The pros and cons of college rankings

 

There are many scathing criticisms that the rankings perpetuate inequality between the haves and have-nots,  the rich and the poor and between the well-endowed schools and the not so well-endowed schools. U.S. News claims that it is constantly working to make the process both objective and fair. The factors used undergo changes periodically, as do the weighting percentages. Social Mobility and Graduate Indebtedness are recent additions and the acceptance rate (long criticized as rewarding colleges for rejecting qualified applicants) has been nixed in recent years.

 

While the rankings serve as ‘a’ mechanism to assess and compare the relative merits of one school to another, whether the objective as stated is achieved continues to be a matter of debate, with many education experts denouncing the rankings for not serving the best interests of the larger population. Nevertheless, it is true that the rankings are widely followed, significantly influence students’ application patterns, and affect the institutions’ applications and admissions processes. Some colleges even have a stated goal to achieve a specific ranking in the list carrying the gamesmanship, a bit too far.

 

In the end though, it boils down to academic quality and the quality of education that a student gets. Measuring these things for a college or for a specific program is no easy task and will continue to remain subjective. The value derived from an education is also very student dependent and the perception can change based on other related parameters e.g., costs incurred to acquire the degree.

 

 

What can you do?

 

Students would do well to stop looking at rankings as numbers and instead research colleges based on their interests and aspirations. Some options on how to go about this include,

• Focus on the factors that are important to you and look for colleges that do well in those areas. Many of the things you may care deeply about e.g., civic activism may not feature in any list but having the opportunity and freedom to engage can make a difference to your college experience if you are passionate about it

• Always evaluate colleges based on fitment to your education goals and the things that matter to you within and outside the college. Look for colleges that will help maximize your learning

• There is a consensus view that rankings within +/- 5 points are insignificant. It would be better for a student to club the rankings into clusters and select colleges within each bucket using the parameters that are meaningful to them

• Keep in mind that US News compares colleges with widely diverging missions using the same set of metrics and on the same scale. Be sure to get breadth in addition to depth in your college list

• You are probably better off using the rankings in conjunction with a guide such as Fiske Guide to Colleges which includes narrative descriptions of colleges based on interviews with students and other sources. This has the advantage of focusing on individual fit rather than a comparison, based purely on quantitative measures

 

 

There is no denying that a college education continues to be the primary ladder towards economic mobility, to get a good job and to move up in society. Rankings may or may not impact what goes on within the classroom. For example, faculty resources, financial resources and alumni giving are all related to money and are a function of the school’s wealth but how does this benefit the student is not very clear. How do college rankings help or hurt the student in achieving their education goals? That is the million-dollar question.

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College & Me is a series of articles featuring useful information about College Admissions for undergraduate and graduate degree programs in US colleges.

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