New Ranking 2010: Best Colleges and Unis in the US

Byllie

2,200 Students

It's the equivilent of heythrop college topping the times table :facepalm2:

you do realize that Williams College is one of the oldest educational institutions in the USA with a massive endowment, a successful Alumni and just general all round awesomeness? Just because a University doesn't have 40k students doesn't make it bad. I dont see how it compares to some tiny college which only teaches philosophy....Williams on the other hand:

http://www.williams.edu/academics/

if i recall correctly from reading about this on some other forum where people also at first expressed shock - but only because they didn't bother to read the criteria on which the rankings were based (something along the lines of student satisfaction or something i think -cant rmb).

Reply 5

abrp

If the times only used student satisfaction as the criteria then lufbra would top the table. megalolz

Reply 6

prospectivEEconomist

If the times only used student satisfaction as the criteria then lufbra would top the table. megalolz

megalolz all you want but Williams College is an awesome institution. Ignorance doesn't diminish that fact. Everyone here who's making fun of Williams probably wouldn't be able to gain admission if they tried. also its only one of 11 criteria used. not the only one. Im sure if student satisfaction was the only one, Pepperdine would win. I mean who wouldn't be happy going to Uni in Malibu haha :biggrin:

Reply 7

prospectivEEconomist

If the times only used student satisfaction as the criteria then lufbra would top the table. megalolz

Reply 8

abrp

What makes it so awesome? Hardly anyone's heard of it in Asia/Europe, so a degree from there would only be really useful in the US...

Reply 9

prospectivEEconomist

What makes it so awesome? Hardly anyone's heard of it in Asia/Europe, so a degree from there would only be really useful in the US...

Oh snap, the only place where the degree is useful is where the biggest concentration of wealth in the world is. That almost makes it useless. :rolleyes:

Reply 10

AnonymousPenguin

Well the Guardian does give a lot of weighing to student satisfaction and oxbridge top the league. You can also sort it by satisfaction and Cambridge then tops it (with Oxford having no score for some reason) followed by St. Andrews.

Anyway, Williams is a very well known institution, I'm not from the USA and I know of it. I'm surprised so many TSR users are so ignorant.[/QUOTE]
Because, correct me if I am wrong, no one is stupid enough to spend over 100 g's on a degree from an instution that hardly anyone has heard of outside the US?

Reply 11

dondo

prospectivEEconomist

What makes it so awesome? Hardly anyone's heard of it in Asia/Europe, so a degree from there would only be really useful in the US...

Williams does have a name. It's really a great college, but i still dont get why it is ranked first.

Pepperdine is great, i will look up how it's ranked :smile:

You just need a surfboard, no books or laptop.

Reply 12

AnonymousPenguin

Oh snap, the only place where the degree is useful is where the biggest concentration of wealth in the world is. That almost makes it useless. :rolleyes:

Oh I didn't know this was an american forum. I wonder why there are so many asians/europeans on this forum? :confused:

Reply 13

prospectivEEconomist

What makes it so awesome? Hardly anyone's heard of it in Asia/Europe, so a degree from there would only be really useful in the US...

i haven't seen any rankings based on "international name recognition by the common folk" so this point is irrelevant. Do some research on Williams. For a much better perspective check out collegeconfidential forum :smile:

Reply 14

prospectivEEconomist

Oh I didn't know this was an american forum. I wonder why there are so many asians/europeans on this forum?

I don't see your point. Is your argument in a nutshell that attractiveness to TSR membership a valid criterion by which higher education institutions should be ranked?

Reply 15

AnonymousPenguin

I don't see your point. Is your argument in a nutshell that attractiveness to TSR membership a valid criterion by which higher education institutions should be ranked?

No. If a prospective employer in Europe and Asia hasn't heard of such a great institution, what is the point of spending a fortune studying there? Now don't tell me people pursue degrees for the academic interest and have no regard for employment prospects.

Reply 16

Good bloke

dondo

They used 11 factors to determine the rankings, and the largest being graduate success rate.

There is the first flaw, then: a significant scoring factor that no two people would agree on how to define. Why are people so obsessed with ranking tables?

Reply 17

prospectivEEconomist

A couple of problems with your arguments:
1. Given that the survey places high emphasis on alumni success suggests that employers are aware of the institution, at least those that matter.
2. Assuming that European and Asian employers would be unaware of the institution (which is false), there's plenty of graduate prospects in the USA, which is what I was alluding to in my first comment.

You're prioritizing your ignorance over research done by Forbes. Be a bit more open-minded.

Reply 18