The U: No Longer Top 50

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The US News rankings include things like what % of alums donate, amount of alumni donations, and perception of quality among peer institutions. Do those things have anything to do with academic quality or outcome for students?

It is smart to try to manipulate your ranking upward due to perception, but that's about it.
 
Now that we’ve lost our run at Being Harvard maybe we can go back to putting money into the football program something we actually have a shot at being number 1
 
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We're 39 in this one and ND dropped from 15 to 40 ..... All these lists are highly subjective... I wouldn't put much into what they say as far as ranking..

US News and World Report changed their metrics a couple of years ago which scores differently and hurt the University in their rankings. As you stated, I won't put too much into it.
 
Why am I not shocked that people, who complained when Miami was rising, is now ****ed that after Momentum II, Miami fell a couple of spots. The USNWR rankings can be manipulated by high end fundraising, and FSU is in the middle of a huge fundraising drive, they are also doing everything they can to fudge their acceptance numbers, in order to look more selective. Never mind the fact that the difference between 33 and 50 in the rankings are a couple of rank points at best. When I showed up in Coral Gables in 2004, UMiami was ranked in the 70s. Miami has been able to hold over a 20 spot improvement for the better part of 15 years, with some peaks due to Dr. Shalala cleaning up in regards to fundraising and an increased yield of applicants.

That said, Frenk hasn't nearly been as effective in attracting top end faculty and administrators, so I wouldn't be shocked if his contract wasn't renewed. Then again, he wasn't my first choice to begin with. I wanted Stavridis, because of his research connections and the fact that he would have brought in a new, tech forward administrative team that would have found new opportunities for the University.

That and US News and World Report changed their metrics.
 
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Only idiots give the USNWR credence as an actual academic barometer.

“Best” in this case is not about academics.

Most of you don’t even have a clue what their ranking criteria is.

I can't believe we're rehashing an old list here but your larger point is absolutely accurate. The only thing I will say about this specific ranking is that it does show how adept at p-r the schools that shuffle annually between spots around 35-60 are. And that your ranking here does affect your freshman applicant pool. It's just not a good look despite the obviously flawed metrics to drop out of the top 50.
 
Who's got better academics AND made multiple appearances in Playboy's list of top 10 party colleges?
 
Florida Pre-Paid, Bright Futures and the insanely high cost of OOS tuition means the state of Florida is keeping more of it's kids home. All the state schools are much more competitive than they used to be. FSU got 60+ apps for their freshman class. UF's acceptance rate was barely 30%. Even UCF isn't a gimme anymore.

But, whatever. Fix the fooball program. Profit.
 
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I can't believe we're rehashing an old list here but your larger point is absolutely accurate. The only thing I will say about this specific ranking is that it does show how adept at p-r the schools that shuffle annually between spots around 35-60 are. And that your ranking here does affect your freshman applicant pool. It's just not a good look despite the obviously flawed metrics to drop out of the top 50.

No doubt that we failed on the PR front. But it has nothing to do with academics, it has to do with leadership, namely Frenk.

Of course, we have ***** the post here that seem to get joy out of this.
 
Why am I not shocked that people, who complained when Miami was rising, is now ****ed that after Momentum II, Miami fell a couple of spots. The USNWR rankings can be manipulated by high end fundraising, and FSU is in the middle of a huge fundraising drive, they are also doing everything they can to fudge their acceptance numbers, in order to look more selective. Never mind the fact that the difference between 33 and 50 in the rankings are a couple of rank points at best. When I showed up in Coral Gables in 2004, UMiami was ranked in the 70s. Miami has been able to hold over a 20 spot improvement for the better part of 15 years, with some peaks due to Dr. Shalala cleaning up in regards to fundraising and an increased yield of applicants.

That said, Frenk hasn't nearly been as effective in attracting top end faculty and administrators, so I wouldn't be shocked if his contract wasn't renewed. Then again, he wasn't my first choice to begin with. I wanted Stavridis, because of his research connections and the fact that he would have brought in a new, tech forward administrative team that would have found new opportunities for the University.
He should have went to more BOWLING fundraising events like Donna. Donna rode the wave of football fame that carried Miami from SUN TAN U, when I went there, to THE U. Frenk inherited the results of her efforts to remake the program into the girl school it is now. She was a fundraiser, but what Clintonite is not. I don't like her but I didn't like Foote either.
 
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