In those college rankings, the same colleges are always at the top of the list (Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, MIT, etc...) When I looked a little closer at the stats, it seems that the greatest factor was endowment size. The smaller your school's endowment, the lower it likely was. I had some great professors at my school, which was a quality state university. Some of them had their degrees from Harvard, and some from lesser known places. Just because they went to Harvard, didn't mean they were the best. In fact, those professors I thought weren't quite as good. So is it just the size of the endowment that determines those rankings?
2007-09-25 05:26:09 · 5 answers · asked by redguard572001 2 in Education & Reference ➔ Higher Education (University +)
The size of the endowment is an important consideration but not for the reason many people think.
A school with an endowment typically got/gets that money from alumni (graduates). If the alumni are able to fund a large endowment then that indicates they have been successful. When a large number of alumni are able to make 6-figure donations to their alma mater, there's an indication that "people who graduate from here make a lot of money" and that's just one consideration in the rankings.
The same colleges are almost always at the top. It's a function of the way reputation works. Until something significant happens to damage the reputation of one of these schools, they will tend to remain on top. Those schools lower can only move up the ladder if something happens to significantly enhance their reputation.
It is not just the endowment size, there are many factors. But many people believe the rankings are flawed. Much depends on what you exactly want out of a college - the rankings are based on some factors that some people consider unimportant while they don't include other factors that some people think are important. Bottom line, rankings are just a guide.
2007-09-25 05:35:38 · answer #1 · answered by CoachT 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes -- but it is indirect.
There are lots of factors that affect the rankings. It costs money to improve in any of those areas -- so the endowment becomes highly correlated with the factors that affect rankings.
2007-09-25 13:51:26 · answer #2 · answered by Ranto 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is a lot more to being a good school besides the teaching staff... future leaders will go to an ivy league college... and future Joe Sixpacks will go to the local Jr. College
2007-09-25 12:34:30 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Those Universities buy their rankings, everyone knows that.
2007-09-25 13:17:37 · answer #4 · answered by Roland'sMommy 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
money
2007-09-25 12:35:40 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋