New Conference a Huge Academic Downgrade

[MUMonster03]

It is still better than being in Conference USA and CUSA 2.0, American 12, or Conference whatever these other schools decide to call it.

[Pakuni]

Well I had assumed that being a national university meant you were above the regional ones.  If that's incorrect please explain how the rankings really work. 

The difference between National and Regional universities in the rankings concerns doctoral programs. Schools that offer few or any are classified as Regional.

[Tums Festival]

The student-athlete graduation rate for the incoming schools as a group is better than the schools that won't be part of the conference going forward. ND pulls that group's average up, but UConn's GSR was only 10%.

[Badgerhater]

Allnighter, hyped up on redbull, have a midterm in three hours sorry i couldn't meet your picky standards. 

If you weren't concern trolling on internet message boards then you may not have needed all night to study.

[Benny B]

Rankings are for morons.  They're authored by morons, the data is collected from morons, the statistics are analyzed by morons, and only morons actually concern themselves with rankings.

Case in Point:  According to Dr. Eppli (MU's interim CoBA dean), some years back, North Carolina's undergraduate real estate program was ranked in the top ten in the country by a "reputable" ranking service.  The only problem... North Carolina didn't have an undergraduate real estate program at the time... their graduate program in real estate was so renowned that the people being surveyed (and those who conducted the survey) simply assumed that UNC's undergraduate program had to be just as good.

[jficke13]

Rankings are for morons.  They're authored by morons, the data is collected from morons, the statistics are analyzed by morons, and only morons actually concern themselves with rankings.

Case in Point:  According to Dr. Eppli (MU's interim CoBA dean), some years back, North Carolina's undergraduate real estate program was ranked in the top ten in the country by a "reputable" ranking service.  The only problem... North Carolina didn't have an undergraduate real estate program at the time... their graduate program in real estate was so renowned that the people being surveyed (and those who conducted the survey) simply assumed that UNC's undergraduate program had to be just as good.

And Princeton was recently surveyed to have a top-25 law school. Princeton does not have a law school.

[Warriors10]

Clicked on this thread thinking somebody was trolling us.

Instead it is just another person that doesn't understand rankings are crap.  Also, its quite ironic you spelled academic wrong in the title.

[Eldon]

The difference between National and Regional universities in the rankings concerns doctoral programs. Schools that offer few or any are classified as Regional.

This is 100% correct. 

One of my profs told me that his PhD advisor (at Cornell) worked in the administrative side of the school for some time.  He told my prof that part of the rankings is "% of alums that Cornell has contact info for that donate"  The higher that % is, the higher the rankings.  So what does Cornell do?  They make sure to get contact info and stay up on those from the Bschool and those who know are likely to give back to the school, ie, make money, rather than track down contact info for the arts students.

Another story why rankings are flawed.  MBA programs are ranked by USWNR as well.  My buddy got a decent score on the GMAT but was getting info in the mail and e-mail from top-notch programs.  Programs where he stood no chance based on median gmat score and gpa.  Why would they send him info on the school and many times even offer an application waiver?  Well, he applies, they take a cursory glance at his profile, and then they reject him.  Why?  This lowers their acceptance rate, which makes them look more prestigious/boosts rankings.

Yet another story.  Guy I know at Uchicago law school told me that law school rankings used to calculate mean LSAT score in their rankings.  But USWNR was afraid that schools were only accepting students with the highest lsat score and looking at nothing else.  So, they switched to measuring the median lsat score, which is less susceptible to the really high scores.  How did law schools respond?  Well, they started taking away financial aid from the top lsat applicants/matriculants and instead broke it down into two payments, which they would give to two students who scored just above the median lsat score to entice them to come to their school (it was either duke or unc, but i think duke). The school got in trouble, but the point is schools manipulate these numbers and the rankings need to be taken with a grain of salt.

Anyway, back off the kid, guys.  He was ignorant about the meaning of 'regional university' vs. 'national university'.  Simply correct his bad information, no need to jump all over the kid.

[lab_warrior]

Allnighter, hyped up on redbull, have a midterm in three hours sorry i couldn't meet your picky standards.  

I see your midterm, and raise you a dissertation draft due at the end of the week,
thesis defense next week, along with an hour seminar for the Biology department.

Also, it's not like I give two s***s about spelling.  I just find it very amusing that
someone is so concerned about acedemics.

[77ncaachamps]

The rankings favor large research schools, so no I don't care.

This.

Doesn't the term "Private School" convince you enough that we're solid academic institutions?

[4everwarriors]

Rankings are accurate. Other than Georgetown, the rest are middle of the road--- so what?

[Groin_pull]

This is such a tired topic. Over it.

[Galway Eagle]

If you weren't concern trolling on internet message boards then you may not have needed all night to study.

Oh ya I'm trolling for wanting some conversation in the middle of the night during breaks.  Sorry we can't all be model students like you but the other two hobbies listed in my name take up a great deal of my time. 

[keefe]

Rankings are accurate. Other than Georgetown, the rest are middle of the road--- so what?

The rankings are a fair representation of the prestige of the various schools. Arguing between #83 and #150 is like a guy arguing his Pontiac is better than your Dodge. Unless you are at the very top these rankings don't mean sh!t in any practical way.

Some companies favor grads of certain schools because key executives went there. Others hire because schools market themselves better to HR Departments. There is a case study on ASU. Every Feb ASU holds a job fair that includes sponsored golf, spas, etc... They market this program aggressively to large MNCs located in cold weather locations. And every year dozens of large companies from the snow belt send their people down to Phoenix to interview and hire ASU undergrads between ASU sponsored golf, spas, etc... Is ASU that good of a school? Not really. But does it matter if an Ohio company hires an ASU grad or a Cleveland State grad for an entry-level bean counter role? Of course not. But people like to get out of Cleveland in the dead of winter to play golf in Phoenix in February. Creative marketing can differentiate much more effectively than a USNWR ranking.
  

[4everwarriors]

ASU is a tier 3 school.

[mu_hilltopper]

Hah .. Davidson weighing in on this post.

http://www.davidsoncats.com/viewtopic.php?t=17394