4 ms·
The influence of US News on colleges is wild. One absurd tidbit that I've heard: the rankings weigh freshman stats much more than transfer student stats, so a l
by lpolovets 4y ago
The influence of US News on colleges is wild. One absurd tidbit that I've heard: the rankings weigh freshman stats much more than transfer student stats, so a lot of competitive schools that won't let you in as a freshman if you would hurt their SAT/GPA/etc averages will happily let you in as a transfer because they'll make more revenue and your stats no longer hurt their rankings. *
The ranking formula is also changed arbitrarily based on the reactions of colleges and readers. My school went from #9 to #1 one year, there were a lot of "wth??" reactions, and the following year the formula was tweaked so that our ranking dipped down to #4. I'm pretty sure nothing changed materially in the school over those 3 years, but the ranking moved around a lot.
The whole system is a farce.
* I haven't researched freshman vs transfer data myself, but it's something I've heard from multiple startup founders in the college education space.
- ffguuficc 4y agoFor UW this is 100% true. A 4.0 is like a 50/50 to get in the CS program but for transfers it’s easier.
- whimsicalism 4y agoDepends on the school. At a place like Harvard or Yale it is incredibly difficult to get in as a transfer, much harder than to get in in the first place.
- caddemon 4y agoYeah but that's Tier 0, it's not surprising that HYPSM don't feel the need to engage in as many number fudging tactics. It's a lot more impactful to Tier 1 top schools (e.g. a Dartmouth) where USN ranks them.
- rr888 4y agoYeah this was one of the whistleblower topics. Columbia has highest number of transfers http://www.math.columbia.edu/~thaddeus/ranking/investigation.html http://www.math.columbia.edu/~thaddeus/ranking/investigation...