How fast can a university lose its reputation?

[gopunk]

there was an article in our school newspaper about a "brain drain" among faculty because we're losing funding and the university is apparently not very well run. the article mentioned that merit raises have been suspended indefinitely or something like that. as a student with about 1.5-2 more years here, that got me a little worried... is it possible that my school (University of Washington) will lose its currently pretty-good-for-a-state-school academic reputation by the time i graduate?

i guess i don't have to worry about a brain drain in the CSE dept (what i'm going into) since we're getting a brand spanking new building in a quarter.... but i dunno, i'm still worried.

here is the article... notice the nice puddle

 

[Nocturnal]

Switch schools as fast as you can. UCLA!

 

[feralkid]

i guess i don't have to worry about a brain drain in the CSE dept (what i'm going into) since we're getting a brand spanking new building in a quarter.... but i dunno, i'm still worried






You mean no one will leave, just because there's a new building? That's academic integrity!

 

[gopunk]

Originally posted by: feralkid
i guess i don't have to worry about a brain drain in the CSE dept (what i'm going into) since we're getting a brand spanking new building in a quarter.... but i dunno, i'm still worried






You mean no one will leave, just because there's a new building? That's academic integrity!

well what i meant to get across was that the CSE dept seems to be doing alright in terms of funding... it has a high priority in the university amongst other departments, as well as a good amount of outside funding (microsoft, anyone?)

 

[bleeb]

hey man how do you have so much time to post on ATOT when you are trying for the CSE department? It's difficult to get into.

 

[Mani]

Originally posted by: gopunk
there was an article in our school newspaper about a "brain drain" among faculty because we're losing funding and the university is apparently not very well run. the article mentioned that merit raises have been suspended indefinitely or something like that. as a student with about 1.5-2 more years here, that got me a little worried... is it possible that my school (University of Washington) will lose its currently pretty-good-for-a-state-school academic reputation by the time i graduate?

i guess i don't have to worry about a brain drain in the CSE dept (what i'm going into) since we're getting a brand spanking new building in a quarter.... but i dunno, i'm still worried.

here is the article... notice the nice puddle

Well to be honest I don't know if UW had that well-known of a reputation to start with so I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[gopunk]

Originally posted by: bleeb
hey man how do you have so much time to post on ATOT when you are trying for the CSE department? It's difficult to get into.

eh, i'm a cocky bastard

 

[bleeb]

Originally posted by: Mani

Originally posted by: gopunk
there was an article in our school newspaper about a "brain drain" among faculty because we're losing funding and the university is apparently not very well run. the article mentioned that merit raises have been suspended indefinitely or something like that. as a student with about 1.5-2 more years here, that got me a little worried... is it possible that my school (University of Washington) will lose its currently pretty-good-for-a-state-school academic reputation by the time i graduate?

i guess i don't have to worry about a brain drain in the CSE dept (what i'm going into) since we're getting a brand spanking new building in a quarter.... but i dunno, i'm still worried.

here is the article... notice the nice puddle

Well to be honest I don't know if UW had that well-known of a reputation to start with so I wouldn't worry about it.

UW is ranked #1 in family practice, fairly high in Computer Science... pretty good in business.

 

[StormRider]

My school's reputation actually grew after I got my first degree there. When I was an undergrad, UMD was know as a party school and a "safe choice" school in case they didn't get in the school they really wanted.

Now the EE/CS/MATH departments are fairly well regarded. The father of Chaos Theory (James Yorke) teaches at Maryland. There was a recent article in the Washington Post about him.

 

[bleeb]

isn't choas theory more math rather than compute science?

 

[feralkid]

UW is ranked #1 in family practice, fairly high in Computer Science... pretty good in business






Men's Basketball sure sux.

 

[Soybomb]

'eh I wouldn't worry too much about that.


I'm at a school that has a reputation as a party school and it looks like next week the teachers union is going to strike...now that hurts reputation!

 

[bleeb]

Originally posted by: feralkid
UW is ranked #1 in family practice, fairly high in Computer Science... pretty good in business






Men's Basketball sure sux.

yeah they are a bunch of retarded ......(i'll let you finish this sentence)

 

[Hubris]

Where do I find rankings for various different majors? I can find general rankings, but where can I get an idea of where a school stands in an individual department?

 

[xuanman]

i imagine the "brain drain" shouldn't be a big deal, particularly for undergrads. besides, correct me if i am wrong, but i'm assuming that UW is considered the best college in Washington state, or at least UW has a pretty decent name cache in the pacific northwest. i think the bottom line is get good grades and things will fall in place.

 

[gopunk]

Originally posted by: Hubris
Where do I find rankings for various different majors? I can find general rankings, but where can I get an idea of where a school stands in an individual department?

us news and world report is the most common (but probably most inaccurate)

it costs money too, if you want to see beyond the top 5 in each category... what makes it even worse is that this info is not even in their print... you have to get it online and you have to pay 10 bucks for it.

 

[Hubris]

Originally posted by: gopunk

Originally posted by: Hubris
Where do I find rankings for various different majors? I can find general rankings, but where can I get an idea of where a school stands in an individual department?

us news and world report is the most common (but probably most inaccurate)

it costs money too, if you want to see beyond the top 5 in each category... what makes it even worse is that this info is not even in their print... you have to get it online and you have to pay 10 bucks for it.

Yeah, I just recently saw their new charging scheme. Bah, screw that. But I didn't remember them having rankings by major. Anywhere else?

 

[bleeb]

Originally posted by: xuanman
i imagine the "brain drain" shouldn't be a big deal, particularly for undergrads. besides, correct me if i am wrong, but i'm assuming that UW is considered the best college in Washington state, or at least UW has a pretty decent name cache in the pacific northwest. i think the bottom line is get good grades and things will fall in place.

I think UW is ranked #1 in the nation... (in Family Practice medicine) in the top 10 in CS, not sure about business... and for good grades... I think like 80 get into the CSE department and roughly 1000+ apply. People with fantastic grades still manage to get rejected from the department.

 

[gopunk]

Originally posted by: xuanman
i imagine the "brain drain" shouldn't be a big deal, particularly for undergrads. besides, correct me if i am wrong, but i'm assuming that UW is considered the best college in Washington state, or at least UW has a pretty decent name cache in the pacific northwest. i think the bottom line is get good grades and things will fall in place.

lol, yea we're definitely the best school in washington (wsu... yea right )

 

[gopunk]

Originally posted by: bleeb

Originally posted by: xuanman
i imagine the "brain drain" shouldn't be a big deal, particularly for undergrads. besides, correct me if i am wrong, but i'm assuming that UW is considered the best college in Washington state, or at least UW has a pretty decent name cache in the pacific northwest. i think the bottom line is get good grades and things will fall in place.

I think UW is ranked #1 in the nation... (in Family Practice medicine) in the top 10 in CS, not sure about business... and for good grades... I think like 80 get into the CSE department and roughly 1000+ apply. People with fantastic grades still manage to get rejected from the department.

yea, and i have sh!tty grades i dunno, i am fairly confident though... this is my third time i'll write a huge post about my epic struggle to get in, when/if i get in this next round of admissions (due on the 1rst! :Q). fatalbo and ameesh know all about it

we have a top nursing school too iirc, for what it's worth. i heard oceanography was good as well.

 

[gopunk]

Yeah, I just recently saw their new charging scheme. Bah, screw that. But I didn't remember them having rankings by major. Anywhere else?

their best colleges page has best business and engr programs (and those pages have lots of sub pages)

you can also look at graduate schools, which i think are more important.

 

[StormRider]

Originally posted by: bleeb
isn't choas theory more math rather than compute science?

Yes, it's usually taught in the math or applied math department -- dynamical systems.

 

[Orsorum]

The UW cs, physics, and stats programs are all among the best in the nation (top ten, twenty, something along those lines) (and medicine, of course). Economics is top 30.

That's all I know.

 

[xuanman]

Originally posted by: gopunk

Yeah, I just recently saw their new charging scheme. Bah, screw that. But I didn't remember them having rankings by major. Anywhere else?

their best colleges page has best business and engr programs (and those pages have lots of sub pages)

you can also look at graduate schools, which i think are more important.

You're probably right about the grad programs being more important. If UW is looking to lose a lot of its top professors, it might make more sense to look at other schools.

 

[LS20]

Originally posted by: Hubris
Where do I find rankings for various different majors? I can find general rankings, but where can I get an idea of where a school stands in an individual department?

business week magazine publishes one for business schools and MBA programs, as does Wall Street Journal
National Research Council has a good extensive one too


some smaller ones:
The Chronicle of Higher Education Almanac
Graham & Diamond, The Rise of American Research Universities
Gourman Report
Money Magazine