America's Best Colleges...Forbes Magazine
- Thread starter cyclonenum1
- Start date
I think you are probably right about the highlighted statement...but then I think most grads self-rate their school higher than others do...no matter the school. It's kind of the same concept as a people always thinking they are using the best doctors / best hospital.
However, I agree with others that seeing ISU listed in the bottom ten is offensive. There is absolutely no way ISU should be listed in the bottom 10. Maybe a letter to the editor is in order here?
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
And the US New & World Report is another example of a publication that uses questionable criteria for rating colleges and universities.
EVERY SINGLE YEAR, ISU enrolls more Iowa high school graduating seniors than ANY other college or university, and this year will be no exception. Families realize that they get an incredible value when they send their sons and daughters to Iowa State. ISU is truly the flagship univesity for the state. You could say that's the only rating that really matters.
The most important technological innovation of the 20th century was invented at ISU in late 1930's (electronic digital computer). ISU is poised to become the world's leader in biorenewable energy research. The American Society of Landscape Architects ranked ISU's central campus as one of the 3 most beautiful in the nation (along with Harvard and Univ of Virginia). ISU ranks 2nd in the nation (behind MIT I believe) in R&D awards.
I could go on and on, but I know I'm just preaching to the chior on this message board. I just get angry when I see publications rank us low based on their incredibly shallow surveys. Sorry for the rant.
I work for a fortune 400 company. I know for a fact that the company actively and aggressively recruits engineers from ISU. That is how I ended up there. In my training class when I first started the job (6 months of training 8 hours/day), there were 40 students from North America. Including myself, there were SIX ISU engineering grads. They hire ISU students because they have been successful in doing so.
I've done well with my salary.
I believe it is a good school.
I've done well with my salary.
I believe it is a good school.
I would start to be concerned if US News ranked a school that low, but Forbes-----no I'm not concerned.
Sounds like "buy a ranking"
Sounds like "buy a ranking"
I couldn't care less what they rank us. In reality, I did very little to graduate with a 3.2 GPA, but then again, I was an English major and wasn't looking to set the world on fire.
I do think that most people view our Engineering Dept to be far more impressive than it is. We do have one, though. So that's something.
As far as businesses recruiting a certain school, many times that has as a lot to do with the salary the applicants are likely to accept.
How many Engineering schools are there, anyway?
I do think that most people view our Engineering Dept to be far more impressive than it is. We do have one, though. So that's something.
As far as businesses recruiting a certain school, many times that has as a lot to do with the salary the applicants are likely to accept.
How many Engineering schools are there, anyway?
This lists about 150... ISU comes in at 41.
Search - Engineering - Best Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report
A couple of things to keep in mind, folks:
1) This is a list of the top 569 schools among some 4,000 in the country. We're still in top 15% or so, so you could take that as a consolation.
2) This is the same Forbes magazine that said Kirk Ferentz was the most overpaid coach in college football just a few days ago. Nobody here seemed to have a problem with that. Now suddenly, Forbes is a crappy source of information.
3) It's a stupid list on a website.
1) This is a list of the top 569 schools among some 4,000 in the country. We're still in top 15% or so, so you could take that as a consolation.
2) This is the same Forbes magazine that said Kirk Ferentz was the most overpaid coach in college football just a few days ago. Nobody here seemed to have a problem with that. Now suddenly, Forbes is a crappy source of information.
3) It's a stupid list on a website.
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I number of years ago I analyzed what went into the US News rankings and came away feeling that these rankings were bogus. If you are ranking a school, I would think you would want to either measure the difference between the graduates that come out from the students that come in. Or you could measure how successful the graduates are.
The US News rankings were largely based on inputs. Schools that admitted only elite students fared better. Lots of other "inputs" made up the rest, but nothing about how well the school educates the students. One factor was a measure of "reputation". I think that was the only factor that wasn't an input.
The US News rankings were so bogus that when Stanford won, they criticized the ranking system and didn't acknowledge it as being credible.
IMO... Any comprehensive college ranking is bogus. The scoring is just too subjective. The program I am in is ranked the second in the nation by US News, but it is understood that the ranking comes primarily from the amount of money that goes into research. I am not necessarily going to be better prepared than a graduate from any other program in the nation.
The quality of the education one receives is only restricted by the student. Period.
The quality of the education one receives is only restricted by the student. Period.
i would almost say that the rankings are reversed. i think we look better by being at the bottom because we are one of the smarter universities. our alum realize that who's who is a waste of time and money. its simply buying fake "credibility." i laughed out loud when i got the who's who application, ripped it up and never looked back. what a completely riduculous publication.
For the most part, I think all of these rankings are utterly ridiculous.
To try and justify that a certain school is better than another is silly and just plain stupid. In Iowa, for example, the three state schools are essentially the same. They cost about the same and they all give around the same quality of instruction. Differences only come when you pick a major. Iowa is better in medicine and law, Iowa State has engineering and agriculture, UNI has teaching and music. There are students that don't want a big school and perform better in a smaller setting, where places like Wartburg, Grinnell, and Coe are available.
If I recall, Yale stopped giving information to these publications to try and deter these lists from being created. Hopefully that continues, because people shouldn't decide where they go to school based on a stupid ranking, they should go because that school was the right fit for them.
To try and justify that a certain school is better than another is silly and just plain stupid. In Iowa, for example, the three state schools are essentially the same. They cost about the same and they all give around the same quality of instruction. Differences only come when you pick a major. Iowa is better in medicine and law, Iowa State has engineering and agriculture, UNI has teaching and music. There are students that don't want a big school and perform better in a smaller setting, where places like Wartburg, Grinnell, and Coe are available.
If I recall, Yale stopped giving information to these publications to try and deter these lists from being created. Hopefully that continues, because people shouldn't decide where they go to school based on a stupid ranking, they should go because that school was the right fit for them.
If you go only by rankings, you are making a decision that is the equivalent of using an opinion poll.
Most rankings are questionable on a minute detail basis, especially if you are trying to determine which school should be ranked 8th or 9th, or close rankings.
However, reputable ones, are good indicators of schools and majors in aggregate. There is a difference between a top 20 school and top 40, just like there is a difference between a top 50 versus bottom 50. There are always exceptions and mistakes, but these do serve a purpose in helping evaluate and potentially select schools.
For example, not having looked at it very hard, personally, I felt ISU's college of engineering was one of the best nationally (and it is). However, when you start to really look closer, it is very good, in the top 40, but not as good as what many Iowans internal view seems to be of where we would rank for engineering.
I had not looked at it that close prior having one going to study civil engineering. The rankings provide an indicator, but visits backed it up. For example the facilities at A&M for engineering are outstanding. The same apples to UT. There is a reason they have a top 10-15 ranking in this area.
It is like comparing Jack Trice to Kyle Field.
It is very akin to the Iowa secondary eduction system. We have great scores on ACT always ranking in the top two-three. Again, this is good. However, when you take a close look at how we do college preparatory, advanced placement, and other advanced academic areas, in my opinion (based on all the data out there), we are just average.
Overall, we are the best of the average. Again, this is good. It just means that we do not look at what areas could be be doing better in.
Most rankings are questionable on a minute detail basis, especially if you are trying to determine which school should be ranked 8th or 9th, or close rankings.
However, reputable ones, are good indicators of schools and majors in aggregate. There is a difference between a top 20 school and top 40, just like there is a difference between a top 50 versus bottom 50. There are always exceptions and mistakes, but these do serve a purpose in helping evaluate and potentially select schools.
For example, not having looked at it very hard, personally, I felt ISU's college of engineering was one of the best nationally (and it is). However, when you start to really look closer, it is very good, in the top 40, but not as good as what many Iowans internal view seems to be of where we would rank for engineering.
I had not looked at it that close prior having one going to study civil engineering. The rankings provide an indicator, but visits backed it up. For example the facilities at A&M for engineering are outstanding. The same apples to UT. There is a reason they have a top 10-15 ranking in this area.
It is like comparing Jack Trice to Kyle Field.
It is very akin to the Iowa secondary eduction system. We have great scores on ACT always ranking in the top two-three. Again, this is good. However, when you take a close look at how we do college preparatory, advanced placement, and other advanced academic areas, in my opinion (based on all the data out there), we are just average.
Overall, we are the best of the average. Again, this is good. It just means that we do not look at what areas could be be doing better in.
ugh. 11 point lead lost in less than 2 minutes. JUST KICK IT OUT THE BACK OF THE ENDZONE!!!!!!!!
Let's see...if I weight my ranking by time attended:
(374*4 + 563*7)/11 = 494.
Didn't help much...oh well...
