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I understand that US News Rankings are prejudiced towards East Coast schools...so what are the BEST, non-discriminatory rankings?

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Saturday, May 24, 2003 - 02:09 pm: Edit

The best non-discriminatory ranking is to decide what YOU are looking for in a school and then develop your own list of schools that meet those qualifications. You can use college web sites, college guides, etc. to get the information you need. Sorry if this sounds trite but in my opinion rankings really are useless for most people in terms of finding the best school for THEIR needs. Don't get caught up in the "prestige" of schools that have been ranked on some arbitrary list. Find the best school for you and don't worry about the rankings.

By Underqualified (Underqualified) on Saturday, May 24, 2003 - 03:06 pm: Edit

i am not looking to find the "best college" i just want to get a feel for general prestige of certain colleges. i am not picking a college for its prestige.

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Saturday, May 24, 2003 - 05:16 pm: Edit

Then US News & World Reports is probably your best bet. That's where most people turn for rankings so those rankings tend to do most to influence the general prestige of certain colleges. . It's really hard to get a non-biased "national" prestige measurement except for the top schools like Harvard, Yale, Princeton that everyone has heard of. However, the US News ranking does have some specific breakdowns by region that may be helpful in figuring things out. I think one good measure of a school's "national prestige" is to look at the number of students they draw instate or from neighboring states --- if a school attracts students mostly from the region, they won't have as much national prestige.

I'd recommend you get a copy of the Fiske Guide The Fiske guide is good at ranking various academic programs for each school and you can get a pretty good idea of the "prestige" factor from reading each review.

By Lethalfang (Lethalfang) on Monday, May 26, 2003 - 04:48 am: Edit

There is no such thing as a non-discriminatory ranking.

By Piku714 (Piku714) on Tuesday, June 03, 2003 - 12:17 am: Edit

I liked the Princeton Review ratings. They were broken down into lots of categories that a prospective student would actually be interested in (not the alumni giving rate). They rated schools in categories as diverse as Parties and Academic Experience. They also have students' comments on Student Body, Academics, and Campus Life.