Rankings? Were they accurate in any way whatsoever?
346273
It depends.  The rankings for undergrad programs are just plain and simple made up, or might as well be.  Too many factors, too much shady dealing, too much of, well, trying to sell issues of the magazine.  Funny how colleges that refuse to even let US News & World Reports on their campus still wind up in the "survey results."  You are also trying to compare fundementally different programs without taking those differences into consideration.\n\nThe Graduate program rankings fair a little better, because there you can at least compare department to department and not try to reduce the entire school down to a number.\n\nIn short, the graduate rankings have some meaning, but you can pretty much replicate the undergrad rankings by conducting a person on the street survey.\n\nOne of the better undergraduate surveys that I have found was "Colleges that Change Lives."  It winds up being a very usefull tool for a couple of reasons.  First it doesn't assign any points, it simply talks about each of the colleges it is surverying, and secondly it is very narrow in focus, in this case really indroducing one to the world of small, personable liber arts colleges.  Obviously if one is looking to go to a big school, for any number of fine reasons this list is not for them, but it is a list that at least does it right.
438411
A lot of people believe in college rankings, which is what you'll find on the web.  Personally I think that rankings are overly simplistic and miss a lot of important information.  The most important ranking, however, is the US News & World Report list, (available on their website) which comes out every year.  They mess with their criteria every year just so they can print a new list and sell more magazines- it's really kind of a scam.  But from year to year, there are some schools which are consistently on top.  It also has a lot of statistical information on each school, which can be helpful in just finding out more about a place.\n\nAsk: Do the students have a lot of course choices?  Is the housing expensive?  Are the professors good?  Do the graduates get jobs?  Is there much diversity?  Is the school too big/small or too urban/rural for you?\n\nLet me give you a piece of advice, however.  Don't just rely on the web or statistics to give you information about colleges.  NOTHING can replace a college visit for giving you the feel of a place before you decide to apply there.  Second best would be to talk to people who are students there or recent graduates.  Most admissions offices can put you in touch with someone to answer your questions, and you can contact the admissions people through the university's website.
742968
there are way too many people who think that rankings are simply based on who a team loses to.\n\nthe rankings are based on a complex system that includes at least:\n\n1.  win-loss record\n2.  how a team wins or loses their games (points & home/road)\n3.  who a team plays (strength of schedule)\n4.  is a team getting better, staying the same, or getting worse?\n\nin order to be in the BCS championship game, a team must:\n\n1.  finish #1 or #2 in the BCS rankings\n2.  win their conference\n\ntaking into consideration all of the factors that determine a team's ranking, USC should be ahead of michigan because:\n\n1.  michigan did not win their conference, ohio state did\n2.  USC's schedule is slightly stronger than michigan's\n3.  USC's loss was on the road; and they almost came back\n4.  USC shut down oregon, cal and notre dame\n\n\nsome extra points:\n\n1.  michigan is a really good team.  if they played ohio state at home, they would have creamed the buckeyes.  but they didn't.  that's just how the schedule worked this year.\n\n2.  oregon state isn't all that bad of a football team.  they are bowl-eligible with an 8-4 record.  and if you look at the current AP & coaches polls, you will see that oregon state received some votes.\n\n3.  i believed that michigan was the #2 team last week (even after losing to #1 osu; and after USC beat cal).  but USC is playing better and better and definitely deserve a high ranking.\n\n4.  if michigan plays ohio state in a rematch, that wouldn't be fair to ohio state because the buckeyes already beat michigan.  if they played again and lost to michigan, why should michigan be crowned the national champion?  they didn't win their conference and they already lost to ohio state.\n\n\nso there you have it.  a very UNBIASED opinion.
887608
The BCS ranking is based on an average of 3 different polls:\n1.  USA Today coaches poll - http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/usatpoll.htm\n2.  Harris Interactive poll - http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/bcspoll.asp\n3.  Computer poll\n\nUSA Today coaches poll - all 63 NCAA Div 1 coaches vote and rank the teams 1-25, with the #1 team getting 25 pts, #2 getting 24 pts, ....... #25 team getting 1 pt.  Total possible points is 1575.\nTake a teams total "vote points" and divide by 1575 to get the poll %.\n\nHarris Interactive Poll - is made up on 114 panelists from college football backgrounds (media, administrators, ex players, expert fans).  Points are calculated the same as the USA Today poll, except divided by 2850 to get the poll %.\n\nComputer Poll - this is an average of 6 different computer polls (Sagarin, Massey, Wolfe, Anderson/Hester, Billingsley and Colley.  Each of the computers ranks the teams from #1 - #25 based on several factors.  The highest and lowest ranking polls are thrown out for each team and the total points of the middle 4 polls are used.  Again, the points are awarded the same as the other 2 polls (#1 - 25pts ..... #25 - 1 pt).  Add up the 4 middle polls and divide by 100 to get this poll %.\n\nAverage all 3 of the poll %'s to get the TOTAL BCS POLL %.  Highest % is #1 ...... on down to #25.\n\nUSA Today has a good explanation on their website under the actual BCS poll.
312066
Here is the link to their site.\n\nhttp://www.masters.org/en_US/scores/index2.html?refresh
281890
are you kidding?\nAI\nlook at the stats, the experience, the game
903546
No corrections needed!\n\nYOUR 1-4 were correct. Answers 1-4 were wrong.
577526
Its whatever statics were used to create the list.  The variance you report between the highest and lowest is highly dubious.  I have seen this list used to demonstrate liberal voters are "smarter" than conservative voters. I have seen other IQ by state listings (based on recent SAT scores) that are much closer to the average of 100 in both directions (like roughly +/- five points).  This makes more sense, given what IQ is supposed to measure.  What is the likelihood that an entire state has an average IQ 15 points below the mean?
754532
I don't care what the rankings say. My team, Forest are 2nd (behind Liverpool's 5 triumphs), and just ahead of Man Utd who also have 2 wins. \nBut Forest won the European Cup back to back, eliminating defending champions Liverpool along the way, and in an age where you had to be Champions, to take part in the European Cup.\n\nI have seen my team become European Champions twice, far more than any other fans excepting Liverpool, can have the privilege of claiming.\nI can die a happy man.
932447
the last time they finished the season ranked in the polls was in 1997. they finished 11-1 and finished 6 in the Ap and 4 in the media poll. but i think they have been ranked at some point or another during the season since then and then fallen out at the end of the year.
357153
It is information collected by poll,they ask a question then give you several answers to choose from.I really don't think it is acurate.\nGallup does the polls ,they call me all the time,I don't answer their calls any more.
12478
This is the quality which counts, not the quantity. So, rating depends on how accurately it is answered.
756465
They put all the Stats in a computer including strength of Schedule and style and then the computer ranks it. they also have a a bunch of experts that rank it and they mixed the whole thing together and come up with a ranking.
262588
The ranking system is that published by The Times. If you go to their website and the to the Higher Education section, you should get there. Alternatively, most universities will give the ranking on their own websites - if they're any good...
1136070
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/10/Rank_1.html
1088060
I took it at Penn State my freshman year and it really wasn't that bad, especially if you've had stat before and just keep everything straight. A lot of the steps are repetitive, it's only one or two things that'll change based on what the problem is asking for or what info you're given.
424494
On the old system (out of 1600) it would have been pretty good. On the new system starting this year (2400) I would have to say it's mediocre.\n\nAs for Crao craz's site, I don't think it's very accurate. I happen to know my IQ, and, according to my test scores, my IQ should be WAY higher than it actually is. I also know plenty of people who scored 1500 and above (on the old system. Granted, the system might have held true 20 years ago when the average was much lower.) As it stands, it's NOT a tiny fraction of the population.