<p>HATE 'EM!!!</p>
<p>Just look at what is factored into these rankings... how important really is alumni giving rate or % of faculty who are full time? Rankings are ridiculous and are only around because our society for some reason loves the neatness and order of them, as incorrect as they may be.</p>
<p>i have to admit, i applied to schools based on rankings. right now, i'm a bit indifferent to them b/c some of the criteria are silly...
for procrastinators like me (as in i did virtually no research on colleges before i applied), rankings are the best way to "quantify" schools, i guess, but it doesn't say much about the quality.</p>
<p>Personally, the point of college rankings is too see what college offers the best program for the major I want to study. So even though UIUC is not ranked in the top 30 overall, if i wanted to study engineering, I would strongly consider that school as an option for myself. </p>
<p>However, I also think its a little fun and strategical to send some apps to colleges that do have prestige and are known for its networking becuase having those 2 aspects are nice things to have along with a great education.</p>
<p>i think rankings for individual programs mean a lot, but overall rankings like us news do not mean jack. all us news does is rank the colleges according to prestige, hence the large emphasis on peer assessment, which could come from anybody.</p>