Forbes magazine's recent college ranking places Brandeis University 30th out of 569 undergraduate institutions based on student "satisfaction and results," from online evaluations and data on postgraduate success, stated in an article published by the magazine May 19.This is the first time Forbes magazine has published a ranking of America's best colleges.

The methodology used takes into account online student evaluations from ratemyprofessors.com, percentage of prestigious awards won by students and postgraduate success based on the data in Who's Who in America, a directory that provides short biographies of influential people.

Dean of Admissions Gil Villanueva wrote in an e-mail to the Justice, "Personally, I find this to be a testimony to the University's commitment to undergraduate education and to having a student-centered community."

Ratemyprofessors.com, a nine-year- old-Web site with 6.8 million student-generated evaluations, allows users to score professors from one to five on helpfulness and clarity. An "overall quality" score is then calculated from the average of the two scores. Profs. Marc Weinberg (ENG) and James Mandrell (HIST) are some of Brandeis' professors with nearly perfect scores.

Brandeis alumni who have won renowned awards include Roderick MacKinnon '78, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2003. In 2007, Monisophorn Noun (GRAD) and Luis Gomez (GRAD) from Brandeis International Business School were both selected for the competitive Fulbright Lehman Brothers Scholars program.

In an article published in Forbes May 19, Dr. Richard Vedder, an economist at Ohio University who helped the magazine with the ranking process, wrote that the method of measuring postgraduate success from the listing in Who's Who in America is "imperfect," but is the only mean of connecting "professional" achievement with undergraduate affiliations. He implied that the achievements are distinguished simply based on the individual's notoriety . Forbes also enlisted the help of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, a two-year-old research organization.

The use of Internet-based evaluations from ratemyprofessors.com raised some concern for Sophie Silverstein '11, who believes they do provide "a good overview" of a particular professor, but are not altogether reliable.

Nipa Gani '09 agreed, adding that a majority of the users of the Web site vote "extreme," as they are more often motivated by their personal reservations against the professor or the class.

In a different ranking system, U.S. News and World Report ranks Brandeis University 31 out of more than 1,400 colleges based on faculty-student ratios, admission selectivity, financial resources and alumni donation rates.

"I think that the combination of the two rankings shows consistently to the public that Brandeis is number 30 in the country-pretty impressive," Vice President of Students and Enrollment Jean Eddy wrote in an e-mail to the Justice.

Eddy said students and their families are not as "aware of Forbes," but said that "as Forbes widens their popularity base, Brandeis will only gain wider recognition."

Shanny Shmuel '12 does not believe the rankings are a good indication of a student's experience. "People who judge their college through rankings are cheating themselves out of the right college experience."

Brandeis' ranking mattered "slightly, but not really," Anastasia Tesfaye '12 said when she was considering her college options. Her final decision rested on the "feel" of Brandeis, rather than on its standing.

Eddy is also aware that "the ranking issue sells more copies each year than any other publication." "Rankings," she said, "definitely matter."

"The college ranking phenomenon is here to stay," Villanueva said, "and the prospect of having other agencies produce rankings is a good thing, especially if they employ metrics that account for the student experience while in college and postgraduate outcomes.