The new US News rankings are out...

[asleepawake]

I remembering seeing Bryn Mawr in the old rankings and googling it trying to check and the program and then being all  . . . They don't even have an MA.

Edited March 14, 2013 by asleepawake

[ishmael]

Are you kidding me? Bryn Mawr has no English graduate program. The USNWR Rankings really ARE bullshit.

[Drol Noryb]

Are you kidding me? Bryn Mawr has no English graduate program. The USNWR Rankings really ARE bullshit.

 

I think the reasoning was that they are so cutting edge that they don't even EXIST yet.

[sebastiansteddy]

Or their undergrad English program is SO GOOD that it leads to a TT job.

[TripWillis]

I'm tellin' you guys, NRC rankings are much better. AND my school is ranked higher there so... there.

[ishmael]

The NRC Rankings are just so hard to read... so many NUMBERS.

[asleepawake]

I'm tellin' you guys, NRC rankings are much better. AND my school is ranked higher there so... there.

 

Butttt Buffalo is ranked so much lower and WVU isn't ranked at all! They need to update.

[no_foam_cappuccino]

The NRC Rankings are just so hard to read... so many NUMBERS.

I know...I feel dumb saying this, but I honestly don't even know if high numbers or low numbers are better on that list. I've even tried reading the methodology page. My only evidence leading me to think low numbers are better is that Harvard's rankings are low. 

[NowMoreSerious]

I'm tellin' you guys, NRC rankings are much better. AND my school is ranked higher there so... there.

NRC has some WTF rankings too. Like there's some skew that makes certain rankings appear way way off. I know US news sucks, but at least it sort of passes the eye test on first glance. NRC has some wacky shit going on in it, and I don't even have the time to figure out what or why.

And before somebody calls bias, the schools I figure to end up at are ranked about the same in each one.

[jazzyd]

I'm tellin' you guys, NRC rankings are much better. AND my school is ranked higher there so... there.

 

So my question is, are the NRC rankings in fact better... or do we just like to see the most elite of elite programs knocked down a peg or two? 

[Taco Superior]

for anybody having trouble sorting the NRC rankings, if you look at them on phds.org they're much easier to figure out. They organize them for you according to different emphases.

 

http://graduate-school.phds.org/rankings/english

 

Some of the data is pretty old and therefore inaccurate, however.

Edited March 16, 2013 by paulmilkesloones

[zielschmerz]

Perceptions of a program's prestige certainly matter on the job market, but the perceptions that matter will be those of hiring committees, which will certainly be far more nuanced and informed than any rankings. And English profs are exactly the kind of people to resist the rankings of an organization like US News and World Report. However, it's also true that many, many professors are not at all up-to-date about perceived prestige of other programs, or even who is still on which faculty. I guarantee that the people reading this board are more informed about such things than many sitting faculty. And perversely, given the realities of seniority, it's often the people who are most out of touch who have the most pull on search committees. 

I imagine it is true that hiring committees have more nuanced understandings. That said, I saw a forum post on the Chronicle (okay, so most anecdotal evidence ever) by a prof who said that her dean actually got involved in the hiring. Long story short: the good news is hiring committees will go with the candidate from the lower ranked school based on merit; the bad news is, this dean, at least, was in a position to say, "No, hire the one with brand recognition." (To impress prospective freshmen's parents? I don't even know.) But what makes my feelings even more mixed is that -- yes, of course, a job is a job, and beggars can't be choosers... but the idea of arriving all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to a department that, unbeknownst to me, resents my presence is...not ideal (read: kind of makes me want to cry).