Our Policy on the Peer Surveys

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Thomas, you referenced this list:
http://www.stateuniversity.com/rank/score_rank.html
In your opinion, what makes this "the best overall ranking for undergraduate education." Is it simply that the list lines up with you own perception of the universities' educational quality? Do you have experience working with a lot of these schools?
Sorry if these questions.comments sound snarky, but I am just wondering. It seems to me that there is no real substantial difference between any of the major college ranking lists, so I am wondering if there really is anything special about this online ranking list that nobody's ever heard of.

Anthony Wong of MA 10:29AM September 02, 2009

I do not believe Western Carolina University deserves to be ranked in the top ten Masters Degree Programs. I was shocked to learn its chancellor was bragging about this. It's just my opinion, but my experience with them begs to differ with their ranking. What criteria was used? There are many colleges that seem better to me for Masters Programs than Western Carolina University.

Bonnie Carr of NC 7:54PM August 27, 2009

why not ask the students for their assessments loke the ones done by NSSE-national survey of student engagement www.collegeportraits.org this will give you a better assessment of a school by student satisfaction and learning outcomes.

marie of GA 10:38PM July 28, 2009

I have worked in higher education for some time. After much research I have found the list below to be a best overall ranking for undergraduate education (IMO). At least for the top 20-25,after that there generally isn't that much difference between 5-10 points on the rankings. That said, there really can never be a one size fits all ranking as individual departments can vary so much as the deans and instructors change.
http://www.stateuniversity.com/rank/score_rank.html

Thomas of PA 11:41PM July 18, 2009

While the peer assessment rankings may work well for many institutions, how can you expect to protect those schools which would be expected to receive extreme bias like the following:
Notre Dame: Anti-catholic bias.
UC Berkeley: Anti-liberal/ homosexual bias.
BYU: Anti-mormon/ Anti-Prop 8 backlash bias (I would expect this one the be huge).
Clemson: Backlash for their gaming of last years' rankings.
Traditionally Black Colleges: Likelihood that they would be subconsciously undermined.

Chris of CA 3:34PM July 14, 2009

We should all be very grateful to the St Petersburg Times and to the Sunshine Law in the state of Florida. By publishing President Machen (University of Florida) 's Peer Assessment list as it was sent to US News, the Times exposed the inherent bias of this score how it is currently used.
Clearly, top academics - presidents, provosts and the like, are not immune to their own inherent biases and self serving interests. This could not have been more eloquently illustrated by Machen's list. Not only has the University of Florida ranking been now discredited, but your own faulty methodology has been demonstrated as well.
Perhaps you should consider sending a free paper shredder when you send the Surveys out. Your rankings risk being further discredited if you do not do so.

Richard Lowe of RI 12:53PM July 11, 2009

The notion that "top academics—presidents, provosts, and deans of admissions" have meaningful information about other institutions' "intangibles such as faculty dedication to teaching" is simply not an intellectually credible proposition. Even an administrator who has worked at, say, three other institutions, will likely have meaningful insights into the "intangibles" of only those institutions and perhaps a few others, yet they are asked to rate several hundred schools. The U.S. News response to this is "Well, then, just check the 'don't know' box for all the other schools" but this clearly isn't what they really expect or hope will happen--if it did, the total number of ratings for each school would be no more than a dozen or so. In the absence of firsthand experience of other institutions, what are the survey responses being based on?
If the peer assessment were worth only, say, 5% of the overall ranking, this would be less of a big deal, but 25% is a big chunk of the rating to rest on such a flimsy foundation.
I'm happy to be disabused of my skepticism on this, but it just doesn't pass the smell test for me. The confidentiality of the survey is the least of my concerns; I'd like to hear a more credible defense of the survey's rationale.

John Nugent of CT 4:01PM July 08, 2009