Forbes has ranked Dartmouth as the 30th best college for the second year in a row. The Center for College Affordability and Productivity, a Washington-based think tank, determined the rankings based on post-graduation income, professor evaluations, first to second year retention rates, amount of debt incurred over four years, graduation rates and number of fellowships awarded to graduates, according to a Forbes blog post. Williams College was awarded the number one spot for the second year running, followed by Princeton University and the United States Military Academy at West Point in second and third place, respectively. Of the 650 institutions ranked, Harvard University, Yale University and Brown Unviersity came in sixth, 14th and 21st, respectively. Columbia University, Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania trailed Dartmouth with 42nd, 51st and 52nd place rankings, respectively.
Student veterans attempt suicide at a higher rate than their non-veteran classmates, according to a study unveiled at an American Psychological Association meeting on Thursday, Inside Higher Ed reported. Forty-six percent of student veterans reported having suicidal thoughts, while 20 percent admitted to planning their own suicides. Of the 525 veterans surveyed, 98 percent had been deployed, and 60 percent had seen combat. Only 18.7 percent of non-veteran students, from whom data was collected in a 2010 National College Health Assessment, said they had serious suicidal thoughts, according to Inside Higher Ed. The average age of student veterans is much higher, at 26 years old, than that of their non-military peers.
Medtronic Inc., a biotechnology development firm, will give Yale University researchers a $2.5 million grant to independently examine its "Infuse" bone graft product, a drug that allows doctors to conduct spinal-fusion surgeries without using bone from the hip, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. Medtronic has recently come under fire ,and the company is seeking to make amends and combat reports that it has concealed negative trial results in an effort to boost sales of Infuse. Yale professor of medicine Harlan M. Krumholz will oversee two research groups based at other universities that will examine all Infuse-related data, The Chronicle reported. Medtronic's involvement may establish a precedent of eliminating direct funding to research institutions and the pressure that comes with it to put a positive spin on findings, according to The Chronicle.
