Columbia SEAS?

[samoe]

I noticed that Columbia has been significantly rising in the US News rankings. From 23 to 20 to 15 in a couple of years, how is that possible? What changed? A quick google search came up with some articles showing an administration struggle and issues with the current Dean of SEAS. I am planning to apply to Columbia however I am just worried that administration issues might affect my experience when and if it was a Fall 2013 option for me.

I do understand that rankings are not everything but I am just intrigued as to how volatile it is since it jumped 8 spots in 2-3 years. That seemed remarkable to me.

Also, what do you guys think of Dartmouth? Some of the research there is interesting but it seems like an extremely small department.

[chiquitagu]

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[Usmivka]

Could the spambots have picked a worse forum to ply? Hah.

OK, I know little about CS as a field. But I do know that (especially in CS) the rankings are worthless. Not "not everything," but just plain wrong and ignorable. Forget how they change by year, becasue 1. they change methodology constantly, and 2. they are based on trivialities like incoming class GPA and such rather than more important predictors like what the publication rate and impact is.

For grad schools, the only worthwhile rankings are from the NRC, but only those from pre-2010 (I think the previous was 2006, they are infrequent). The 2010 ones were so flawed that academics in several fields (including on the NRC panel!) were writing papers analyzing their failings and discrepancies. The problem? They tried to act more like the US News rankings!

So the moral is, there is currently NO good ranking system. If you want to know how your school stacks up, ask people currently in the departments and look at the publication output at high impact conferences (most CS work is presented at conferences rather than in journals, correct?). In a field like this, the school is only as good as your adviser is. I'd figure out who you want to work with and if (s)he is taking students before you apply anywhere. See the post on writing letters to academics in the Applications thread. Finally, consider if you even want to live in New York City (if everything else seems good about Columbia to you)--it isn't a great fit for everybody, and Seattle, or wherever you currently live in WA is not going to be directly comparable, especially in regards to price and how far your stipend will go.

Administrative issues can seriously impact you, as it is the directors office that will have your back if you have a conflict with your advisers, need help getting to/from conferences, letting you know about academic opportunities.

Good luck!