College and University Blog
The Truth About College Rankings
America is obsessed with rankings. College rankings are very important to students and parents. Or rather, those who publish college rankings are constantly telling us how important college rankings are. How important are college rankings, really? The simple fact is that rankings are more important to colleges and universities than they are to students or parents.
What are college rankings? Rankings are a way of evaluating the perceived value of a college or university based on pre-defined factors. Publishers usually survey colleges, universities and students to obtain information related to a variety of factors. The most common factors evaluated include number of students enrolled, student-faculty ratios (number of students per instructor), out-of-pocket costs (the amount left over after scholarships and other financial aid are applied), financial aid availability (what percent of students receive financial aid), sports, demographics (breakdown of enrollments by sex, ethnicity, age), quality of life, partying habits, and availability of sports and/or extracurricular activities. Rankings essentially tell you how well a particular aspect of a college or university is marketed or how well students and others perceive a factor related to a college or university. Whether one or more factors is significant to you is entirely personal.
U.S. News & World Report’s college rankings are probably the most well known. They first published a college rankings edition of their magazine in 1983. The list consisted of only the opinions of university presidents. In 1988, the editors introduced a much more scientific process. These formulas are altered on a yearly basis. Take a look at the ranking criteria on the U.S. News and World Report’s web site and read the methodology section.
There are many critics of this ranking system. They cite numerous problems. The peer assessment category is especially puzzling. Twenty-five percent of a school’s score depends on the opinions of other schools. Unfortunately college and university presidents all over the country assess schools without knowing much about them. Then there is the faculty factor