One can hope that the new GRE exam will do a better job of telling applicants apart, specially the quantitative quality. And that it's not too easy to get the perfect 800Q anymore. Then it will have more value as an indicator.
More and more programs use phone/in-person interviews to evaluate applicants' English skills and this is not something very practical nor quantifiable for the programs to include in the survey.
Keep in mind that as an organization, it's a balancing act for Quantnet to encourage wide participation from programs without overburden them with a time-consuming survey. Can you guess how many programs will respond if we ask them 100 questions that they have to spend a lot of time to compile?
All programs in our 2011 ranking have graduated at least 2 cohorts by the time of 2011 survey so they have a track record and stats to supply to Quantnet.
We don't distinguish between new or established, Ivy or not. They are all judged equally by the strength of data they submit. Their placement/admission stats will speak for themselves.
An established/well-respected program will likely have more applications, with higher quality applicants, better starting salary, higher placement rate and well-known among hiring managers, among other things. This means the brand name, perceived quality factors are already factored into the numbers they produce.
