seems to be based on total amount of cited faculty research and most international students etc... which would make it heavily biased against universities with a lot less professors etc. I would think
eh I won't derail this thread ignore that Every ranking has its problems, that one just seems to consider the things I'd think matter least... and I've never seen another ranking have them anywhere near that high.. and I don't think there are any UT fans even that really think its top 15 in the world. All 3 of the schools are pretty close really. Whichever one he prefers. It's his life it's not like one is top 5 and the rest are in the 50s or something.
Aside from The Times of London... There are definitely 15 universities in America better than UT. The fact that Rice didn't make the list shows the rankings are flawed, which was my point-- like the U.S. News rankings, they're trying to objectively quantify something that's largely subjective.
brian. I do think the US news comes closer than the others. Obviously you can't get everything perfectly, but judging on their criteria it's pretty good. We actually had the US news guy speak here earlier this year (didn't go), but looked at the criteria in an article that followed the visit I think the US news spots, are right within 5 spots either way etc or so. I think generally they are about right although like you said 3 spots in the 40s either way are pretty close. I wish they'd go ahead and move us from 18 to 17 and Rice from 17 to 18 though But anyways I think they are a pretty accurate guideline overall because t hey consider students academics etc. I don't know that the London one even considered incoming grades etc?? or did they and maybe the article just didn't list it
Plus, none of them rate the student body well enough. It should be pointed out that UT is full of liberal heathens.
Those filthy, filthy tree-hugging heathens... someone should tell those kids to take a damn shower or something...
LOL As much as you dislike or dislike the rankings though, they are one of the most important things a university can have for attracting students. I'd be a liar if I said I didn't look at the rankings some when deciding where out of stay to apply. Probably less important as far as public schools in state go though, since so many people already have opinions of if they prefer a&m or UT etc before hand.
I'm pretty sure it was Computer Science... did you take into account that I was applying from Louisiana, not in-state? And I actually may have been able to get in... I recieved NIGHTLY calls from the Corps trying to get me to join their band (pretty decent saxophonist in high school band) so perhaps if I would have complied that would have gotten me in... F that!
And the rankings also put UT as a top ~5 (I haven't seen the latest, but we were #5 last year iirc, under Penn, MIT, Michigan, and Cal if memory serves) undergrad business program. Well above Emory, Wash U, Tulane, and other "better" schools". PS- bigtexx- How would you compare Plan II with an honors Tulane program?
I was in Tulane Honors Program, from what I have heard, UTs Plan II is much more rigorous and much more respected. You have to have 24 hours to transfer into UT or A&M, so I would be going to a community college regardless of which school i go to into the fall. It is not that i "found God." The reason i chose Tulane intially was because I wanted to go to the school with the better name, as i had friends going to Rice, Princeton, Stanford, etc.. When i got to Tulane I realized that I did not fit in at all, because I did not drink, I am not Jewish, not from the NorthEast, or not Liberal. I came from a fairly conservative and Christian community. College is supposed to be about getting an education and enjoying your time there. I was getting a good education at Tulane, but i was miserable there. I wanted to be closer to home. A&M may not be "more Christian," but there are a lot more Christian students here, for example, at Tulane I was involved in their Christian organization, it was me and four other students, whereas at A&M, there are numerous Christian organizations on campus, all with considerably more then four people. Doing this also allowed be to get closer to home, which is nice, because I have a nine year old sister and am close to my family, and found it hard to be away and in that environment. A&M to me, feels like a home away from home. All I was trying to do was to give someone advice and explain my situation. I never said Ut was a bad school, in fact I would agree that it is better academically (as a whole) then A&M, but I fit in more at A&M and have found myself to be much happier here, I am at a community college right next to A&M for this semester.
lnghrn4life, makes a good point. It is more important to go to a school that fits you rather than one that is supposedly higher rated. Lnghrn, did you find that you got much individual attention at Tulane? Are they really that liberal? Did it seem like a bunch of stuck up rich kids?
In some of my classes I got a good bit of individual attention, but there were also other classes where the professor never knew any of our names, but they are fairly accesible if need be. As far as being liberal: Tulane University provides funding to the College Democrats Club and not the Republicans, so that was not all that cool. The professors were very outspoken (as they would be at any University), in one intro to poli sci class that i was in, the professor asked us who we were voting for (I do not want this to turn into the D&D, i am just telling a story of what happened). He asked who was voting for Kerry, 28 people raised their hands, then he asked "who was voting for that other guy," then I raised my hand. He told me i did not look all that proud and told me I had to come up to the front of the room and tell everyone who I was voting for and why. I didn't really appreciate that, as i was already having trouble adjusting to that environment and that certainly did not make things better. The large majority of the students are liberal, as they are from the northeast and Jewish (which is fine, it is just not me), and thus they are a lot more vocal about things and getting their messages across campus. After the election I had a Bush-Cheney sticker on my shirt, and was just walking on the sidewalk and minding my own business and one student yelled that "he hoped I got drafted" to me, I did not know him, but he felt that he should say something to me about it anyways. I also realize that i did not have to wear the sticker, but in no way was i being overy proud or pointing out that Bush won to anyone. I did feel like i went to school with a lot of rich kids, whose daddy was paying for the education. They are (no offense) but mainly rich kids from the northeast who came to Tulane because they could not get into any Ivy Leagues, and they payed the whole $40,000 for tuition per year. I was on scholarship. Once again, though, Tulane is a good school, however, I would never be able to be happy or fit in there.
Good for you. It's unfortunate that you have to take this roundabout route to A&M(My friend, after a year at Texas, is actually at Blynn also after deciding that A&M was a better fit for him due to his conservative upbringing), but it sounds like you've thought this decision through.
Hey, Aggie Sheep and Goat Camp is coming up. Whoop! http://animalscience.tamu.edu/sheepandgoats/camps.html GOATS WILL NOT BE PROVIDED, YOU MUST FURNISH YOUR OWN GOAT
Just heathens in general. I guess things like that don't matter at UT. It's just a hodge podge of humanity. Very diverse for a southern state school. I think that's a good thing.
