Did you leave an "o" out of his name??

(08-01-2012 03:36 PM)AtlanticLeague Wrote:  As an alternative to USN&WR rankings (for what it's worth...)

http://www.forbes.com/top-colleges/list/
(Rankings include liberal arts schools)

24 - Duke
26 - Boston College
36 - Virginia
47 - North Carolina
53 - Wake
127 - Virginia Tech
132 - Miami
135 - Georgia Tech
154 - Syracuse
168 - Maryland
193 - Florida State
218 - Clemson
235 - NC State
265 - Pitt

I think GT got hosed.

(08-01-2012 05:29 PM)OrangeCrush22 Wrote:  US News separates universities into tiers.
Examples:
Colgate is #48 on Forbes list, but US News ranks them as #21 out of national liberal arts colleges.
Villanova is #83 on Forbes list, but US News ranks them as #1 out of northern regional universities.
Boise State is #616 on Forbes list, but US New ranks them as #67 out of western regional universities.

Geez, Boise State's not even a national university. They are farther away from possibly getting into a major conference than I thought.

(08-02-2012 10:54 AM)Wolfman Wrote:  

Quote:The rankings are based on five general categories: post graduate success (32.5%), which evaluates alumni pay and prominence, student satisfaction (27.5%), which includes professor evaluations and freshman to sophomore year retention rates, debt (17.5%), which penalizes schools for high student debt loads and default rates, four-year graduation rate (11.25%) and competitive awards (11.25%), which rewards schools whose students win prestigious scholarships and fellowships like the Rhodes, the Marshall and the Fulbright or go on to earn a Ph.D.

Nothing there about academics. Well, maybe the "competitive awards" a little.

Phffshaw! What does academics have to do with being a good school? They should just use the NCAA all time football rankings.

(08-02-2012 08:00 PM)ChrisLords Wrote:  

(08-02-2012 10:54 AM)Wolfman Wrote:  

Quote:The rankings are based on five general categories: post graduate success (32.5%), which evaluates alumni pay and prominence, student satisfaction (27.5%), which includes professor evaluations and freshman to sophomore year retention rates, debt (17.5%), which penalizes schools for high student debt loads and default rates, four-year graduation rate (11.25%) and competitive awards (11.25%), which rewards schools whose students win prestigious scholarships and fellowships like the Rhodes, the Marshall and the Fulbright or go on to earn a Ph.D.

Nothing there about academics. Well, maybe the "competitive awards" a little.

Phffshaw! What does academics have to do with being a good school? They should just use the NCAA all time football rankings.

Time for someone to dredge up the "party school" rankings again.