19 August 2008

Forbes on the best colleges

Forbes magazine has published its own ranking system of universities. They worked with an economist to rank schools "based on the quality of the education they provide, and how much their students achieve." While there are some specifics I can't reconcile, I appreciate the basic notion that drove their effort.

No surprise that the magazine picks New Jersey's own Princeton #1. After all, they have a college within PU called Forbes College. Maybe we should try a US News and World Report School of Environmental and Biological Sciences.

In the list of public schools, there system seems to have strongly favored smaller schools and military institutions. The service academies seem to be ranked higher here than in almost any other listing I see. I don't really have a problem with that, but it demonstrates how unique their ranking system must be. Rutgers ranking also suggests it is a different system than US News.

Any such ranking is ultimately a little silly, at best. But, I appreciate the more serious articles that accompanied the ranking.

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