Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="upstater, post: 4746939, member: 153"] Thought you all might be interested in this, which I'm sure you can't see because it's paywalled, but I'll quote the relative 10% of the article that keeps us under copyright: [HEADING=2]Vanderbilt U. Says ‘U.S. News’ Emphasis on Social Mobility Is ‘Deeply Misleading’[/HEADING] [URL unfurl="true"]https://www.chronicle.com/article/vanderbilt-u-says-u-s-news-emphasis-on-social-mobility-is-deeply-misleading[/URL] 2 things are at work here. USNews is now measuring for expense and debt upon leaving an institution and dinging more expensive schools without extensive financial aid. This is why U. Chicago and Vanderbilt got hit. Vandy argues that this has nothing to do with the quality of education which is what USNWR is supposed to be ranking. I buy Vandy's argument, but USNWR is trying to provide a service to parents. That being said, I always see lists like, "The BEST VALUE for your money" and they are invariably wrongheaded listings with AAU schools that are very cheap not mentioned while schools with skeleton crews charging more than very cheap public AAUs are called "Great deals." USNWR has to be very careful as to where this is going. The next thing that is knocking Vandy way down is the fact that it admits relatively fewer first-generation and pell grant students. It's much easier to jack up your scores when you're serving an exclusive clientele, so Vandy is in effect gaming the system by excluding people who can't effectively game the whole scoring process (i.e kids can get higher scores through consultants, test prep, coaches etc.). I have much less sympathy for Vandy here than I do with the complaint about expense. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach