Our early adult lives are dictated by a series of decisions seemingly inundated with rankings. As we leave high school and compete for acceptance to universities across the nation, we see how we rank among our peers by subjecting ourselves to a series of standardized tests in order to gain admittance. We then cipher through the various meal plans, housing plans, programs of study, Princeton Review “Top 10” lists and pit each institution of higher learning against one another by comparing how they rank nationally in academics, standard of living, athletics and job placement post-graduation. The list is endless and never all-inclusive or absolute. It changes all the time. Depending on who ranks who where, is what gives any title such as “Best Party School,” or “Top Business School” any weight or authority.
Recently, The Daily Wildcat joined the cache of media outlets with online content desperately reaching for hits with sensational headlines. “Who gives a damn about ASU?” asks freshman columnist Dan Desrochers in an op ed piece that aimed to prove once and for all that UA truly is better than ASU and essentially, comparing the two is pointless anyway, as it is equitable to crowning the biggest fish in a small pond. Desrochers comes to the eloquent conclusion: “When it comes down to it, the UA is really just that fat kid who compares himself to the even fatter kid so that he doesn’t feel bad about himself.”
The two schools are compared because they are the largest universities in Arizona and many graduates would gladly explain why ASU is better than UA, or vice versa. Besides, ASU is a school that isn’t represented well in the rankings because of its high acceptance rate, but many of its individual schools — especially at the graduate level — rank higher than UA. U.S. World and News Report college rankings lists ASU’s graduate programs higher than UA in business, education, engineering, law, fine arts and public affairs. ASU is in the top 50 in all of those categories, but the two schools aren’t far apart and the comparisons are valid.
Desrochers calls UA a “mediocre university” and said the school should strive to be the best public university in the country rather than just the state, more specifically that “fatter kid” (big-boned kid) in the Valley.
If by “fatter kid” he means, larger enrollment, more programs, better rankings, international recognition for research, Daniel Tosh approved “hottie zone” or in other words, ASU, we’d prefer he refer to us as the “kid offering more to love.” ASU is deeper than its perceived appearance, and we’re not fat, we’re husky.
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