Make Your Own List Of "Top Universities"

An organization called QS has published a list of "top universities" and a separate list of top Asian universities. For your information, QS stands for  "QS Quacquarelli Symonds Limited  and has a so-called Registered Office at 1 Tranley Mews, Fleet Road London, NW3 2DG UK. Anyway, Huffington Post and who knows who else has taken this list seriously enough to make a slideshow.

My own list of favorite universities would be just as valid (and free of cost) as the QS list because it's all a matter of opinion. I think the phrase "top university" has a personal flavor just as, say, choosing where to live is a personal choice. In other words, an arbitrary list of "top universities" is meaningless, silly and possibly harmful if students go to a certain university based primarily on legend.

Undergraduate universities and colleges will suit students who want the location and amenities offered, whether in cities or in rural, enclosed campuses. Graduate students tend to choose universities based on availability of courses with certain favored professors to follow chosen individual career paths. Universities that work at one time might not work at another era in one's life.

Students can do the work of thinking of what they want to get out of university and how they learn best. Anyone can make up a list of favorite universities, and there is nothing wrong with that, but the list you make for yourself from your own research is the very best one. What circumstances do you think will give you the most value for the time and money you will give to your years of education?

What I think would be more useful for parents than a list of "top universities" is to guide parents to think of what they want in a university for their children. They should look up course guides and see photos of interiors and exteriors of buildings now online. Universities are as different as cities.