In this post we asked Are College Rankings Reliable? and while people disagree on the answer to that question, there is no disputing that college students find such rankings reliable. Sure, the difference between and 1-10 might be indiscernible in actuality and thus the choice might be better left to some campus visits. Nonetheless, the schools in 1-10 are going to be great schools.

Anyway, we say this only because we like rankings. We think rankings cause colleges to strive for excellence. And while rankings aren’t perfect, they are useful. They serve a purpose.

UCSD’s Guardian newspaper makes the argument the most of the college rankings systems aren’t thorough enough and they often skimp on being scientific about their metrics.

As it can seem unnecessarily expensive and exhaustive to visit college campuses or do in-depth research outside of pamphlets and Web sites, rankings systems such as U.S. News and World Report’s annual “America’s Best Colleges” carry dangerous weight. But any prospective college kid — not to mention the general public — should take care to evaluate a publication’s methodology before letting those rankings affect their own opinion.

Notice that last sentence. How many students are really going to evaluate a publications methodology? Instead of doing that, we propose that there should be a watchdog group that independently evaluates the ranking systems for quality. That way students will know which publications to trust.

From: Top-College Rankings Oversimplify Research

This article from MarketWatch discusses strong evidence for why location matters when choosing a college. The best location for college is going to have low cost of living but offer lots of opportunity.

“I’ve talked to hundreds of seniors in college who have told me that they didn’t realize how important college location was until they got to school. But it should be one of the top considerations for students and parents,” said Todd Hoffman, a college researcher and consultant.

The best place to go to college ultimately comes down to personal preferences. Do you need city life to feel happy? Do you need to be near family? What are your post-graduate plans? All of these things should weigh heavily when choosing a college.

Moral of the story: don’t choose a college based on reputation alone. Some of the best colleges are in bad locations which make it harder to get a job after college not to mention contribute to depression (lack of contentment, no access to favorite activities, too cold, too hot, not near family, etc.) during school. the best place for college comes down to your career goals. But you can’t go wrong in choosing a location that offers low cost of living, abundant job opportunities, and high earning potential.

College Crunch has a nice overview of colleges with the best online psychology degrees available today. In the article they highlight three of the best online psychology programs for getting a degree in psychology. Included on the list are:

• Walden University
• Liberty University
• Capella University

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US News & World Report has a thought provoking piece on why Black Colleges might be the best bargains in higher education during this economy, especially as many have open enrollment for people of all races:

But all of this may create an unprecedented opportunity for the HBCUs that have proved they can turn disadvantaged kids into stars at a comparatively low cost. Morehouse, for example, is attracting all kinds of applicants interested in a small private college education with a sticker price about $15,000 lower than those of elite majority-white schools in the Northeast. Last year’s valedictorian was white, for example. And for his medical school classes, Paul says, “I just want the brightest people. I don’t care if they are grey, yellow …”

Read more at US News & World Report

One of my friends attended West Virginia Wesleyan College and when he heard that I run a site on the Best Colleges, he told me I had to write about his alma mater.

According to my friend, West Virginia Wesleyan College has the following benefits:

A top notch faculty that is student-centric.
Not only are the faculty members extremely well educated and smart, but they also teach the joy of learning. They encourage discovery while at the same time challenging you to think deeply.

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When looking for a college or university to go to in order to receive your business degree, it is always nice to have some resources that rank the top schools.   We went around the net collecting many different lists of the best business schools to help you make your decision.

Forbes: The Best Business Schools

Business Week:  Best Bang For Your Buck

College Crunch:  Top Business School Rankings

Yahoo:  The Best Business Schools of 2008

BSJ:  The Top 10 Business Schools

If you ask any random person what the best colleges in the United States are and they will probably start with the typical premier Ivy League schools like Harvard, Yale and Princeton.  Once they are done with those schools, they will move on to other prestigious schools like Stanford and MIT.

The perception of prestige is rooted deep within our culture.  Ask any early teen kid where he wants to go to college and he’s likely to name one of the few with high prestige.

Continued…

Famous People went to college too, over on College Crunch they have come up with a list of famous people and highlighted what colleges they went too. What is even cooler is these archaic photos they seemingly dropped all over the page. Where they found that aged photo of Steve Jobs is beyond me but its rather humorous. Imagine this could be you in a few years. Famous and on someones list. Although I doubt it unless you find your college pretty quickly.

Do celebrities influence your college selection choice? I am sure they do if they are athletes. I can imagine an athlete may want to follow in the footsteps of an idol. But what about normal folks. Do we attend the school that our fathers attended because we look up to them, or do we come to our own conclusion?