<p><br/></p><p>As with <a href="http://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/94/best-colleges-10_Americas-Best-Colleges_Rank.html" target="_blank">the Forbes rankings</a>, there are some unexpected, if not unfamiliar, names here. Check out the entire list on <a href="http://www.parade.com/news/2010/08/22-parades-college-a-list.html" target="_blank">Parade's Web site</a>. As always, some of the <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/985177-parades-college-list.html?highlight=parade+magazine" target="_blank">College Confidential forum posters have strong opinions</a>. Here are a few samples:</p><p><em>- I agree that these are some great schools, but I hardly think that UVA, University of Texas and Wisconsin "fly under the radar". Likewise Penn is not only an Ivy, but isn't Wharton a very well known B-school?</em></p><p><em>I loved seeing Univ. Mary Washington on the list. Great school that is not as well known.</em></p><p><em>- What a lot of fluff! This was somehow written for Highpoint in combination with Parade magazine, and so I wondered where they would show up. This list is the most bogus non-objective one ever compiled. At least USN&WR and Newsweek tells you what criteria they used.</em></p><p><em>- High Point????</em></p><p><em>- Looks like the counselors on that list are all from private schools. At least that's true for our area. Interestingly, the local schools are high schools that have good reputations, but they aren't the top names. No 800-lb gorillas (the high schools with the strong national reputations).</em></p><p><em>- University of Chicago on their list of Liberal Arts Colleges???</em></p><p rel="text-align: center;" style="text-align: center;"><em>***</em></p><p style="text-align: left;">When I searched <a href="http://www.parade.com/utility/search.html" target="_blank">the Parade site</a> for more info on the rankings, I found some comments there, too:</p><p style="text-align: left;"><em>- Whitman College</em></p><p><em>You need further education. You spelled Walla Walla wrong....</em></p><p style="text-align: left;"><em>- poorly presented</em></p><p><em>PARADE: I want to easily and quickly view the list of top colleges - not have to click "next" 26 times and wait for the page to load 26 different times. Not very user friendly.</em></p><p style="text-align: left;"><em>- College A-List</em></p><p><em>*/22/2010 parade issue shows High Point University as a top private school on page 12. But when I go to Parade.com/colleges, I can't find it. What am I doing wrong? Thanks</em></p><p style="text-align: left;"><em>- College A-List</em></p><p><em>This is the worst organized article I ever encountered. A-List? No list. To find Arts colleges for Theater you have to click on 26 different pages to see which ones are for Theater. Ridiculous!</em></p><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><p style="text-align: left;">Well, those comments seem to show that when it comes to publishing college rankings (or A-lists, for that matter), you can please none of the people most of the time and some of the people hardly ever. I think that's how the saying goes. Anyway, check out this <em>Parade</em> but don't get behind the elephants!</p><p style="text-align: center;">**********</p><p style="text-align: left;">Be sure to check out all my admissions-related articles and book reviews at <a href="http://www.collegeconfidential.com/" target="_blank">College Confidential</a>.</p>
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