OU raise the bar on cheating - How will unc respond?

[BD80]

This is funny and tragic:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/university-of-oklahoma-gave-false-data-to-us-news-college-rankings-for-20-years/ar-AABOI1G?ocid=spartanntp


Last year, the University of Oklahoma was ranked 97th in the Best Colleges survey, and the school touted that placement as the first time it had been ranked among the top 100 universities and colleges.
"This recognition marks a truly historic moment for the university," then-President David Boren said at the time.

Alas, " … the University of Oklahoma gave "inflated" data on its alumni giving rates for two decades. … The false data affected Oklahoma's placement in the national universities, best value schools, top public schools, best colleges for veterans and A-plus schools for B students rankings and lists, U.S. News said. … Alumni giving rates make up 5% of the rankings formula because "giving measures student satisfaction and post-graduate engagement," ...

Result: "Oklahoma w[ill] be listed as unranked in [the] 2019 edition because of the false data, which stretched back to 1999."

And the administration at unc replies: "hold my beer."

[PackMan97]

The UNWR rankings are a popularity contest and not much else.

I prefer studies that rank the undergraduate employment rate, starting salaries, mid-career salaries and overall employment prospects for colleges. Areas which are not easily gamed except by providing a superior education. In almost all of those respects, UNC comes in as a fairly average university checking in at #322.

https://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report/bachelors?search=Carolina

[NSDukeFan]

The UNWR rankings are a popularity contest and not much else.

I prefer studies that rank the undergraduate employment rate, starting salaries, mid-career salaries and overall employment prospects for colleges. Areas which are not easily gamed except by providing a superior education. In almost all of those respects, UNC comes in as a fairly average university checking in at #322.

https://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report/bachelors?search=Carolina

The Carolina Way? - Not a bad place to spend a few years but not so great at the education/ integrity bit.

[dudog84]

The UNWR rankings are a popularity contest and not much else.

I prefer studies that rank the undergraduate employment rate, starting salaries, mid-career salaries and overall employment prospects for colleges. Areas which are not easily gamed except by providing a superior education. In almost all of those respects, UNC comes in as a fairly average university checking in at #322.

https://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report/bachelors?search=Carolina

IDK, I think anything can be gamed. Who reports these salary numbers? I'm sure there's some statistical analysis as well (methodology, sampling, etc.), they can't be surveying everyone.

[PackMan97]

IDK, I think anything can be gamed. Who reports these salary numbers? I'm sure there's some statistical analysis as well (methodology, sampling, etc.), they can't be surveying everyone.

Good, question. I don't really care as long as State and Duke curb stomp Carolina. It works for me ;)

[OldPhiKap]

“Must spread sporkz”

BD80 won the internet for the title alone

[Duke79UNLV77]

This is funny and tragic:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/university-of-oklahoma-gave-false-data-to-us-news-college-rankings-for-20-years/ar-AABOI1G?ocid=spartanntp


Last year, the University of Oklahoma was ranked 97th in the Best Colleges survey, and the school touted that placement as the first time it had been ranked among the top 100 universities and colleges.
"This recognition marks a truly historic moment for the university," then-President David Boren said at the time.

Alas, " … the University of Oklahoma gave "inflated" data on its alumni giving rates for two decades. … The false data affected Oklahoma's placement in the national universities, best value schools, top public schools, best colleges for veterans and A-plus schools for B students rankings and lists, U.S. News said. … Alumni giving rates make up 5% of the rankings formula because "giving measures student satisfaction and post-graduate engagement," ...

Result: "Oklahoma w[ill] be listed as unranked in [the] 2019 edition because of the false data, which stretched back to 1999."

And the administration at unc replies: "hold my beer."

OU should try the "it was a typo" excuse that worked so well for unCheat.

[plimnko]

when it comes to cheating, the pot shouldn't call the kettle black. the cheats down the street is the LAST team that should comment on someone else cheating.

[PackMan97]

[I]Last year, the University of Oklahoma was ranked 97th in the Best Colleges survey, and the school touted that placement as the first time it had been ranked among the top 100 universities and colleges.

I believe this qualifies OU for the NC State level of cheating (see Dennis Smith Jr). If you are cheating to get these types of results, you are doing it wrong.

[crimsondevil]

The UNWR rankings are a popularity contest and not much else.

I prefer studies that rank the undergraduate employment rate, starting salaries, mid-career salaries and overall employment prospects for colleges. Areas which are not easily gamed except by providing a superior education. In almost all of those respects, UNC comes in as a fairly average university checking in at #322.

https://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report/bachelors?search=Carolina

Agree with you about the UNWR rankings - at best, they are highly subject to Goodhart's law - that a metric ceases to be useful when it is pursued as a target (link (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law)). And, as I just discovered, the OU situation is also an outcome of the slightly different Campbell's law - that the more important a metric becomes, the more subject to corruption it is (link (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campbell%27s_law)).

But I'm not sure that the salary ranking tells you much, other than directly: "which school's graduates make the most after college?" I mean, it's one data point, but hardly everything. Seems like it would be skewed toward institutions serving high cost-of-living areas and, even more obviously, by major/job field. Is majoring in computer science automatically a superior education to majoring in history? I just read in a reunion book for my alma mater that one of my classmates is now a Buddhist monk living in Australia - she probably got a decent education, but I doubt she makes much.

[PackMan97]

But I'm not sure that the salary ranking tells you much, other than directly: "which school's graduates make the most after college?" I mean, it's one data point, but hardly everything. Seems like it would be skewed toward institutions serving high cost-of-living areas and, even more obviously, by major/job field. Is majoring in computer science automatically a superior education to majoring in history? I just read in a reunion book for my alma mater that one of my classmates is now a Buddhist monk living in Australia - she probably got a decent education, but I doubt she makes much.

If you rewind the clock a few hundred years, when the pursuit of a higher education was for the sake of a higher education, I'll grant you the point.

In today's society, people go to college to get a job. It is what it is.