As Forbes Sees It, West Point Beats Princeton (and Harvard, Too)

NY Times ^ | 8/6/09 | Jacques Steinberg

[Notwithstanding]

...Forbes Magazine — in its “second annual” college rankings issue — has just awarded its top spot to an institution that doesn’t tend to win such beauty contests: the United States Military Academy at West Point. As Forbes sees things, West Point tops Princeton (No. 2), the California Institute of Technology (No. 3), Williams College (No. 4) and Harvard (No. 5.)

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

A West Point degree will get you virtually any job you want.

Assuming you don't want to work in academia.

[hinckley buzzard]

I don't think there's any doubt about which is the superior school. West Point gets a far superior class of student to begin with, and their professors are both more expert in their fields and better instructors.

Schools like Princeton and Harvard, certainly at the undergraduate level, are mediocre cribs for the privileged and politically connected. For example, if you think the likes of Henry Gates is an "eminent scholar," you have pretty low faculty standards.

[Niuhuru]

These days Hollywood celebs join Harvard or Princeton mainly to brag about having a brain. That’s all the Ivy Leagues are, bragging rights.

[Notwithstanding]

Academia requires GRADUATE degrees - so your point seems less than convincing.

Graduate schools compete hard against one another to enroll West Point alums who apply.

West Point is strictly undergrad, which is one reason why it remains focused on that task, rather than on the whimsies, pet projects, and egos of academics who rarely even interact with undergraduates.

[Notwithstanding]

Comes to mind the maxim “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.”

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

To the extent that I perceive a problem, it’s with academia, not West Point, an island of sanity in an ocean of lunacy.

[Rummyfan]

ALRIGHT! Selfish interest here: Rummyfan Jr is a member of the Class of 2011.

Duty, Honor, Country.