Texas' Best Colleges/Universities

[3afan]

FWIW (first 20):

Rice
SMU
Southwestern
Texas-Austin
U. of Dallas
Trinity
Texas A&M-College Station
Austin College
Texas-Dallas
St. Edward's
Baylor
Texas Tech
TCU
Texas-Pan American
Texas-Arlington
Abilene Christian
St. Mary's
Texas-El Paso
Texas St.
North Texas

[Emerson1]

linkage

[3afan]

Forbes.com

[carter08]

The problem with any list like this is it ranks the school as a whole. Students shouldn't base their choice of school on the overall ranking, but on where their particular program is ranked.

[Keith7]

Originally posted by carter08
The problem with any list like this is it ranks the school as a whole. Students shouldn't base their choice of school on the overall ranking, but on where their particular program is ranked.

mad because houston didn't make the cut?

[44INAROW]

Originally posted by Keith7
mad because houston didn't make the cut?
you just like to argue, don't you?:p

[BaseballUmp]

Originally posted by Keith7
mad because houston didn't make the cut?

Mad because Texas State is ahead of North Texas? lol

[BIG BLUE DEFENSIVE END]

Originally posted by 3afan
FWIW (first 20):

Rice
SMU
Southwestern
Texas-Austin
U. of Dallas
Trinity
Texas A&M-College Station
Austin College
Texas-Dallas
St. Edward's
Baylor
Texas Tech
TCU
Texas-Pan American
Texas-Arlington
Abilene Christian
St. Mary's
Texas-El Paso
Texas St.
North Texas

I'm really surprised TCU isn't closer to the top of this list.

I'd really love to go to law school at Texas if I do decide to go that route.

[Keith7]

Originally posted by BaseballUmp
Mad because Texas State is ahead of North Texas? lol

LOL to think Texas State is ahead of North Texas in ANYTHING in real life is laughable..

BTW It looks like Houston did make the list

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/94/best-colleges-10_Americas-Best-Colleges_State_22.html

[ronwx5x]

Originally posted by Keith7
LOL to think Texas State is ahead of North Texas in ANYTHING in real life is laughable..

BTW It looks like Houston did make the list

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/94/best-colleges-10_Americas-Best-Colleges_State_22.html

Texas State is miles ahead of N Texas in location!!!:D

[sahen]

it should probably be noted this is found in the "opinion" section of forbes.com.....

the criteria they use to judge seem to be ok but one, but then teh way they get the data is questionable

1. Student Satisfaction (27.5%) this is the questionable one to me but i can see the merits, however making it the second most important factor in ranking schools seems not right
way they get their data for this:
-ratings from ratemyprofessor.com (whopping 17.5% of the school rating from a website that a lot of students go to vent, not to mention its questionable if each school is represented fairly there)
-freshman-to-sophomore retention rates (only 5%, seems to be the least subjective yet way less valuable than the one before)
-student evaluations from myplan.com (5%, same complaint as the ratemyprofessor.com website)

2. Postgraduate Success (30%) i like having this one as the highest weighted item to rate schools, however how they got the info is questionable again
-salary of alumni from payscale.com (15%, the whole problem here is whether each school is fairly represented or even accurately represented on a website like this)
-listing of alumni in Who's Who in America (10%, this to me is laughable to be used....maybe it is just me but Who's Who always seems like some scam to get money from people to buy a book w/ their name in it)
-alumni in Forbes/CCAP Corporate Officers List (5%, i am OK w/ this one)

3. Student Debt (17.5%, this one matters more and more as schools get more and more expensive)
-Four-year debt load for typical student borrower (12.5%, no argument here, maybe should be higher and should probably do a 5 year debt load since most students are taking 5 years instead of 4 now days)
-Student Loan Default Rates (5%, this could be questionable since some defaults are made because people are irresponsible not because they racked up too much debt to pay it off, however its only 5% so i think its at a good spot)

4. Four-year Graduation Rate (17.5%, this is fine except some schools are notoriously easy to get a degree from versus others...and even w/n the same school certain degrees are easier to obtain than others...why not a five year rate as well?)
-Actual four-year Grad Rate (8.75%, same as before and once again why not 5 year rate?)
-Predicted vs Actual Four-year Grad Rate (8.75%, same comments as before)

5. Competitive Awards (7.5%, this is important but not hugely important...however it is at 7.5% so cant really complain)
-Student Nationally Competitive Awards (7.5% see above)


they go into detail why they used each one and explain it here

http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/01/best-colleges-methodology-opinions-colleges-10-ccap.html

[3afan]

ya thats why I said FWIW ...

[carter08]

Originally posted by Keith7
LOL to think Texas State is ahead of North Texas in ANYTHING in real life is laughable..

BTW It looks like Houston did make the list

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/94/best-colleges-10_Americas-Best-Colleges_State_22.html

Texas State's Creative Writing MFA is ahead of UNT's MA program.

But aside from that, I can't think of anything.

[ronwx5x]

He needs one of these:

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2010/08/13/chryslers-gun-toting-pickup-truck/?test=faces

[Pudlugger]

No way Southwestern is ranked ahead of Trinity. The academics at Trinity are way above Southwestern. The average SAT scores of Trinity are 2200-2300 out of 2400. Trinity athletics are excellent and they have been ranked #1 in regional universities (those offering MA degrees) rankings for the Western Region by US News and World Reports for the last twenty years or so. Ahead of Occidental, Chapman and Gonzaga to name some in that category. Forbes must be on crack.

[BrahmaMom]

Got one graduate from Rice, one graduating from Southwestern in May--my guys picked well. I would say Southwestern was put up at the top because it belongs there, sorry. It is a heck of an academic environment, not just academic classes. GO OWLS FOREVER! Love the Pirates, too! But more important, the guys are coming out with first rate educations and experiences.

[SWMustang]

I like the list. It's been my experience that kids from those schools make really good subordinates.