Forget The U.S. News Rankings, Here's Where You Get The Most Bang For Your College Buck

Business Insider ^ | 08/17/2010 | Greg White and Gus Lubin

[vaudine]

I took geology at Central TX from a great retired field geologist. Only a 1 year course, but everyone should have to take geology. TX is the perfect state for field tris, especially central TX.

Because of Prof. McKinley's teaching I recognized global warming for the tax fraud it is.

What is your take on recently published studies that The Grand Canyon and other phrnoma like it were actually caused by rushing water instead of being slowly created over time? It makes sense to me because we had lab on the speed and volume of water causing speedy excavation and the walls are almost vertical.

vaudine

[CharlesMartelsGhost]

Another op-ed that questions the value of Harvard and the like is “Harvard Heavy on Tuition, Light on Core Subjects” by kathleen Parker. It is posted on Newsmax’s blog section.

[CharlesMartelsGhost]

True. Engineering has some monstrous weeding out courses, i.e. Thermodynamics and Structures.

At OU the joke was every Freshman was pre-med, 95% couldn’t hack it so they switched to become engineering majors, 90% of them couldn’t hack engineering, so they became business majors, 80% of them couldn’t handle business because it required them to pass Statistics and Calc I&II before they could apply to the college of business, so they became journalism majors.

[truthguy]

As one can expect the Ivy league schools, name brand private colleges et al get a D or F.

Martel- I'm not surprised. Ivy League colleges are deemed superior because people think they are superior. So very bright kids (& their parents) realize their smart kids need an advantage over other smart kids and that advantage is a pedigree diploma. But the course work is probably no better or more difficult at say Harvard or Yale than it is at any of the really good public colleges. And these colleges are much less expensive. But to justify the 40K or more it costs to go to these schools, an image of superiority is created and these ratings reinforce that image. So a really bright kid in the middle of the country could go to his state university (there's a good one in almost every state) and learn just as much as he would at Harvard or Yale. But he/she wouldn't have that pedigree and many think that the pedigree is important. I don't think it's that important but I'm in a minority. It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

As for political indoctrination, the Ivy League is awful with the possible exception of Dartmouth. I've often wondered why so many smart kids can have such foolish and stupid ideas on so many issues. It's because their professors have brained washed them. And usually the brain washing starts before college. Once a kid becomes brain washed (remember the professors are still smarter than the students), it's very difficult to deprogram them. And it's ironic that the smarter kids are some of the easiest kids to brain wash. Their very high ego is actually what makes them more vulnerable. The professors stoke that ego and the students follow them like the pied piper.

Always remember ideology will trump intelligence any day of the week. Once a kid is ideologically committed it's difficult to change them. This ideology is impervious to logic and reason.

[truthguy]

You are correct for the most part but there seem to be some fields that are restricted to the most elite colleges. Every member of the US Supreme Court went to Harvard or Yale Law School. I can’t believe there isn’t tremendous bias here. There are other top notch Law Schools.

[truthguy]

Ranked by the ROI percent, Virginia has 4 of the top 14 schools.

UVa has some of the best public relations people around. They are perhaps the most overrated school in the US and surely the most overrated public school. Yes it's a good school but take away the prestige they have by being founded by Thomas Jefferson and look at their graduates and what they have accomplished and they don't seem so impressive. I must know 3-4 dozen people who went to school there and none of them are really outstanding people. Most of them think they are outstanding but none have accomplished that much. All are competent however. Yes UVa is a good school but not a great school, with the possible exception of their Law School.

[Maine Mariner]

And there is the Webb Institute. Grants degrees in naval
architecture, marine engineering, etc. I believe every student admitted receives a full scholarship for tuition.

[CharlesWayneCT]

I think it’s just that it’s pretty cheap for in-state tuition, and graduates are thought of highly enough to get better-paying jobs.

[Vermont Lt]

Nor are they likely to steal from you, or screw an admin assistant (of either sex) on the their desk after hours.

No kidding.

[richardtavor]

The beds were deposited over time, but the canyon was carved out by the river.

[Rennes Templar]

I’ve heard of all the others you mentioned, just not Harvey Mudd. Looks like a good school.

[Osage Orange]

Good for her!!