Hi Mike et al. - I'd long heard "through the grapevine" from university folks
in the know that US News and World Report likes to change the criteria for its
rankings each year so that it can sell magazines (apparently, they make a lot
of their revenue from sales of these rankings, both in magazine form and
online). If the criteria remained the same each year, the rankings probably
wouldn't change much - so by altering the variable weights a bit each year (and
occasionally introducing new variables into the equation, like high school
counselors' ratings of reputation this year), the rankings bounce around and
hence generate more interest.
But I don't know if this view is too cynical; I'd be curious to hear
others' thoughts.
....Scott
Scott O. Lilienfeld, Ph.D.
Professor
Editor, Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice
Department of Psychology, Room 473 Psychology and Interdisciplinary Sciences
(PAIS)
Emory University
36 Eagle Row
Atlanta, Georgia 30322
[email protected]
(404) 727-1125
Psychology Today Blog:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-skeptical-psychologist
50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology:
http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-140513111X.html
Scientific American Mind: Facts and Fictions in Mental Health Column:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/sciammind/
The Master in the Art of Living makes little distinction between his work and
his play,
his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his
recreation,
his love and his intellectual passions. He hardly knows which is which.
He simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does,
leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing.
To him - he is always doing both.
- Zen Buddhist text
(slightly modified)
-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Palij [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, August 17, 2010 9:38 AM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)
Cc: Mike Palij
Subject: [tips] WOOHOO!! The New U.S. News College Rankings Are Here!
Actually, they are here:
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges
So, let the comparisons of the schools with the biggest di.., er,
highest ranks begin!
A description of the U.S. News methodology is provided here
(though this is probably not a complete account):
http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/best-colleges/2010/08/17/how-us-news-calculates-the-college-rankings_print.htm
Note that graduation rate constitutes 7.5% of the final score, up from
5% in previous years.
-Mike Palij
New York University (How'd we get to #33????)
[email protected]
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