University presidents have decried the US News rankings as meaningless. Policy makers accused them of distorting education priorities. And high school guidance counselors call them unreliable.
Still, US News & World Report’s college rankings remain the primary reference guide for families to evaluate colleges. That accuracy was once again called into question when Columbia lost the No. 2 spot this week, dropping to No. 18.
According to interviews with students, parents, and educators, rankings are firmly established as an important part of the college selection process across the country. This applies to students competing for the top 10, families looking for the best buys in local schools, and international students seeking global recognition.
“I’ve never met a parent who doesn’t think rankings matter,” says Terry Mady-Grove, a Charted University Consultants firm that advises clients around the world. “It doesn’t matter who they are, what kind of education they have or where they live.”
In the most competitive high schools, college rankings have reached obsessive levels.
said Neil Daniel, a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School of Science and Technology, a top public high school in Alexandria, Virginia. , their parents, and the community around them are expected to get into an Ivy League school. There are many pressures — Harvard, Stanford, Yale, MIT
Neal said he independently analyzed not only the rankings, but also the SAT and ACT averages for each school. He is interested in Carnegie’s Mellon University of Pittsburgh, which ranks him 22nd, but not the University of Virginia (25th) or his father’s alma mater, Virginia Tech (No. .62).
“Honestly, our local schools are really great,” he said. “The top 10 schools tend to be more expensive, but in terms of cost-effectiveness, you get a little more from local schools.”
His mother, Divya Singh, said ranking wasn’t the most important thing to her.
“I want it to be a good school. Don’t get me wrong,” she said. “There are more important things than the name of the school he attended or the ranking of that school.”
However, many parents approach rankings as a success or failure trade-off, key to lifelong success and bragging rights.
Marjorie Huss, president of the Independent College Council, said despite increasing competition from other college rating agencies, U.S. News’ rankings are an important reference point for certain parents. says it continues to exist.
“These are often the parents who are probably more status conscious and really see those rankings as a status symbol in a way,” said longtime college administrator and Rhodes University in Memphis. said Dr. Hass, former president of
According to Darren Rose, president of POM College Consulting, a college admissions advisor outside Cleveland, parents regularly contact his company with a list of the top-ranked schools to help their children get admission. He claims it is beneficial.
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His company tries to explain that other schools might be a better fit, but “for families, numbers are more about chatting with friends and bragging on social media than in the real world.” It means more when you do,” he says.
(Rose’s daughter, who majors in biochemistry at Ohio State University, boasted that she climbed up the U.S. News Rankings of Public Universities this week and is currently ranked 49th among national universities.)
“I don’t know what purpose they serve other than to help schools charge more money,” Rose said. At 18, I don’t understand how that matters.”
Rankings are also important to many students planning to stay in the state.
Michigan State University junior Lana Heaney (No. 77) was embarrassed in high school because she knew she wouldn’t be admitted to the University of Michigan (No. 25), often considered a “public ivy.” said he did.
She applied to several other public schools, but rejected them because they ranked lower than Michigan State University. “I want to make as much money as possible,” she said. “People assume that if they go to better schools, they will get better jobs.”
In 2020, Michelle Landrito Sison used US News rankings to find the right college for her son Toby Sison, then a high school student in Westbury, NY.
Rankings were “more important to us than him,” she said.
Still, they had their limits. Toby was accepted to the University of Illinois at Urbana His Champaign (No. 41), but there was no financial aid in the offer. Sison said he chose to go to Stony Brook University, which is relatively well-ranked and affordable.
“I bet you were happy to hear that you ranked high this year,” Sison wrote in a message Monday. Stony Brook moved up his 16 places to 77th.
For international students, rankings can make a difference in job prospects. According to Mady-Grove, these students, especially those from China and India, are paying more attention to U.S. news his list because employers in their home countries are more likely to hire graduates from well-known universities.
One client from Belgium, who attended Vermont’s prestigious Middlebury College, is now ranked 11th among liberal arts colleges, but was initially forced to move home because his employer was unfamiliar with the school. I know you had a hard time getting back to
F. King-Alexander, senior faculty fellow at the Center for Educational Policy at the University of Alabama, said rankings became influential because of a lack of reliable information about college quality, but rankings were not high enough. said it was based on a flawed method of rewarding universities that charge prices. Low acceptance rate.
“There is a huge lack of information to make good decisions,” says Dr. Alexander, who previously headed several large public universities, most recently Oregon State University.
Still, rankings are of mythical proportions at some universities, says Dr. Alexander, and when he was president at Louisiana State University, rankings were part of performance evaluation.
Walter Kimbrough, interim director of the Institute for Black Men at Morehouse College, said the ranking rewards wealthy white institutions.
“This is perpetuation of privilege,” said Dr. Kimbrough. “Don’t call it the best college. Call it America’s richest college.”
US News did not immediately respond to interview requests. But he argues that college is the greatest investment families make, and that rankings help ensure that high school students and their families make informed decisions about college and that the institution itself is responsible. It often happens.
But ratings can be self-fulfilling prophecies, according to John Byrne, publisher and editor of Poets & Quants, which provides information on business schools and publishes a proprietary assessment system for business schools. There is a nature.
“They impact applications,” he said. “They affect a school’s ability to raise money from donors, and they also affect a school’s ability to attract faculty and staff.”
He points out that in a survey of more than 350 business school admissions consultants, 63% of applicants thought school ranking was the most important factor in choosing a school. .
Byrne’s publication first called into question US News’ #1 ranking for Temple University’s online MBA program, leading to the revelation that the university submitted false data. Former business school dean Moshe Porat was convicted of wire fraud last year.
Of all the countless university rankings, the US News ranking is the most controversial. This is the result of that impact, the Temple scandal, and now Columbia University being left out of the top 10.
Columbia admitted that some of its self-reported data were inaccurate, but the dramatic decline also helped cast further doubt on the credibility of the US News enterprise. , investment trusts, and hospitals are also ranked.)
Still, the new 18th ranking could have significant implications for Colombia.
Mady-Grove said she plans to speak with families this week who were planning to have their child apply to college for an early decision.
“I have a feeling they’ll say they want to send their kids to another school,” she said. “Colombia hasn’t changed. The rankings have changed.”