Date: Sun, 9 Sep 2001 12:28:54 -0400
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Sender: The Internet TourBus - A virtual tour of cyberspace
Comments: Resent-From: crispen@netsquirrel.com
Comments: Originally-From: Patrick Douglas Crispen
From: Patrick Douglas Crispen
Subject: TOURBUS -- 9 SEP 01 -- MORE COLLEGE RANKINGS / THIS OLD BROWSER
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TOURBUS Volume 7, Number 14 -- 9 Sep 2001
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SIX YEARS of Searchable Archives at http://www.TOURBUS.com !!
TODAY'S TOURBUS STOP(S):
More College Rankings / This Old Browser
TODAY'S TOURBUS ADDRESS(ES):
http://www.review.com/college/rankings.cfm
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankindex.htm
http://www.cnet.com/software/0-3227883-8-6874669-1.html
http://home.netscape.com/download/archive.html?cp=dowarc
http://sillydog.org/narchive/fulldata.html
Howdy, y'all, and greetings once again from beautiful Tuscaloosa,
Alabama, a small, moustache-looking fish often used as a pizza
topping. :P
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On with the show ...
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More College Rankings
---------------------
A couple of weeks ago I told you about the Princeton Review's rankings
of 331 of the United States' major colleges and universities
[at http://www.review.com/college/rankings.cfm ], warning that the
rankings were extraordinarily unscientific. Princeton Review's
rankings are certainly entertaining, but few people -- and even fewer
colleges and universities -- take these rankings seriously.
The rankings list that everyone *DOES* take seriously -- or at least
the list that generates the most attention both inside and outside the
higher education community -- is US News & World Report's annual list
of America's Best Colleges. This year's list was recently posted
online at
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankindex.htm .
US News & World Report uses seven indicators to generate each school's
ranking:
1. Academic Reputation - how the presidents, provosts, and deans
of admissions from rival institutions rate the reputation of
that school.
2. Retention - the school's freshman and six-year retention
rates.
3. Faculty Resources - average class sizes, faculty salaries, and
so on.
4. Student Selectivity - how difficult it is for students to gain
admission to that school.
5. Financial Resources - how much the school spends per student.
6. Graduation Rate Performance - the difference between the
school's predicted graduation rate and the actual graduation
rate.
7. Alumni Giving Rate - supposedly a measure of alumni
satisfaction.
One thing that may confuse you is that instead of creating one big
list of the rankings of every US college and university, US News &
World Report created several lists ranging from "National Universities
- Doctoral" to "Comprehensive Colleges - Bachelor's." Here is what
all of this means in English:
- National universitiesdoctoral are schools like Princeton,
University of Chicago, and the University of Alabama (ROLL
TIDE!) -- research institutions that offer degrees all the way
up to the PhD level.
- Liberal arts collegesbachelor's are smaller schools like
Amherst, Vassar, and Washington and Lee -- schools that
primarily emphasize undergraduate education.
- Universities-master's are regional schools like The Citadel,
Xavier, and UNC Charlotte -- schools that offer undergraduate
and masters degrees but few PhDs.
- Comprehensive colleges-bachelor's are small schools that focus
primarily on undergraduate education.
US News & World Report's annual list of America's Best Colleges is an
interesting read but, like the Princeton Review's rankings, it has
generated a great deal of controversy. Amy Graham, the former
director of data research for US News & World Report, writes in the
current issue of The Washington Monthly magazine that US News & World
Report's annual list "pays scant attention to measures of learning or
good educational practices." You can read Graham's article, titled
"Broken Ranks," at
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0109.graham.thompson.html .
The New York Times editorial page has also raised some questions about
the validity of US News' rankings. You can read the Times' comments
online at
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/27/opinion/27MON2.html .
I think the Times' sums this whole problem up quite nicely:
Does anyone really choose a college just by looking at U.S. News
& World Report's annual rankings? Probably not, but universities
still take them very much to heart.
Something to think about. :)
----------------
This Old Browser
----------------
With all of the attention that Microsoft has received over the past
couple of weeks, it is easy to forget that there is a small but vocal
minority of Web users who would rather defrag their hard drive with a
sledge hammer than use Internet Explorer. For the die hard Netscape
fans out there, our friends at CNET have written a wonderful guide
that shows you, step-by-step, how to tune up your old Netscape browser
without upgrading to Netscape 6 (BARF!) or succumbing to the power of
dark side (IE). You can find the article, titled "This Old Browser:
Update and Rennovate Netscape 4.X," at
http://www.cnet.com/software/0-3227883-8-6874669-1.html .
And, if you are really nostalgic for the early days of the Web, our
friends at Netscape have an archive of all of their browsers since
version 2.0 at
http://home.netscape.com/download/archive.html?cp=dowarc
and Antony Shen has an archive that goes all the way back to Netscape
0.9B (remember *THAT*?) at
http://sillydog.org/narchive/fulldata.html .
That's it for today. Have a safe and happy week ... and stay away
from the anchovies! :P
TODAY'S TOURBUS STOP(S):
More College Rankings / This Old Browser
TODAY'S TOURBUS ADDRESS(ES):
http://www.review.com/college/rankings.cfm
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankindex.htm
http://www.cnet.com/software/0-3227883-8-6874669-1.html
http://home.netscape.com/download/archive.html?cp=dowarc
http://sillydog.org/narchive/fulldata.html
---------------------------------
TODAY'S SOUTHERN WORD OF THE WEEK
---------------------------------
JAPE (noun). A general purpose military vehicle manufactured by
American Motors during WW2 and by DaimlerChrysler today.
Usage: "You see that new Jape Liberty? It looks like a BUG!"
[Special thanks to Dick Linder for today's wurd]
You can find all of the old Southern Words of the day at
http://netsquirrel.com/crispen/word.html
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