• The KillerFrogs

New WSJ College Rankings

In today's WSJ...top 500 US Universities
The Big XII edition
62 UT
171 BU
205 TCU
206 OU
276 ISU
297 KU
367 OSU
436 KSU
489 TT (no surprise here)

other TX schools
14 RICE
94 ATM
100 SMU
396 U of H
 

H0RNEDFR0G

Full Member
What is the ranking based on?

Rankings are based on 15 key indicators that assess colleges in four areas: Outcomes, Resources, Engagement and Environment. Outcomes accounts for 40% of the weighting and measures things like the salary graduates earn and the debt burden they take on. Resources, with a 30% weighting, is mainly a proxy for the spending schools put into instruction and student services. Engagement, drawn mostly from a student survey and with a 20% weight, examines views on things like teaching and interactions with faculty and other students. Environment, at 10%, assesses the diversity of the university community.
 

Zubaz

Member
I know I don’t understand what’s really important in life, but I’d rather be #10 in the AP poll and #200 in this WSJ ranking than #10 WSJ and #200 in the AP. And I didn’t have to give that much thought at all.
Top 10 might be a bit of a stretch, certainly most people would rather their degree say Yale or Harvard than TCU, but yeah anything past Ivy's and a few others and it gets in to a bit of "what's the difference". SMU is a really good school, but does it really open that many more doors?

Even when I graduated in 2004, going back to the Northeast not too many people knew who TCU is. Now, everyone does. The academics have certainly improved, but that recognition is based a lot more on the football team's performance.
 

dawg

Active Member
So SMOO ranked 100 spots above us? They do have us beat in the "Hooker Killing" metric.

#RememberTheSix*

*Everyone seems to forget the unborn child of passion (allegedly) fathered by one Craig James, who so soullessly removed them from this world (allegedly).
 

Eight

Member
I know I don’t understand what’s really important in life, but I’d rather be #10 in the AP poll and #200 in this WSJ ranking than #10 WSJ and #200 in the AP. And I didn’t have to give that much thought at all.

your ohio state is showing.......................hey, i just said it before someone else did wex
 
As with all metrics, flaws are obvious.. Heavy emphasis on graduates' salaries puts liberal arts and Midwestern/Southern schools at a heavy disadvantage from the start. Resources, if not normalized, advantages large enrollment schools and elite private universities. Engagement is subjective to begin with, and the way questions are worded and results interpreted is critical to the outcome. Finally, any scale measuring diversity along traditional (racial, socio-economic, gender, etc) lines. will disadvantage a school such as TCU (except, of course, the female percentage of enrollment).

Bottom line -- so what? We already know UT and A&M have resources we can't dream about. We already know that, academically, we're very good but not Rice-level selective. We already know that, unless the criteria include toxic culture and dorkiness, we will be seen as roughly equivalent to SMU and Baylor.

For me, the most obvious differentiator is that which can't be measured -- the quality of our students and leaders and the results we get from the resources we invest in them.

GO FROGS!
 

westoverhillbilly

Active Member
The last page of that WSJ section on rankings has TCU tied for 3rd in US on student engagement- meaning a quality measurement about our kids’ participation in activities and class projects..
 
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