Why You Shouldnt Trust Forbes College Rankings

Why You Shouldn't Trust Forbes College Rankings SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Forbes is a highly respected source of college rankings and is often consulted by students to help them decide which colleges are objectively the â€Å"best† choices. However, relying too much on these rankings can be a dangerous way to go about the college search process. In this article, I’ll outline how Forbes rankings are calculated and give you a rundown of the problematic aspects of these rankings. Overview of Forbes College Rankings Forbes is one of the most well-known sources of college rankings out there.It works in conjunction with the Center for College Affordability and Productivity to rank a total of 650 undergraduate educational institutions.Criteria for inclusion in the rankings includes the award of degrees or certificates requiring four or more years of study.All schools are classified by the Carnegie Foundation as Doctorate-Granting Universities, Master’s Colleges and Universities, or Baccalaureate Colleges. Forbes emphasizes student outcomes for colleges - this means rankings are heavily dependent on post-graduate success, freshman retention rates, graduation rates, and ultimate academic success in terms of advanced degrees and awards.An interesting thing to note about these rankings is that for each year, they incorporate the school's current scores in conjunction with scores for the past two years. This means that for 2015, a school’s score for 2015 is given a 50% weight in its composite score, and scores from 2014 and 2013 are each given a 25% weight.This is to help control for variability since ranking colleges based on graduation outcomes and post-graduate success factors means many changes from year to year. How Does Forbes Create Its Rankings? Forbes generates its rankings using several tools across different platforms and metrics.The general breakdown looks like this: Student Satisfaction (25%) This is further broken down into percentage weights for a couple different measurements.These include: Student evaluations from RateMyProfessors.com (7.5%) Freshman retention rates (12.5%) Predicted freshman retention rates compared to actual rates (2.5%) A â€Å"School Satisfaction Survey† conducted by Forbes via Facebook (2.5%) Post-Graduate Success (32.5%) This is broken down into two subcategories: Alumni salary from Payscale.com (10%) American Leaders List (22.5%) Student Debt (25%) There are three subcategories here: Average Federal Student Loan Debt (10%) Student loan default rates (12.5%) Predicted vs. actual federal student loan debt (2.5%) Graduation Rate (7.5%) This is divided into the four-year graduation rate (5%) and the predicted vs. actual four-year graduation rate (2.5%). Academic Success (10%) This is divided into two subcategories: Students receiving Nationally Competitive Awards (Rhodes Scholars, etc.) (7.5%) Alumni receiving PhDs (2.5%) PhDs must wear silly robes at all times to distinguish themselves from the unwashed masses What’s the Problem with These Rankings? Forbes rankings are based on some solid information, but they’re not going to give you the full story on whether a college is the right choice for you.There are a couple of issues you should be aware of before taking these rankings into consideration in your college search. Very little emphasis on the actual student experience While Forbes does consider RateMyProfessors feedback (which can be seriously biased towards easy professors) and makes a big deal about being the first college ranking site to use social media in the form of a Facebook survey for students, even these factors only account for 10% of the total ranking criteria.Forbesconsiders the student experience more than, say, US News, which is almost purely based on bare statistics and feedback from academics, but it still won’t give you a great sense of whether the school is a pleasant environment for students. Ratings of professors and a survey don’t give you a good sense of the community at the school.In a ranking system, it’s probably impossible for any mode of measurement to do that.This is why relying solely on any ranking system leaves you open to misinterpreting the culture at a school. You end up losing the necessary subjectivity that goes along with judgment of each individual college environment. Narrow definitions of â€Å"success† Forbes places a lot of emphasis on post-graduate success and awards earned by students.In fact, almost half of a school’s score is comprised of the â€Å"Academic Excellence† and â€Å"Post Graduate Success† categories.These are valuable measures to include, but they don’t apply to the aspirations of all students.If you’re going to college, you’re probably hoping it will get you a job, but a high salary or academic awards might not be a priority. If you’d like to pursue a social justice or public service career path, you're probably already aware that you’re not headed towards giant piles of cash.This means you have to take a step back from the rankings and investigate each school on an individual basis to come to conclusions about what fits best for you.Schools where alumni make a lot of money might just have excellent business or economics programs. That’s not relevant to you if you don’t plan on becoming a financial analyst or an entrepreneur. Jeremy in the Sky with WordArt is one of the Beatles' lesser known songs Advantages to schools with a wealthy student body Measures of student debt levels make up a significant portion of a school’s score in the Forbes ranking system (25%).While you may be interested in going to a school that appears to leave students with less debt, these measurements can be misleading. For example, schools that tend to attract an overall wealthier student body will naturally end up with less volume of student debt.These students’ parents may be able to completely foot the bill for college or keep loans small and pay them off easily later.For this reason, an objectively better student debt rating may not reflect the level of support students receive from the school or the real income potential of students.A poor student might end up with some debt in loans after college even after significant support from the school and access to a promising career path. Lack of categories to differentiate colleges of varying types The Forbes rankings lump colleges into one big list (although there are many other lists on the site - here we’re just talking about the main rankings).This is problematic because it’s very difficult to directly compare schools that are markedly different in terms of public or private status, research capabilities, and size of student body. For example, this year Pomona, a small liberal arts college, has the number one spot in the rankings, above all the Ivies, Stanford, and MIT.While there are certainly valid reasons for ranking Pomona #1, it also would be silly for you to choose it based on its higher rank if you were looking for alarger research university.Comparing a small college like Pomona to a research university with a large graduate student population like the University of Pennsylvania is comparing apples to oranges as far as the academic experience goes. The key thing to understand is that every student is different and has specific needs and preferences for their college experience.When rankings like these try to force all colleges into one category, they’re giving the students what they want (an easy way to tell which colleges are â€Å"better†) but not what they need. Relying too heavily on rankings results in a dangerously simplistic view of college quality and the college search process. Sometimes rankings are the wrong tools for understanding the environment at a college... If Not Forbes, Then What? But Sam, you may be saying, if I shouldn’t look at Forbes rankings, then what SHOULD I do? Stare at a blank wall releasing all judgment like a Buddhist monk until application time and then choose a school at random?Maybe not until application time (and please don’t choose at random), but you should certainly take a few moments to reflect more seriously on what you want out of college apart from what the rankings and others around you say you’re supposed to want.For more detail on what your should be asking yourself, read my guide on the college search process. After you’ve already picked out some schools based on what you like about them across different factors that are important to you personally, only then might you look at Forbes rankings.I broke down the weight given to different factors in the ranking process for you so that you can see what’s being measured.Make sure you always keep this in mind. It's possible thatvery few of those factors matter to you - in this case, the rankings are not going to be particularly relevant. Not particularly relevant You can still use Forbes rankings as a general guide if you've done your research and considered all the other factors that are important to you in your college search. It's useful to look at the rankings generally in groups of ten or so. The top five schools will be the most reputable, followed by the next ten, followed by the next ten, and so on. Colleges within the same group of ten won't be much different in terms of quality. Rankings like these can be useful because prestige and student outcomes are valuable measurements of college quality. Schools with better reputations will naturally attract a more intellectual group of students and usually provide more opportunities. All other things being equal, you should choose the school with the higher ranking. However, if you're trying to decide between a school with a lower ranking that's a great fit for you and a school with a high ranking that's a poor fit, you should choose the first option every time. Rather than relying totally on rankings, you can check out some of these sites that will help match you up with colleges based on what you’re looking for in terms of program offerings, size, location, social life, and many other valuable components of the college experience.Rankings are interesting and exciting because they give you fast information about which college is â€Å"better† and make you feel like success is just a matter of getting into the â€Å"right† school.The reality is that college is what you make of it. You should go somewhere where you’ll be happy and able to lead a rich academic and social life based on your personality and passions. What's Next? Looking to attend a liberal arts college? Take a look at this list of the best liberal arts schools in the country. Not sure whether you're interested in public or private schools?Read this article to learn about the differences between the two. If you want to save some money on college applications, you might consider applying to schools without application fees. Here's a complete list of all the colleges that don't charge fees to apply. Want to improve your SAT score by 240 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

A strategic analysis of Proctor and Gamble

A strategic analysis of Proctor and Gamble The path that leads them to achieve their goals every company has to follow And objectives which could be achievable by research, reexamine, data analysis, planning and carrying out. And to do all these, a business concern has to implement certain tools to fig out the existing scheme or and to do all these, a business organization concern has to implement certain tools to fig out the existing scheme. This procedure known by strategic analysis, acts like a light house to the organizations. Proctor & Gamble is one of the pioneer names in the consumer commodity epoch. They have been reigning in this sector for last 173 old age with rely. This written report is produced to review their strategic position and this report is produced to reexamine their strategic position PURPOSE AND PREFACE: Understanding of the environment in which an organization is operating strategic analysis is a theoretically informed, Of the organizations interaction with its environment in order to ameliorate orga nizational efficiency together with an understanding and Effectiveness by increasing the organizations capacity to deploy and effectualness by increasing the organizations capacity to deploy. Strategically added value to the carrying out of a concrete scheme to gain sustainable competitive advantage by analyzing. This report is carry owed to applying appropriate tools of strategic analysis to appraise ‘Proctor & Gamble’s Industrial environment and fig out the competitive position and operational. Proctor & Gamble Of their wide ambit of consumer commodity an American company which is globally renowned because HISTORY OF â€Å"Proctor & Gamble† Nearly serving the human beings for about 173 old. 4 billion consumer’s in the globe today where about 135,000 people are working for them they are serving and P&G has their own organization system in 80 countries in globe. They acquired the biggest broadened manpower in the human beings where about 140 nationalities people are working for them PROCTOR AND GAMBLE – BACKGROUND In 1887 they came up wad Innovation of earnings sharing program and later 1940’s they started carrying outs of consumer relations department. And in 1980’s IN the consumer relations department carrying out of e mail and IN 2002 they Developing feminine aggrandizes â€Å"naturella’ and later 2005 they came up around the high globally frequence stores. METHODLOGY In various fashion strategic analysis differs. But the various ascribes that are commonly accepted are as follows. -To formulation of scheme relevant data identification that is related. -Internal environment and analyzing the external. In the analysis different methods that are applied. -To apply to analyze the organization are as follows different methods that’s going to be SWOT Analysis Ansoff matrix. Generic strategies Value chain The uses of these analytical strategic tools will be used later on to see the organization’ s trading operations and the applies of these analytical strategic tools will be used later on to see the organization’s operations Proctor and gamble – swot analysis: Swot analysis is the strategic tools to understand the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and menaces of an organization or dweeb analysis is the strategic tools to understand the strength, failings, chances and menaces of an organization. Swot analysis of proctor and gamble are as follows:

MARKET COMMUNICATIONS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

MARKET COMMUNICATIONS - Essay Example What platform should be used by them in order to market their products and services more effectively covering huge masses all around the globe? The companies also aim to find such marketing tools which are personal and closer to their customers’ needs and preferences. Information Search This step involves the searching phase in order to obtain the latest information regarding the most effective personal marketing tool. Different tools are used by the companies to advertise themselves. TV and commercial ads are considered as one way marketing in which the customer’s feedback cannot be obtained. In this way, the current trend of bidirectional marketing is on its move such that most of the companies are using social networking sites for this purpose. These companies not only post their marketing messages through the banner ads but also create their communities to interact with their customers, and other fans of their products. Evaluation of Alternatives After the gathering of information regarding the social network sites, the next step is to evaluate these sites as to which site fulfill the advertising requirement of those companies. Social networking sites including Facebook, twitter, MySpace etc are the most popular sites which are mostly used by the companies to advertise themselves. ... In this way, these companies tend to focus more towards Facebook as Facebook has the most number of active users as compared to other social networking sites. Buying This step is the actual buying activity in which these companies pay the Facebook for their banner ads to be put in to the Facebook pages. Facebook provides those companies a unique offer such that these companies can target their customers who are within the geographical and demographic boundaries of those companies. For instance, Facebook ensures that only those users should watch those banner ads which are used to target them by these companies rather than posting those banners on the profiles of those users who cannot be catered by those companies by any means. Post Buying Decision In the post buying stage, these advertising companies keep evaluating as what actually is feedback of the customers who being attracted by the Facebook platform. These evaluations can be performed by the activities of the users on the comm unity pages created by these companies. Customer’s feedbacks and likings would certainly lead to the judgment as how effectively the marketing messages are conveyed to the customers as a primary basis. Increase in sales and revenue growth of these companies, would eventually conform the expectations of these companies as to what extent the companies remained successful in terms of their marketing efforts. Factors affecting Facebook Customers External Factors Four external forces can influence Facebook customers might be: 1. Government interventions in respect of utilizing Facebook as a medium of marketing tool 2. Emergence of other better social networking site with more enhanced

World War I - Why did the Senate choose to Ratify the Treaty of Essay

World War I - Why did the Senate choose to Ratify the Treaty of Versailles - Essay Example Article 10 of the League Covenant required a pledge that all the Nations in the League come to help one another in case of an attack against any of them. The lack of a clause that such action could only be materialized through a unanimous vote of the council infuriated the Senate. Clearly the only solution was to stay away from any European conspiracy and conclude a separate peace with Germany. While Wilson’s Fourteen Points forced Germany to sign a blank check as an account for the damages of the War, they had to go through an inevitable bout of isolationism, which could have resulted in the rise of Hitler and the II World War. Moreover the major European nations like Britain, France and Italy felt that Wilson’s view of the League of Nations may affect their national interests – thus impeding his vision of a World Parliament. The Senate’s opposition was based mostly on its fear that the situation will lead to other major European conflicts, which was not at all unfounded. Moreover, America as a nation had an isolationist stance at that time, never wanting to get involved in international political turmoil. The Senate wanted to be left alone and not be dragged into the new world order. They were strongly against the Versailles Treaty and refused to ratify

Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations - The Natural Order is Driven by Man

Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations - The Natural Order is Driven by Man’s Self-interest Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations argues for a system of political economy that separates economy – the creation and distribution of wealth – from governmental interference. In Smith’s view, the economy of a nation grows as a direct consequence of private business ventures in the interest of each individual owner. Regulation by the government hurts the economy, and the progress of society is derived from the flow of the market. Things should be left in their natural states, thus maintaining a â€Å"natural order† of society. The basis of Smith’s thesis is that this natural order is driven by Man’s self-interest. Smith presents the first and arguably most important aspect of social organization based upon self-interest as the division of labor. He asserts that the division of labor occurs naturally in society as â€Å"the consequence of a certain propensity in human nature †¦ the propensity to truck, barter, and exchange one thing for another† (21). This propensity arises from man’s â€Å"almost constant occasion for the help of his brethren,† (21) an idea illustrated by the fact that in both Smith’s and modern times, the number of truly self-sufficient individuals are few. This â€Å"trucking disposition gives occasion to the division of labor,† and Smith makes the example of a hunter who, in trading arrows with others, can acquire whatever he needs and will be encouraged to â€Å"apply himself to a particular occupation, and to cultivate and bring to perfection whatever talent †¦ he may possess for that †¦ business† (23). At this point, Smith is making an assumption: that men will always choose to do something that will provide them with more over some... ...der a man who donates to a charity. On the one hand, economically he gains nothing from this action, and this action does not contribute to his private opulence, defined by Smith as â€Å"originally derived †¦ [from] the uniform, constant and uninterrupted effort of every man to better his condition† (205). On the other hand, a more cynical individual might say that the giver gains some kind of metaphysical or subjective return from this action that contributes to his self-interest. Smith seems to have little faith in the natural goodness of Man, writing â€Å"it is in vain for [one man] to expect [help] from [other men’s] benevolence only† (22). This pessimistic viewpoint Smith holds might explain what leads him to see self-interest as the primary factor in the actions of humanity. Bibliography: Smith, Adam. The Wealth of Nations. Amherst: Prometheus Books, 1991 (1776)

Hamlets Character is contradictory&quot Essay

Shakespeare gives Hamlet a very indecisive character in this play. This in turn leads to Hamlet becoming contradictive, more and more so throughout the play. His main problem is that he is more of a ‘thinker’ than a ‘doer’. This causes him many problems throughout the whole play. The first example we get of this comes in Hamlets first soliloquy. Here we find out what Hamlet truly feels about the situation he finds himself in after his fathers death. After initially seeming to be willing to go along with Claudius’s and his mother’s marriage here we find out how he truly feels. He expresses his disgust at the hastiness from which his Mother has married to Claudius so soon after his fathers death. He also expresses how devastated he is at the death of his father and Claudius taking the crown, which Hamlet believes should rightfully be his. Hamlet once again shows this when he goes with his Fathers ghost. He comes back from this encounter determined to take revenge on Claudius but then passes up many chances to do so in order to make sure that the ghost is telling the truth. Hamlet continues this throughout the play and ironically this leads to him doing exactly the opposite of what the ghost wants by hurting his Mother and not taking revenge on Claudius when he has many chances to. Another appearance of Hamlets contradiction appears in his first soliloquy when he is very damning towards women: â€Å"Frailty, thy name is woman! † This contradicts with his apparent infatuation with his mother, and especially with her sexual behaviour. Hamlets contradictory character is also reflected in the many mood swings he has during the play. He constantly changes his mood one minute appearing relatively happy, the next he is at his sadistic worse cruelly teasing others with his wordplay. The worst of this comes when he is talking to Ophelia in Act 3 Scene 1, where nearly everything he says to her has a sexual double meaning. Here Hamlet has realised that he is being spied on and intend to have some fun at Ophelia’s expense as he feels that she has been used as a spy whereas in reality she knows nothing of the situation. Hamlets character however can not just be described as contradictory, it id far too complex for that. Hamlet could also be described as erudite, ingenious and quick-minded for the way he took advantage of the players arriving and setting up the play â€Å"Murder of Gonzago† in order to test the Kings guilty conscience and find out if he really did kills Old Hamlet. Hamlet is also regarded as pessimistic, over – dramatic, angry, desperate and frustrated for his outlook on life and human nature and the way he feels about being denied the chance to become king after his father’s death. Many people also feel that Hamlet is obsessive; this is shown with his fixation with his mother’s sexuality and is once again brought into light by Ophelia revealing all of the love letters that Hamlet has sent to her in the past. All in all I believe that whilst contradiction is one of Hamlets main characteristics, his character is too broad for it to be described as any one thing.

Integrated Planning Matrix - 4838 Words

1 Surname, Initial EDP 135 Introduction to Curriculum Assignment 2 Integrated Planning Matrix Template Task: Develop an integrated planning matrix and the outline for a lesson series of approximately five lessons in response to one of the scenarios provided. Demonstrate how planning processes from macro to micro levels (whole school to classroom, or program to lesson) - satisfy curriculum demands and the needs of students. Choose one of the scenarios listed in Topic 8 to plan your series of 5 lessons. Scenario 3: Mountain View Primary School EDP 135 Introduction to Curriculum Assessment 2 Integrated Planning Matrix General Capability/ies Learning Area/s Broad objective/s Lesson Objective/s Key learning opportunities Evaluation/assessment Resources (Use if you wish) Literacy, Critical and creative thinking, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, Asia and Australia ´s engagement with Asia. English/Literacy/Interpreting, analysing, evaluating Read an increasing range of different types of texts by combining contextual, semantic, grammatical and phonic knowledge, using text processing strategies, for example monitoring, predicting, confirming, rereading, reading on and self-correcting reading text types from a students culture to enhance confidence in building reading strategies By the end of this lesson students will know about the English language; understand, appreciate, respond to, analyze and create literature; beShow MoreRelatedQuestionnaire And Questionnaire On Customer Requirements Essay1527 Words   |  7 Pagesare acceptable. If the importance degree is higher than satisfaction, this suggests that some improvements should be identified. Questionnaires are used to assess discrepancies in customer perceptions [21]. 4.3. Identify business planning parameters The business planning parameters can be used to satisfy the CRs and enhance customer satisfaction. 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