Where did you/will you get your undergraduate degree? (this includes current students)<p>Pretty self-explanatory question, context https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5628552<p>NOTE: I do not 100% agree with the US News and World Report rankings, nor do I think that ratings are the only thing that matter, but it is a publicly-available list. Attending a top university does not guarantee you a good education, and you can still excel if you didn't attend one of the top schools.
One thing that I don't like about the US News college rankings is that they use objective criteria with arbitrary weightings. There's no credible rhyme or reason why these criteria matter, especially not in the proportion they do. Nor is there a good reason that these weightings should subtly change from year to year.<p>For this reason (plug coming), I created the algorithm that Parchment uses to rank colleges for the Student Choice Rankings [1]. It uses (voluntarily submitted) data from students who got into multiple colleges and chose one to attend. It treats this as a set of games in which one college "wins" and others lose. It's derived from the Elo chess ranking method [2].<p>As people will no doubt argue, voluntarily submitted data has its limitations. I acknowledge those but for this type of project, sample size is key, and I have yet to see another project with anywhere near the same quantity or recency of data. Perhaps in time that will change.<p>1 = <a href="https://www.parchment.com/c/college/college-rankings.php?page=1&perPage=25&thisYear=2012" rel="nofollow">https://www.parchment.com/c/college/college-rankings.php?pag...</a><p>2 = <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elo_rating_system" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elo_rating_system</a>
I hate to be 'that guy', but I think most would agree that those rankings are silly. They may paint a general picture, but the number and order of the rank is not a very accurate measurement of quality.<p>Observation: In the CS ranking, UBC is ranked above the University of Waterloo, though both ranked below U of T? I'm skeptical. (Disclaimer: I go to UBC).
You missed a massive category: the schools ranks 20-100. I would describe a school ranked #40 or #60 in a major as really good. Not top 20 good, but really good. There is a bigger difference between the #50 school and the #200 school than there is between the #1 school and the #50.
Tiny technical school in Hoboken, NJ. Just outside of NYC. I've ran into a few alumni on here (small world).<p>I like it here, I'll admit - I was bummed that I was waitlisted for CMU, and it's still something I think about to this day. But I really, really like it here, and it's led to some interesting professional opportunities.<p>Rankings are bogus, this place <i>felt right</i>.
I didn't know that US News were considered a reliable source of ranking schools (if schools can be ranked at all). Isn't US News a for-profit magazine that has figured out SEO really well?
What about using the global rankings[1] - though they are admittedly biased against liberal arts school, they are less manipulated than the US News rankings.<p>1 - <a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2012-13/world-ranking" rel="nofollow">http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-ranki...</a>
I dropped out of college, having obtained most of a BS. Thank the stars I didn't load up on student loans. I went to a public university that isn't notable for much (Univ. of Houston). My own opinion is that it was mostly pretty average with a few areas of quite-goodness. I don't regret going. I do wish I hadn't arrived so unprepared.
Since I'm pretty un-connected to this account, going to start undergraduate at Cornell. While it may not be Harvard/Yale/Princeton, I'm not going to complain (however there is still some element of jealousy/annoyance).<p>What is HN's opinion of Cornell, especially vs other Ivies?
I actually prefer this college ranking:
<a href="http://toptestprep.com/best-colleges-rankings/" rel="nofollow">http://toptestprep.com/best-colleges-rankings/</a><p>It combines both liberal arts colleges and national universities. It's less biased, and more objective.
I went to a university that is largely unknown outside of the UK. Not that it matters particularly, because I didn't even study Computer Science.<p>'What did you study at college' might make for an equally interesting poll.
Most of the stuff that I learned for my job happened either during internships, self study outside of classroom education or on the job. College Education for CS Majors is years behind the industry requirements.
Since when is U Chicago #4? Not that it isn't totally deserved, but when I was applying to colleges I don't even remember it being in the top 15, and changes in the top 10 aren't exactly common...
I am annoyed, my school was #20 when I went, now tied for #24, so I still picked the first option. University of Virginia (at the time was tied for top ranked public university in country)