Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Same as it ever was, again (stop making sense)....

Paul Caron has posted this year's USNWR rankings on TaxProfBlog, and he's done us a favor by posting the vertical moves of several of the schools, including the schools in the top 50.

The backslapping and media wars may now begin. I'll be interested in seeing how Houston explains its 10-point leap to 60 from 70, especially since (1) the cluster of schools in which Houston falls (the band of similar schools) likely hasn't changed at all, and (2) the foundation for any change in the rankings occurs at least one year before (e.g., placement numbers are, obviously, not for the current year). In other words, when I first came to Houston and Houston was "in the top 50," Steve Zamora and his team deserved some credit. But the real lesson is that no one person changes anything about the score that goes into the rankings (although the head of placement is key, and Rhonda Beassie at Houston deserves significant credit for her hard work in helping graduates find jobs)--and that the bulk of the score has to do with things that aren't directly affected by changes at the margins (reputation, entering numerical credentials).

The most important thing to notice, of course, is how little movement there was at the top (once again). David Byrne and Talking Heads said it best:

And you may ask yourself
What is that beautiful house?
And you may ask yourself
Where does that highway go?
And you may ask yourself
Am I right? ...am I wrong? And you may tell yourself
My god!...what have I done?

Letting the days go by/let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by/water flowing underground
Into the blue again/in the silent water
Under the rocks and stones/there is water underground.
Letting the days go by/let the water hold me down....

Same as it ever was...same as it ever was...same as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...same as it ever was...same as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...same as it ever was...

Once in a Lifetime, Stop Making Sense, Talking Heads (1990).

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