Jake graduated from the University of Texas with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science in 2007, and started SuccessfulStudent.org in 2014.
Successful Student's design is to be a resource for students to make sense of education options. The need to place students first in education rankings was apparent, given that all other college ranking entities always approach college ranking top-down.
Top-down ranking means selecting the best schools based on factors such as academic prestige, endowment amounts, and factors that don’t necessarily always translate to helping students. Jake devised a bottom-up approach, which has been the guiding principal informing the rankings and all content at Successful Student.
We have created a database of all online and on campus colleges in the U.S. From this database, we can create algorithms that will rank schools by the weights we give to the various ranking factors. For more information about our ranking methodology, see our College Calculator.
1. Author of “C. S. Lewis, Science, and the Medieval Mind”.
Jake, an avid reader of C. S. Lewis, wrote chapter four in the book The Magician’s Twin: C. S. Lewis on Science, Scientism, and Society, edited by John West. Published by Discovery Institute Press, 2012.
This book is a collection of essays from different authors exploring the writings and thoughts of C. S. Lewis concerning science, such as its origin, the psychological factors behind scientific revolutions, the philosophy of scientism, and the effects of science and scientism on society.
Jake’s essay concentrated on what Lewis wrote about the original conceptualization of science in the Medieval period through the lens of the medieval worldview. Lewis dispels some common myths about this period, and explains the worldview which led to the scientific enterprise (such as the scientific method as derived from the medieval philosophy of science).
2. Editor of Lectures on Natural Theology, by Thomas Reid.
Edited by Jake Akins and James A. Barham, Published by Erasmus Press, 2020.
In the 1779-1780 academic year, Thomas Reid gave lectures on natural theology at the University of Glasgow.
This book was transcribed from notes taken from these lectures by a student named George Baird. The book consists of 15 lecture notes, which range in topics such as natural theology, the intellectual powers of man, the human soul, practical ethics, and politics.
Thomas Reid was born in Strachan, Scotland, and became a philosopher in the 18th century Scottish Enlightenment period. He is regarded as one of the founders of the Scottish School of Common Sense.
Jake’s author page at Amazon.com.
Favorite Education Quote:
"Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously. ~ G. K. Chesterton."
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