America's Best Colleges...Forbes Magazine

[cloneaholic]

Trust me, the university is inundated with surveys from all kinds of publications. Sometimes the surveys don't get filled out in time or the don't get filled out at all. I'm pretty sure that something like this has happened with regard to the Forbes survey.

On a similar note, the surveys are frequently very flawed. Recently, ISU received a very low rating from a magazine for campus safety. Part of the reason was because we don't have carbon monoxide detectors in our residence halls. The reason we don't have these detectors is because our halls are steam heated. However, that was ignored by the magazine.

These "Best Colleges in America" ratings are done by many publications to simply increase their sales. They're about as far from being scientifically sound as they could possibly be.

 

[Wesley]

Whos's Who - anyone can buy their way in.

 

[iastate08]

Forbes also listed Kevin McHale as the best General Manager in all of the 4 major professional sports.

Read it here: Best General Managers In Sports - Forbes.com

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Sorry as a t-wolves fan who has seen the absolute destruction of a once promising franchise and the complete mis-use of one of the best players of all time, I pretty much crapped myself reading Kevin as number 1. Maybe number one when it comes to post moves, but not being a GM lol.

 

[cycloneML]

We beat Toledo.

Actually, we had them beat...we were up by 11 with 5 minutes left and blew it. Check it in the final publication...

 

[CyAg]

Based on US News, and others, we are not as great as we think we are.

We are one of the top 100 public universities (86th).
Our Ag College is ranked 2nd, Business 83rd, Chemical 23rd, and Engineering 37th.

Based on engineering we are probably ranked 3rd or 4th in the B12.

However, if we were in the B10, we would be ranked only average (5th or 6th out the B10 schools for Engineering rankings.

This is only one report, but I have seen others that are similar.

Truth be told, we have good programs, but not as good as we like to think they are.

 

[Clone9]

This is actually offensive.

I pity anyone who takes financial advice from a publication that ranks Iowa State dead last (basically) and Kevin McHale as the best.

 

[Clone9]

Based on US News, and others, we are not as great as we think we are.

We are one of the top 100 public universities (86th).
Our Ag College is ranked 2nd, Business 83rd, Chemical 23rd, and Engineering 37th.

Based on engineering we are probably ranked 3rd or 4th in the B12.

However, if we were in the B10, we would be ranked only average (5th or 6th out the B10 schools for Engineering rankings.

This is only one report, but I have seen others that are similar.

Truth be told, we have good programs, but not as good as we like to think they are.

These rankings (US News) are about what I knew and expected though. I know we're not an "elite" academic institution, and I realize that many Big 10 schools probably are, but there is NO FREAKING WAY that we are nearly dead last of all schools.

 

[ajk4st8]

Based on US News, and others, we are not as great as we think we are.

We are one of the top 100 public universities (86th).
Our Ag College is ranked 2nd, Business 83rd, Chemical 23rd, and Engineering 37th.

Based on engineering we are probably ranked 3rd or 4th in the B12.

However, if we were in the B10, we would be ranked only average (5th or 6th out the B10 schools for Engineering rankings.

This is only one report, but I have seen others that are similar.

Truth be told, we have good programs, but not as good as we like to think they are.

I never went to ISU, but those rankings seem pretty darn good to me

 

[CyAg]

Did not say they were bad, and the other study is junk.

However, sometimes we think we are higher quality than we may really be.

 

[Erik4Cy]

Yeah, someone sent that to me earlier in the week and I couldn't believe it. I have no idea what they used for their criteria but something in there is really, really screwing ISU. Here are the Iowa colleges in order:
71 Cornell
90 Clarke
107 Grinnell
182 Coe
188 Luther
211 Northwestern
241 Simpson
331 UofI
374 Dordt
430 Wartburg
472 UNI
486 Drake
554 Central
563 ISU
Umm, ok.

all credibility out the door on this one...ratemyprofessors.com huh? I wouldn't get too worried about that write up.

 

[Seth]

It is all very suspect. At least they owned up to the fact that large public schools were not rated well. When you see oustanding educational institutions like Washington University (in St Louis) ranked at 146. Wash U would blow away more that 100 schools in front of it for quality of education (both undergrad and graduate) as well as for accomplishments.

Looks like a faulty or skewed rating system to me.

...and I have degrees from both ISU and WashU... Apparently I made horrible life choices. :wink:

 

[Clone9]

...and I have degrees from both ISU and WashU... Apparently I made horrible life choices. :wink:

Wash U 146? What a freaking joke.

 

[Clone9]

America's Best Magazines:

Forbes: 257th out of 258

They barely edged out Highlights.

Methodology: opinion on www.cyclonefanatic.com

 

[Angie]

America's Best Magazines:

Forbes: 257th out of 258

They barely edged out Highlights.

Methodology: opinion on www.cyclonefanatic.com

Umm... Highlights has the cool hidden picture thing on the back cover, so they're better. :wink: Maybe the large print Reader's Digest?

 

[LindenCy]

That is insane.

 

[Clone9]

Umm... Highlights has the cool hidden picture thing on the back cover, so they're better. :wink: Maybe the large print Reader's Digest?

You're right, Highlights is better. Forbes just fell below The National Enquirer in my personal credibility ratings though.

 

[josier]

"the University of Wisconsin, Madison, ranked 335th; the University of Texas, Austin, 215th; and the University of Minnesota 524th. California public schools scored relatively well, with the flagship Berkeley campus coming in 73rd place."

The criterion for rating is ridiculous. Who's Who? Ratemyprofessors? Debt incurred? Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't Californian students pay next to nothing for in-state tuition. I'm usually a big fan of Forbes but this is ridiculous.l

 

[clonefan_80]

Based on US News, and others, we are not as great as we think we are.

We are one of the top 100 public universities (86th).
Our Ag College is ranked 2nd, Business 83rd, Chemical 23rd, and Engineering 37th.

Based on engineering we are probably ranked 3rd or 4th in the B12.

However, if we were in the B10, we would be ranked only average (5th or 6th out the B10 schools for Engineering rankings.

This is only one report, but I have seen others that are similar.

Truth be told, we have good programs, but not as good as we like to think they are.

Here's how I like to conduct my rankings:

Who has one of the largest college career fairs every single year? Iowa State University.

Companies want to hire ISU grads, that counts for more than what any stupid magazine says.

 

[Wesley]

Looks like private schools are better than public schools. Maybe the profs buddy up to their high paying students.

 

[scyclonekid]

What a bunch of bs. Why get so worked upped over a stupid magazine publication when in all actualality they write at a senior high school level!!!! I laugh a lot at this I am not an alum of ISU, but my fiance is as is a lot of my friends and ISU is a good school to attend. Maybe someday I will have the honor of being an Alum. Forbes magazine wow and congrats on graduating at joke University way to go nicely done.