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Anyone read the profile of Stanford in the US News rankings mag? Pretty glowing

By Stanfordman99 (Stanfordman99) on Sunday, August 22, 2004 - 06:32 pm: Edit

Stanford is underranked

By Amylase (Amylase) on Sunday, August 22, 2004 - 08:55 pm: Edit

Yes, I agree with Stanfordman. Don't know why US News have such a grunch with Stanford to consistently underrank it.

By Trojan1444 (Trojan1444) on Monday, August 23, 2004 - 01:50 am: Edit

I agree, but i was talking about the article about Stanford

By Stanfordrulez (Stanfordrulez) on Monday, August 23, 2004 - 07:57 am: Edit

Umm... Can you paraphrase what was written?

By Collegeparent (Collegeparent) on Monday, August 23, 2004 - 10:22 am: Edit

The following was posted on the College Search and Selection board in a thread about the new USN&WR rankings:

"Stanford's current prestige is primarily due to its location. It's great weather and climate attract many top students from the nation. On the other hand, Duke's strong basketball program and school spirit are strenghs that many schools do not have."

What the?! Stanford's "current presitge" is primarily due to the fact that it is the best university in the USA. Let us compare the Big 5 shall we?

BUSINESS:
#3 Harvard
#6 Stanford
#9 MIT
#16 Yale
Princeton does not have a Business program

ENGINEERING:
#1 MIT
#2 Stanford
#16 Princeton
#19 Harvard
#40 Yale

LAW:
#1 Yale
#2 Harvard
#3 Stanford
MIT and Princeton do not have Law schools

MEDICINE:
#1 Harvard
#8 Stanford
#10 Yale
MIT and Princeton do not have Medical Schools.

BIOLOGY:
#1 Stanford
#2 Harvard and MIT
#9 Princeton and Yale

CHEMISTRY:
#2 Harvard and MIT
#5 Stanford
#14 Princeton and Yale

COMPUTER SCIENCE:
#1 MIT and Stanford
#9 Princeton
#20 Harvard
#25 Yale

GEOLOGY:
#2 MIT
#3 Stanford
#7 Harvard
#11 Princeton
#20 Yale

MATHEMATICS:
#1 MIT
#2 Harvard, Princeton and Stanford
#5 Yale

PHYSICS:
#1 MIT
#2 Harvard, Princeton and Stanford
#7 Yale

ECONOMICS:
#1 MIT
#2 Harvard, Princeton and Stanford
#7 Yale

ENGLISH:
#1 Harvard, Stanford and Yale
#6 Princeton
MIT does not have an English Department

HISTORY:
#1 Princeton and Yale
#3 Stanford
#8 Harvard
MIT does not have a History Department

POLITICAL SCIENCE:
#1 Harvard
#2 Stanford
#5 Yale
#6 Princeton
#11 MIT

PSYCHOLOGY:
#1 Stanford
#3 Yale
#6 Harvard
#11 MIT

SOCIOLOGY:
#5 Stanford
#7 Harvard
#9 Princeton
#24 Yale
MIT does not have a Sociology Department

I don't know, I think Stanford's current prestige has something to do with the fact that it is the only university among the big 10 that is ranked in the top 10 in all 4 Professional fields and in the top 5 in all 12 Academic Disciplines. Actually, Havard does not even come close. They are ranked in the top 5 in just 7 of the 12 Disciplines. Forget the others, they are even paler in comparison.

By Candi1657 (Candi1657) on Monday, August 23, 2004 - 01:48 pm: Edit

These rankings ultimately mean little. Everyone knows Stanford is a premier institution. 'Nuff said.

By Amylase (Amylase) on Monday, August 23, 2004 - 09:20 pm: Edit

that's right. Going too far from reality will only undermines the credibility of those rankings.

By Mr_Sanguine (Mr_Sanguine) on Monday, August 23, 2004 - 11:39 pm: Edit

well put amylase

By Masterchris (Masterchris) on Monday, August 23, 2004 - 11:57 pm: Edit

college parent, I am looking at us news now and for biz, it is

1. Harvard
2. Stanford
3. Wharton
4. MIT
14.Yale

By Madelinemay11 (Madelinemay11) on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 06:21 pm: Edit

"that's right. Going too far from reality will only undermines the credibility of those rankings"

I don't believe they went too far. They are pretty much saying what they believe is true -- Stanford's popularity is due to laymans' know of its sports teams, much like UCLA. Many students think UCLA is equal to Stanford and Ivy League because they hear about on the sports channel.

That said, I Stanford is a great school, and is Ivy-like in prestige.

By Mr_Sanguine (Mr_Sanguine) on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 07:23 pm: Edit

With that said, let me say that I will be applying to Stanford not for the sports or any sort of athletics, but for it's excellent academic quality.

By Momx4 (Momx4) on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 07:37 pm: Edit

I don't know if this has anything to do with USNews consistently ranking Stanford below HYP in the undergrad rankings, but a few years ago, Stanford came out with an official statement opposing rankings. I'm sorry I don't have a link, but I remember reading the statement from a Stanford administrator. I wonder if USNews is "punishing" Stanford for its stand against the rankings.

By Amylase (Amylase) on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 08:31 pm: Edit

"I don't believe they went too far. They are pretty much saying what they believe is true -- Stanford's popularity is due to laymans' know of its sports teams, much like UCLA. Many students think UCLA is equal to Stanford and Ivy League because they hear about on the sports channel."


For me I never know Stanford sports is that good and I applied to Stanford solely because its excellent resources in science/engineering and general academic quality. Actually, I didn't even know that sports matters that much in people's choice of college (after all, it is a place to study right) and yes i am a layman, to sports.

and for me, i wish i made the right decision turning down Ivies to go to Stanford.

By Shyboy13 (Shyboy13) on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 08:39 pm: Edit

"I don't believe they went too far. They are pretty much saying what they believe is true -- Stanford's popularity is due to laymans' know of its sports teams, much like UCLA. Many students think UCLA is equal to Stanford and Ivy League because they hear about on the sports channel."

I went to UCLA and I think UCLA is known to the layman for its sports and not for its academics. Stanford, on the other hand, is known to the layman for its academics AND sports. What I am saying is that even dummies know that Stanford is a good academic school. Dummies generally dont know know that UCLA is strong academically.

By Foreignboy (Foreignboy) on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 10:55 pm: Edit

Well, to be honest, even the better informed part of the population doesn't tend to regard UCLA as a school that is particularly strong in academics. It is recognized as a fairly good school, but not as one of the country's best.

The public schools with the strongest academic reputations are Berkeley, UVA, UMich, and that's about it.

By Foreignboy (Foreignboy) on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 11:00 pm: Edit

I sort of agree though, that without sports, Stanford would not be as prestigious as it is, or at least, less people will have heard of it. (think Caltech)

By Shyboy13 (Shyboy13) on Thursday, August 26, 2004 - 12:04 pm: Edit

Foreinboy, your ignorance shows. I think you fall in the uninformed portion of society that I speak of. If you read my post you will see I was not putting down Stanford. In fact, I was doing quite the opposite. I never said that UCLA is as good as Stanford; I was only talking about academic recognition as pertains to sports. I honestly think Stanford is the strongest school in the nation and second best at worst.

There are over 1000 schools of higher education in the United States. For simplicity we’ll say that there are only 1000. If UCLA is in the top 50, that makes it in the top 5% of college choices. More realistically, UCLA is in the top 20 so that makes it in the top 2%. Now, how can you say that a school in the top 2% (or even 5%) is “pretty good?” Just because Stanford is the cream of the crop does not make UCLA “pretty good.”

By Foreignboy (Foreignboy) on Thursday, August 26, 2004 - 08:54 pm: Edit

Shyboy, where did I say you were putting down Stanford? The second part of your post is equally as uncalled for as the first. While no one is disputing that UCLA is a good school, any educated person, including yourself, knows that it is not as strong, academically, as Harvard, or Stanford, or Berkeley, or any top 10 school for that matter. Hence, quoting my previous post, it is recognized as a good school, but definitely not as one of the best in the country.

There is no need to call people ignorant or uninformed, especially when there is no basis to do so.

By Amylase (Amylase) on Friday, August 27, 2004 - 12:04 am: Edit

UCLA is an excellent school. Considering the HELLUVA lot of $$ you got to pay for tuition at HYPS, it is well worth the money.

By Stanfordman99 (Stanfordman99) on Friday, August 27, 2004 - 12:34 am: Edit

The gap between HYPS and the rest of the nation's schools is rapidly narrowing. Give or take a few years, it probably won't matter where you went to college.

By Stanfordnualum (Stanfordnualum) on Friday, August 27, 2004 - 01:04 am: Edit

"I sort of agree though, that without sports, Stanford would not be as prestigious as it is, or at least, less people will have heard of it. (think Caltech)"

If you are talking about academic prestige, Stanford doesn't need help from sports. It's strength in many different disciplines should do the job. Success in sports just makes Stanford look more well-rounded and unique instead of just another nerdy school. Caltech's seemingly subpar prestige has little to do with sports; it's simply overshadowed by MIT which is considerably larger in size and also got great programs in architecture, economics and MBA, instead of just engineering/sciences.

By Khan (Khan) on Friday, August 27, 2004 - 09:00 pm: Edit

Momx4- Perhaps you were refering to this letter written to U.S. News & World Report by Stanford's president Gerhard Casper in 1996?

http://www.stanford.edu/dept/pres-provost/president/speeches/961206gcfallow.html

By Run4fun (Run4fun) on Saturday, September 11, 2004 - 02:21 pm: Edit

what a great letter