Brown University has the misfortune of consistently receiving the worst ranking among Ivy League schools in the highly respected rankings published annually by US News and World Reports. In the Best Colleges 2010 edition, Brown was ranked sixteenth overall in the highest rated category of the national university rankings. For the 2010 ranking, Brown finished one place behind Cornell University, another Ivy League school. Unfortunately, for the good folks at Brown, being part of such a respected group as the Ivy League means that they have to accept the reality that when competing in an objective ranking system with such respected institutions, at least one member has to come last .
Being one of the top 20 American universities (and in this particular case, one of the top 16 universities) is certainly no small feat. In fact, it can easily be said that all top-notch schools are superb colleges that provide tremendous resources for the brightest students in the world. Parents around the world would love to give their children the opportunity to attend the best universities in America.
Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island has a rich history dating back to the days before the Revolutionary War, before the United States even existed. Founded by Baptist in 1764, Brown University is a proud member of both the Colonial Colleges (which recognize the nine oldest North American colleges) and the Ivy League, which did not officially adopt the Ivy title until 1954 to highlight the athletic conference in the eight academically focused members compete against each other.
The eight schools that make up the Ivy League along with their 2010 US News and World Report rankings are:
- Harvard University (#1: 2010 US News and World Report Rank),
- Princeton University (#1: 2010 US News and World Report Rank),
- Yale University (3rd place: 2010 US News and World Report Rank),
- University of Pennsylvania (4th place: 2010 US News and World Report Rank),
- Columbia University (8th place: 2010 US News and World Report Rank),
- Dartmouth College (11th: 2010 US News and World Report Rank),
- Cornell University (15th place: 2010 US News and World Report rank) and finally
- Brown University (16th place: US News and World Report 2010 rank).
As the co-number one spots (Harvard and Princeton this year) show, there are ties in the rankings. Also of note is the fact that the Ivy League schools obviously don’t simply make up the entire list from places one through eight. The top sixteen spots include reputable non-Ivy League schools such as:
- Stanford (4th place: 2010 US News and World Report Rank),
- Duke (10th place: 2010 US News and World Report rank),
- Washington University in St. Louis (12th place: 2010 US News and World Report rank) and
- Johns Hopkins University (14th place: 2010 US News and World Report rank) among others.
Brown University’s US News and World Report rankings have fluctuated over the past decade, while remaining in the teens for the past decade. Although Brown has a ranking enviable by the vast majority of schools, its position at the rear of the Ivy League pack has led some schools (like Brown) to question the meaning and validity of the ranking.
As for concerns about the importance of these national rankings, the only thing that can be said with absolute certainty is that no one knows exactly what role these rankings play in selecting the best students in schools. In an ideal world, all students would have unlimited resources and the opportunity to familiarize themselves with each college’s curriculum and environment before making informed decisions about what settings would best suit their personality and needs. The reality is that utopia simply will never exist, and for most prospective freshmen, the best way to understand what programs are available is to learn from publications like the annual US News and World Reports Rankings. While schools less than happy with their current rankings are happy to argue that the rankings are irrelevant, at best these schools deny the impact these rankings have on highly competitive teenagers who grew up in an environment that instills a mentality constantly striving for the best grades and best test results.
Regardless of how parents, students, or admissions offices feel about college rankings, there are two points that are clearly indisputable:
(1) The debate about the ability of these rankings to accurately measure subjective problems will continue for some time
(2) these rankings are here to stay.
Thanks to Kim Patel | #Brown #University #Ranking #consistently #worst #Ivy #Leagues