......Having taught at Stanford, Harvard, annd a couple of other places I can tell you that all this "ranking" is non-sense. Of course, all of the big, billion-dollar plus endowment, mostly "ivy league" universities love it as it is free advertizing and publicity:
In my research labs I have had people from just about every corner of the worldwide university spectrum and I have had brilliant researchers and engineers from every corner: none of the places had a monopoly on talent - although I will say that the big research universities have the edge in training: however most of their edge comes from controlling the grant award process here in the US and not necessarily from other strengths.
So..... Before you blindly follow the herd and start "listing" academic institutions and start believing all of this propaganda, you might start thinking about universities / schools as just another set of businesses with their own priorities. All of the high and mighty talk is primariliy just that: talk which is designed to convince you to part with your money. A very good education can be had at many schools - if an education is truly your goal in attending ......
In my research labs I have had people from just about every corner of the worldwide university spectrum and I have had brilliant researchers and engineers from every corner: none of the places had a monopoly on talent - although I will say that the big research universities have the edge in training: however most of their edge comes from controlling the grant award process here in the US and not necessarily from other strengths.
So..... Before you blindly follow the herd and start "listing" academic institutions and start believing all of this propaganda, you might start thinking about universities / schools as just another set of businesses with their own priorities. All of the high and mighty talk is primariliy just that: talk which is designed to convince you to part with your money. A very good education can be had at many schools - if an education is truly your goal in attending ......