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Uni Rankings, how accurate?

M

Lately I have been thinking applying to queen mary university in london for a MSc in Global and Comparative Politics. I am checking the rankings every year and it seems that unis tend to change place dramatically from one year to another. What's happening??? What if i apply for QM, get accepted and next year they drop 10 places in the rankings? Does the rankings provide a real insight in the unis quality?

H

======= Date Modified 18 May 2011 12:37:32 =======
League tables are an inherently flawed concept:
http://plus.maths.org/content/understanding-uncertainty-league-table-lottery
http://plus.maths.org/content/understanding-uncertainty-premier-league

Do you really think a prospective employer is going to look at your degree and say 'Well QMUL are down a few points this year so maybe this person isn't worth employing right now'? What really matters is:
1. What is the course content?
2. Does it provide you with the learning and training opportunities that are going to be beneficial to your career plans?
3. What's the quality/reputation of that department?
4. (to some extent) What's the general long term reputation of that university? (in QMUL's case, pretty sound)

Seriously - league tables are good to give you a vague idea but not worth stressing over the details.

S

Hazyjane has the perfect answer for you. Don't read all the newspapers. The long term reputation is what matters and QMUL is one of the best!

S

Fiddling stats to get students (and their money) is what universities spend a lot of time doing. Find out the reputation of the course and ask around people who have done it already what it was like.

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