re: 2015 Best Public Colleges in America

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Ranking schools is an exercise in futility. There is likely no discernible difference in #25 and #50

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Spoken like a guy who's school is ranked in the 50s.

Bow down to us you little SEC foes. We dominate you in academics. Boom!

Oh wow, I just can't see why UK continues to build:

Medical Center - $1 billion
Science Building - $100 million
Medical Research Center - $265 million
New Student Housing - $500 million

I mean, what's the point? Someone is just going to very accurately rank you and make it all seem not worthwhile.

Sigh.

People, in general, just like rankings I guess. I don't understand how you can really rank every single school on that list like they try to do every year.

Once you are done with your core classes, every student then seperates into their own particular branch of study in their respective colleges of that University anyway. Chemistry majors go to the College of Science and Mathematics. History majors go to the College of Liberal Arts. And Engineers go to the College of Engineering. Etc., etc., etc.

How can lists like these then "rank" a whole University System as a result? Every University is different in its own way. How can you rank a particular University's collective programs when none of those programs are even associated other than sharing a select few core classes from the same institution. Otherwise, they are academically independent from one another. What does the College of Music have to do with the College of Veterinary Medicine?

They are completely different, but somehow you can combine the two (and all of the rest) and formulate a ranking that judges a whole University?

I guess I just don't understand other than, as I stated before, people just like rankings for some reason.

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Damn, that shite is embarrassing for UGA, Scar, and A&M. Big bro will always be superior in these rankings.

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wut

Having Clemson that high reduces the credibility.

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GT really isn't appealing unless you have a desire to do engineering.

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And Harvard Law School isn't that appealing unless you want to study law, right?


These lists are fun and all, but I didn't major in University, I had a particular curriculum of concentration. Ultimately, that's what matters when comparing universities, which one has the best program for studying what you're interested in. At LSU in the 80s my department was top-15 in the country - public and private.

From a school that is sub #25 on the list: "but, my school is number 5 in the country in underwater basket weaving. We also have the number 1 school in goat fricking. Therefore, the rankings of the overall quality of the schools are bogus."

Any college could do what Clemson did, like encourage more alumni giving, or reduce some class sizes.

The top colleges are just the ones better at marketing themselves. The various majors at the different schools are still the same subjects, and quality of professors is subjective even amongst students at the same college.

Clemson has done a lot of things that is not reflected in the rankings, like implanted a writing across the curriculum approach, build new academic buildings, etc.

Never thought I would hear something like this from an Alabama person, given all the jokes about setting your clock back 100 years when entering Alabama.