On major social platforms, it is common to see many students and parents asking: "Which ranking is the most authoritative and worthy of reference?" Is it still worth going to a university after the world's top 200? Is there a big gap between the "top30 and top50" schools? And so on. It seems that at this time, the ranking of schools has gone beyond the ranking itself, and even involves personal dignity and family glory. So, which rankings are worth paying attention to? Comprehensive ranking or professional ranking, which is more worthy of reference? Search for the topic of education competition
When talking about the issue of ranking reference, first of all, I need to explain to you that no ranking in the world can represent the position of ** or country, and there is no so-called "most authoritative ranking". All rankings are from **, magazines or publications, or third-party organizations, such as U. in the United Statess.News & World Report, The Princeton Review, QS World University Rankings in the UK, Times Higher Education, McCollin in Canada, Academic Ranking of World Universities in China, etc. It's just that after years of precipitation and comprehensive comparison with the public, the four major world university rankings that are now highly recognized have finally been formed: QS World University Rankings, U.Ss.NEWS, THE, and Shanghai Ranking.
The four rankings have different evaluation emphases, which directly leads to the fact that even the same university sometimes has a completely different "position" in different rankings. For example, Washington University in St. Louis is in 2023 us.NEWS is ranked 32nd in the World University Rankings, but in the QS World University Rankings 2023, it has fallen to only outside the top 100, ranking 118th.
The same is true for professional rankings, which are based on the criteria published by the QS World University Rankings by Subject, which consists of five components: academic reputation, employer reputation, citation rate of each ** study, H-index (i.e. the number of citations per **), and international research network (i.e. the international influence of the university where the major is located).
Due to the differences in the publication of ** in different disciplines, the weight of the indicators of each discipline cannot be generalized. For example, in the field of medicine, where the frequency of publication is high, the weight associated with citations accounts for about 25%; However, in professional disciplines with low publication frequency such as history, the weight of relevant indicators only accounts for about 15%. In addition, for very practical subjects such as art and design, assessments** are of little significance, so employer and academic reputation findings come into focus.
It can be seen that, in fact, the ranking focuses more on some characteristics and does not fully reflect the whole picture of a university or a certain major. Then when we choose the right major and institution for ourselves, we need to understand the ranking criteria first, and then make a judgment according to the actual situation.
As we all know, American universities are usually divided into comprehensive universities and liberal arts colleges. Many children from middle-class families in the United States prefer to attend liberal arts colleges. Small class sizes are common in these colleges, and students can receive more care and attention.
Although these schools are relatively unwell-known, they are rich in educational resources and can provide a good transition for children to enter society after graduating from high school. Some well-known comprehensive universities do have a lot of famous professors, but they have to take their own graduate and doctoral students and devote more energy to scientific research. Undergraduates often don't have much direct access to these renowned professors.
In addition, most colleges and universities in the United States implement general education at the undergraduate level and do not pay much attention to the learning of professional skills. At this time, the comprehensive ranking of schools has a certain significance. When it comes to graduate or doctoral level, special attention needs to be paid to the rankings of subjects and majors, as the overall rankings of many Western universities may not be so ideal, but they stand out in a certain field. The so-called "undergraduate students look at comprehensive skills, graduate students look at majors, and doctoral students look at supervisors" is not unreasonable.
I visited the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, located in Las Vegas. The school has been ranked outside the top 200 in the U.S. domestic school rankings for many years, but it has a strong reputation in the gaming industry, and its hospitality management program is ranked first in the world. The school offers a variety of practical courses related to hospitality management, such as cooking, wine, golf, etc., and actively creates off-campus internship opportunities for international students to accumulate rich workplace experience.
The University of Adelaide, which has been ranked outside the top 100 in the QS World University Rankings in recent years, is located in South Australia, known as Australia's "land of fish and rice". With 15 world-class research institutes engaged in research and development in botany, agricultural, food, vineyard and natural resource sciences, its White Campus is ranked second in the world in wine cultivation and winemaking. The school is also co-founded and shared with the Australian Wine Institute. Students have access to the world's leading oenological science laboratories during their studies. After graduation, they will also have the opportunity to stay and work at the institute to become irreplaceable professionals.
In addition, for Chinese students, there is another very influential factor in the school selection process, and that is the geographical location. For example, Boston University in the United States published a report in the book U.Ss.News" ranked 41st in the national rankings. However, because it is located on the banks of the Charles River, across the river from Harvard University and MIT, the geographical location is extremely advantageous and is favored by many students.
It can be seen that school rankings do have a certain reference value, but they are not necessarily the final decision point.
In fact, I also understand that many parents hope that their children will have a better development in the future. Attending a top-notch school means they can walk with better people. But what I want to say is that when we study various rankings, we still need to make choices based on actual needs. If a student has a very clear direction of their major and wants to move in a certain direction in the future, then the ranking of majors can be an important factor to consider; If the student just likes the major and does not have a clear direction, then the overall strength of the school will be better guaranteed at this time.
All in all, the various lists are just one channel for information. They can be trusted, but not superstitious.
The numbers in the rankings can help us build our knowledge of schools and majors, but ultimately we have to make a choice based on our actual situation and interests. I believe that only by aligning with your own aspirations can your study abroad life be more fulfilling and you can gain more lasting development momentum.