<p>"The 2005 U.S. News & World Report "National University" rankings placed the HYP universities in the top three spots, with Harvard and Princeton in joint first place and Yale coming in third [2]. But the U.S. News ranking methodology may simply be reflecting, rather than independently confirming, the reputation of the Big Three: the New York Times reports that "when asked how he knew his system was sound, Mel Elfin, the rankings' founder, often answered that he knew it because those three schools always landed on top."[15]. U.S. News & World Report is a weekly newsmagazine. ...</p>
<p>U.S. News' rankings favor small elite private universities with a low admission rate, small class size and high rates of alumni giving, and disfavor larger institutions, which may reject as many or more applicants, but have a higher admissions rate, larger class sizes and have lower alumni giving rates. It further disfavors schools with a strong math and science curriculum and public schools both of which tend to have a lower short-term graduation rate."</p>
<p>Yeah, it definitely isn't perfect because a lot of the factors are somewhat subjective (I mean, why use class size?). But it's one of the more well known ones that we have.</p>
<p>I think that class size is a legitimate thing to use to rate a school... I mean, part of what makes a good university good is that it has good focus on its students and small classes definitely help on that. Money is also usually a fair indicator of how well a school can be. More money = more spending per student = more resources for students.</p>
<p>However, I agree that admissions rate should not be a factor in rating colleges. However, I think ratings in general are bad and people should go with the school they think fits them best.</p>
<p>Personally, I think USNWR should just do away with making a mathematical formula for the rankings altogether. After all, how many other magazines have a top ________ list where they try to use some formula to come up with the ranking? On the other hand, the fact that USNWR uses a formula is pretty handy for selling magazines since it makes it look rather scientific.</p>
<p>In a perfect world more money may equate to greater student resources and spending per student, but that definitely is not always true. There are so many expenses that go into running a university that I'd guess only a small % of funds are turned into anything directly affecting the average undergrad.</p>