UConn #60 in US News Rankings

[nomar]

As if that's a bad thing.

I'm a straight, while male, so yeah that'd be great for me!

Oh wait, I'm Jewish, so I'd be subject to quotas for college and I wouldn't be able to live anywhere in Fairfield County.

But otherwise, 1950 is great! Sure, my friends J & M can't get married because they're gay, and sure my friends N & P can't get married where they want because they're an interracial couple (and sure they can't even eat at the same restaurant in some states) and sure my sister can't get into the universities she wants to or pursue the career she want, but otherwise, terrific!

 

[UConn990411]

Somehow a thread about UConn's academic ranking turned into a debate about 1950s America versus today.

I don't know how a number of people on here function on a daily basis.

 

[sportsart]

Due to this thread, they reranked us lower than Memphis. Good job guys.

 

[LoyalFanCT]

The US News rankings do serve an important purpose. Otherwise, old reputations would basically be among the ways to weigh college quality.

 

[Marty Jackson]

The US News rankings do serve an important purpose. Otherwise, old reputations would basically be among the ways to weigh college quality.

they do serve a purpose. but you have people on here reading these rankings and making them to be far more than they are.
from one year to the next I hardly think one data point is meaningful. Over 5-10 years, and 5-10 datapoints is more telling.
Still not the end-all determining factor as to the academic merits of a school.

 

[Kolumbo]

Why is a school like Nova considered a national university vs. a school like Santa Clara University (#2 ranked west regional) is only regional? They are both private and similar in size.

National Championship?

 

[upstater]

The US News rankings do serve an important purpose. Otherwise, old reputations would basically be among the ways to weigh college quality.

US News puts a huge amount of emphasis on old reputations.

I saw today where they asked university presidents to rank business schools out of a list of 30 schools. It was a dummy test to see how these questionnaires are filled out. 1/3rd of the schools on the list did not even have business schools. Princeton finished #2 to Harvard. Princeton doesn't have a business school. Maybe they were thinking of U. Penn.?

 

[kibblesnbits]

You can see much of the data used by US News by looking up an institution's Common Data Set. Here's UConn's most recent: http://www.oir.uconn.edu/CDS_2015_2016.pdf

The CDS is loaded with data on admissions, retention, financial aid, etc. US News adds its own survey on reputations, donation rates, etc.

 

[lne001]

I suspect many of you are familiar with this article from 2 years ago on Northeastern's gaming of the USNWR rankings. If not, very interesting.

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/article/2014/08/26/how-northeastern-gamed-the-college-rankings/

 

[Vowelguy]

I can't believe no one is complaining about Georgia being #56.
Georgia?

Vanderbilt and Florida, fine. But Georgia?

 

[HuskyHawk]

I can't believe no one is complaining about Georgia being #56.
Georgia?

Vanderbilt and Florida, fine. But Georgia?

Actually, Georgia was long the best public school in the SEC before Florida passed them. I always wonder if that was real or based on nonsense metrics at Florida. Alabama is pretty solid on the research end.

 

[Hoophound]

Florida is a good school and very hard to get into but I truly believe they are number fudgers. UF grads have an insane drive to win at everything in my experience. Always rubs me the wrong way.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[shizzle787]

Where's Air Force?

 

[huskymedic]

Where's Air Force?

Listed under Liberal Arts Colleges w/ US Military Academy and US Naval Academy

 

[shizzle787]

Listed under Liberal Arts Colleges w/ US Military Academy and US Naval Academy

Actually we are also a sea grant and an air grant.

 

[MountainMan]

Everyone who scoffs at Rice, Tulane, and SMU getting a final interview needs to look at this list. TV partners would be much different but from a president's perspective those are top shelf along with UConn.

 

[Kolumbo]

UConn Smarter Than Big 12 Competitors
"That’s bad news for Cincinnati (135th), though it did take the top spot in the Ruining Spaghetti and Chili Simultaneously category."

 

[Slasher]

UConn Smarter Than Big 12 Competitors
"That’s bad news for Cincinnati (135th), though it did take the top spot in the Ruining Spaghetti and Chili Simultaneously category."

That post is rather short-sighted. UC/USF are premier research institutions which is not at all reflected in the US News & World Reports propaganda. UCF is neither good in research or undergrad so they are probably close to falling off the list for academic reasons. Rice/SMU for athletic reasons.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

UConn Smarter Than Big 12 Competitors
"That’s bad news for Cincinnati (135th), though it did take the top spot in the Ruining Spaghetti and Chili Simultaneously category."

The only positive for Houston is if B12 does invite them, WVU will finally have someone they can feel surperior to when it comes to academics.

 

[huskymedic]

That post is rather short-sighted. UC/USF are premier research institutions which is not at all reflected in the US News & World Reports propaganda. UCF is neither good in research or undergrad so they are probably close to falling off the list for academic reasons. Rice/SMU for athletic reasons.

You would rather this Academic Rankings of World Universities propaganda instead? ? Maybe they can average them.

 

[Slasher]

You would rather this Academic Rankings of World Universities propaganda instead? ? Maybe they can average them.

No I think they're all mostly propaganda. But I think academic rankings should factor research activity as a significant component of overall ranking. The world rankings are almost entirely on research, and the US News are almost entirely on undergrad (and made up metrics.) There's no balance.

 

[Pudge]

OUR AAU exclusion ... and there seems to have been very little ingress or egress since 1995 ... is that we are in the same state as Yale. It's hard to weigh what that sucking of research dollars does to UConn; but, that is not what Kansas nor Purdue nor Illinois face.

 

[LoyalFanCT]

OUR AAU exclusion ... and there seems to have been very little ingress or egress since 1995 ... is that we are in the same state as Yale. It's hard to weigh what that sucking of research dollars does to UConn; but, that is not what Kansas nor Purdue nor Illinois face.

Is it not true that many of the grants going to UConn are also split with Yale. We get the grants because Yale is getting some of the money.

 

[Jerry1714]

I can't believe no one is complaining about Georgia being #56.
Georgia?

Vanderbilt and Florida, fine. But Georgia?

UGA is, and has been, a really good school. Their Grad programs are even better.

What an odd comment

 

[Pudge]

Is it not true that many of the grants going to UConn are also split with Yale. We get the grants because Yale is getting some of the money.

Maybe.

But this AAU "club", like the Power 5 in Football, is a Cartel like operation. And it locked the door in the mid 1990s ... and we have grown significantly since then. OR ... some schools have exploded since then. Therefore, this little thing is something to hate.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

UGA is, and has been, a really good school. Their Grad programs are even better.

What an odd comment

Ditto U Florida at #50. A very good school with a lot of research dollars; but, the shenanigans within the football program makes it look like kindergarten cops.

 

[Redding Husky]

Totally. 1950s kicked ass as long as you weren't black, Latino, gay, a woman, poor or basically anyone but a upper, to upper middle class white dude.

I don't know if the 1950's were better or if today is better. But I do know that we spend waaaaay too much on income redistribution today.

America is all about equal opportunity, not equal results.

 

[upstater]

I don't know if the 1950's were better or if today is better. But I do know that we spend waaaaay too much on income redistribution today.

America is all about equal opportunity, not equal results.

This is not the right place for this, but there is less redistribution than ever before. We are at a low point. Back then, tax rates were much higher. We are under 20% tax to GDP at this point, but the military budget hasn't shrunk. Less on education since the GI Bill.