Forbes Top 650

[covufan]

Forbes has come out with their America's Top Colleges.  Here is a link for the top in the state of Indiana:

http://www.forbes.com/top-colleges/list/#p_1_s_a0_Indiana_

If you change the filter to "all states", you'll get the complete list. 

Valpo is ranked 314 out of the 650.  Not bad, but I would expect VU to be above Hanover, Huntington, Earlham, and Taylor.  I don't know the criteria Forbes used.

[vu72]

Tops at what? If you want to major in finance, engineering or nursing you aren't going to be very happy at Hanover or Huntington.  Who knew Williams was better than Harvard?  When one of the major factors in the rankings is gathered from something called "rate my professor", you have to really wonder about the criteria.

http://centerforcollegeaffordability.org/uploads/2012_Methodology.pdf

Then when you read their overview of Valpo you REALLY wonder about their research:

Profile

Valparaiso University is a four-year, coeducational, private university located Valparaiso, Indiana. It was established in 1859 and is affiliated with the Lutheran Church in America; the school now has 2,827 undergraduate students with an additional 1,137 graduate students. Located on campus the Chapel of the Resurrection is the largest collegiate chapel in the United States, featuring about 60,000 pipes and 103 rows. Valparaiso University competes in NCAA Division I-AA athletics; the mascot is the Crusader, which replaced a fierce German knight called Uhlan as mascot after World War II. Legend has it that students who kiss the gravestone of George, the longtime campus dog, will score well on their exams. The current president of the university is Mark A. Heckler. JoBe Cerny, the voice of the Pillsbury Doughboy, graduated from Valparaiso in 1970.

Somehow I think they meant 6,000 pipes and 103 RANKS.  And George the dog?  You've got to be kidding me! Finally, JoBe is hardly our most famous alumnus.

[wh]

A Dish service tech. installed TV service at our new home the other day.  When he was ready to leave he commented that Dish would be calling within 24 hours to ask me to rate his service performance.  He said I would be asked to rate his performance from 1-10 with 10 being the highest.  He made sure I knew that anything below a 10 shows that he could have/should have done a better job.  In other words please give me a 10 - hint, hint.  I'm guessing that many of the small schools on the Forbes list similarly forewarn their students.  Something like " remember, the higher you rate us, the higher we will rank on the list and the better it looks for you." Essentially, surveys designed like this aren't worth the paper they're written on.

[Ralph]

Tops at what? If you want to major in finance, engineering or nursing you aren't going to be very happy at Hanover or Huntington.  Who knew Williams was better than Harvard?  When one of the major factors in the rankings is gathered from something called "rate my professor", you have to really wonder about the criteria. http://centerforcollegeaffordability.org/uploads/2012_Methodology.pdf

Then when you read their overview of Valpo you REALLY wonder about their research:

Profile

Valparaiso University is a four-year, coeducational, private university located Valparaiso, Indiana. It was established in 1859 and is affiliated with the Lutheran Church in America; the school now has 2,827 undergraduate students with an additional 1,137 graduate students. Located on campus the Chapel of the Resurrection is the largest collegiate chapel in the United States, featuring about 60,000 pipes and 103 rows. Valparaiso University competes in NCAA Division I-AA athletics; the mascot is the Crusader, which replaced a fierce German knight called Uhlan as mascot after World War II. Legend has it that students who kiss the gravestone of George, the longtime campus dog, will score well on their exams. The current president of the university is Mark A. Heckler. JoBe Cerny, the voice of the Pillsbury Doughboy, graduated from Valparaiso in 1970. Somehow I think they meant 6,000 pipes and 103 RANKS.  And George the dog?  You've got to be kidding me! Finally, JoBe is hardly our most famous alumnus.

Agreed.  How it should have read:

Valparaiso University is a four-year, coeducational, private university located Valparaiso, Indiana. It was established in 1859 and is affiliated with the Lutheran Church in America; the school now has 2,827 undergraduate students with an additional 1,137 graduate students. Located on campus the Chapel of the Resurrection is the largest collegiate chapel in the United States, featuring about 60,000 pipes and 103 rows. Valparaiso University competes in NCAA Division I-AA athletics; the mascot is the Crusader, which replaced a fierce German knight called Uhlan as mascot after World War II.  The current president of the university is Mark A. Heckler. Erik Hromadka, CEO of Global Water Technologies, graduated from Valparaiso in 1988.

[johnny_fetla]

Nice post Ralph.  Erik Hromadka definitely deserves mention.  However, I'm surprised the V.U. description failed to mention Keith Kizer (Executive Director of Nevada Athletic Commission and noted to be in the Top 20 of most influential people in the boxing,  Doug Rich (famous recording artist) Paul Grammatico (playright) or even Mike Miller (entrepreneur & farmer)

[okinawatyphoon]

Another interesting ranking that Valpo just came out on: 10 most innovative colleges for foreign language study. Look at the other schools included with Valpo in the top 10! 

http://www.thebestcolleges.org/10-most-innovative-colleges-for-foreign-language-study/

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Doug Rich is a famous recording artist?!?!?!  More info please...he's one of my mom's old students!

[Ralph]

Doug Rich is a famous recording artist?!?!?!  More info please...he's one of my mom's old students!

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/douglasrich

Tom, I previewed the album and it is pretty damn good, especially tracks 6 and 1.

[VULB#62]

Another interesting ranking that Valpo just came out on: 10 most innovative colleges for foreign language study. Look at the other schools included with Valpo in the top 10! 

http://www.thebestcolleges.org/10-most-innovative-colleges-for-foreign-language-study/

That's pretty illustrious company!

Figured Middlebury would be up there somewhere (my daughter graduated from Midd with a Spanish major) but to see it at #1 was good.  VU being #9 is a very definite kudo.

[covufan]

Another interesting ranking that Valpo just came out on: 10 most innovative colleges for foreign language study. Look at the other schools included with Valpo in the top 10! 

http://www.thebestcolleges.org/10-most-innovative-colleges-for-foreign-language-study/

Good to know and great for VU!

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Tom, I previewed the album and it is pretty damn good, especially tracks 6 and 1.

wait a second...who are you! 

[valpotx]

My sister also graduated from Middlebury with a Spanish & French minor, so she has been razzing me about being ranked higher than me in something