University of Southern California and the Engineering Rankings

USC

I concur that USC was the best thing to ever happen to me. I believe that US News owes the public a report pertinent to the results of the investigation when conclusions have been reached.

I have EVERY confidence in the integrity of USC in this regard.

to Student of MD

I think you were referring to this list:

http://viterbi.usc.edu/academics/awards/nae.htm

it lists 34 members including some of the retirees such as A. Viterbi.

to Student of MD

No, USC has way more than 22 if you include the retirees. They actually had closed to 40 but only 22 are current active members. I graduated from SC several years ago and I can attest that NAE information is correct and up to date. Like the other posters, I also think it would be fair for everyone if the author access NAE data directly since their sources are much more reliable.

Oh yeah, for anyone out there who are planning on attending USC EE grad program, do not expect this school will be cake walk instead be prepared to get your butt whip. They don't mess around at SC and they take their reputation very seriously. When I graduated, I landed 7 different job offers. And I kid you negative. SC is worth every pennies.

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USC's Viterbi School of Engineering/How Major is this really?

Please excuse me for making several mistakes while typing.

I'd like to add that working my way through USC with a double major in International Relations/ French Language and Civ, with a minor in German left little time for indulging in typical college pastimes such as football games,on campus clubs, or even developing USC's peculiar variant of school spirit. I was proud of the back to back Rhodes Scholars in 1988 and 1989, of course, but those two young women were geniuses.

I realized that the policy of loading practical work upon ambitious students in a competetive environment had turned a silk purse into a sow's ear. At the age of 24, with only an undergradute degree from USC and field studies abroad, I passed the Foreign Service Exam on my first attempt.

Thanks, Mario. The rankings will not change the intensity of work USC's Engineering school assigns to tis students, nor will it change the quality of its graduates. Thank you very much-you've made my day!

USC and Viterbi School of Engineering

Thank you for the article.I would also like to thank the people who posted comments here.Most of these comments were quite practical.I have worked as a translator of French & Germnan, a tutor of French, German, English,world history, international relations/economics, and as an informal college admissions coach.Any suggestions or observations are useful for me and the students I coach.Unfortunately,many students are unaware of that college rankings affect the careers of professors.

I agree wholeheartedly that US News & World Report is obligated to make their rankings as accurate as possible.

The discrepency noted could have been an honest mistake.USC's motto translates as "Those who merit the palm shall bear it".In practice this means that ambition and achievement are extremely important.Contrary to popular belief about the University of Spolied(Shallow,Suce$$ful,etc)Children, the campus credo is ambition leads to achievement,which in turn leads to wealth.In my day,this meant underage freshmen were a bit more respected than 18 year old legacies, and students with rich parents who had matriculated elsewhere were gleefully mocked for incorrect answers in class."Don't ask X_ anything, he's paying full tuition."

Professors took the Socratic method as far as it could go,academic disciplines with practical applications were the most popular majors, and coursework was designed to mimick actual work, rather than intellectual exercise. This is repugnant to those who believe that one must learn for the sake of learning, of course.Yet standards were high-prerequisite courses for certain majors were rigorous, and used as a test or filter to see if a student was intelligent enough.In my case, the mandatory course for IR students had around 15 required texts, all of which were direct sources.We didn't read a textbook analysis of political and military strategy, we read von Clauswitz, Machiavelli,Kant,Hegel,Szun Tsu,etc.The task of analysis was left to the student. John Reed and Edmund Wilson were for lit classes-IR students read Marx, Marx & Engels,and Lenin.

Those who reacted to pressure by cheating were never given a second chance.Students who applied to study abroad could be rejected for a GPA that fell one tenth of a gradepoint below the minimum.

Bottom line:If someone deliberately falsified the data,expect a public apology followed by a news story about someone formerly connected to the Viterbi School of Engineering being fired and possibly committing suicide from shame. If the discrepancy was

as an accident, expect a public explanation followed by someone taking a leave of absense or hibernating from shame. USC had fought the "airhead's playground" image for so long that any hint of academic scandal would give the entire board of trustees a stroke. And the Viterbi School directors know it.

How Major is this really?

This error may change USC's rankings but USC is still a great engineering school. This error is not going to ruin the reputation USC has built on its engineering programs. The rankings do need to be updated but this particular error is not going to completely change the way employers and other schools view USC's engineering students in a dramatic way.

NAE website includes Emeritus (Retired) professors

So that wouldn't work.

Numbers from NAE Website Include Emeritus (Retired) Faculty

Don't use that number, JJ

Are the reporting errors random?

Errors are unavoidable in any large data collection effort, and are therefore understandable. However, I would like to know if there has ever been a case of erroneous data report where the error caused the ranking of an institution to be lower than it would have otherwise been. If all errors are in a direction that makes an institution look better, it would be erroneous to call them errors -- which should be random and equally likely to be of both positive and negative kind.