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If you are considering attending a college or university in
the US, you are probably interested in hearing about some of the
top-rated institutions and the programs they offer. From specific
professional programs to liberal arts degrees, the US has a world
of academic choices for you to discover.Make sure to explore all your options. It's important to find a good fit between your academic goals and the organizational culture of the school of your choice. Think about it: it's a commitment of several years, so you want to save yourself the trouble of having to transfer if you decide to switch programs or schools.
For this reason alone, surveys and rankings are a very easy way to compare your goals with available schools and programs. There are also organizations dedicated to promoting and monitoring a consistent level of quality in higher education, though some are governmental agencies, while others are for profit or businesses with vested interest in the highly-skilled graduates from these institutions.
High-Profile Surveys and Organizations
Founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1905 and chartered in 1906 by an act of Congress, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is an independent policy and research center with a primary mission "to do and perform all things necessary to encourage, uphold, and dignify the profession of the teacher and the cause of higher education."The Carnegie Foundation aims to maintain an objective distance by overseeing learning and teaching processes in addition to excellence in curriculum design.
Although there are many surveys available in both academic and business worlds, the U.S. News & World Report magazine (founded in 1933) has published an annual survey since 1983, and The Princeton Review (a for-profit organization started in 1981 by a Princeton University graduate) is also one of the most visible and popular sources for this type of information.
The U.S. News & World Report magazine uses a few different criteria for evaluating school performance, but they also provide lists for the most popular programs. Their criteria include:
- National universities
- Liberal Arts colleges
- Universities-Master's
- Baccalaureate colleges
- Specialty schools (Medicine, Engineering, Pharmacy, Law, etc.)
For a less formal approach and a survey with a definite slant towards students as consumers, see The Princeton Review's Best 366 Colleges Survey, with such diverse criteria as
- Academics
- Demographics
- Party
- Schools byType
- Politics
- Quality of Life
- Extra-curricular
- Social
You may also be able to register and view more inside information regarding these surveys for free.
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