Which list has the inputs you value, what are they, and why? I would value the outputs if they got the inputs right.
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I also think - the folks that respond to posts on here dissuade the rankings to an extent so that’s why you are seeing the answers you are seeing.
But people who post for guidance - for the most part (not all), seem very rank oriented.
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Yes I really know kids (and even a relative) who attended these colleges. And so what if it’s never heard of on this site. That doesn’t mean it is the right college at the right time for the right student.
Sometimes students choose their colleges for different reasons than rankings.
But back to the title of the thread.
Rankings had absolutely no influence on the colleges our kids chose to apply to. Characteristics of the schools mattered…but we never even saw the rankings. Believe it or not, some people didn’t get USNew or bother to read their annual rankings edition.
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Major specific rankings did, in addition to a whole host of factors…
That wasn’t my point - my point was - indirectly - whether from a rank or a sport or somehow someway, especially when it’s far - something brought the school to the attention of the person looking - that’s all.
Something put Rose Hulman in the mind of that kid in Oregon or Arizona or Babson in the mind of the kid in Louisiana, etc. It likely didn’t just happen - because they said - I’d love to go to Massachussets - let me look at all the colleges.
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The list we made ourselves, which factored in academic quality, peer quality, strength in major, opportunities on campus and after graduation, extracurricular/club activities, location, distance from home, campus safety, etc. Basically, the factors that were important to my daughter and to our family.
How about you?
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I find the rankings are useful when trying to help a kid break out of the box of “I have 5 colleges I love” when you know they aren’t getting into ANY of them. At least not in the current environment. So they poo-poo Skidmore- “never heard of it” but then you show them that it’s a peer institution (of sorts)with a bunch of colleges they HAVE heard of- and think are terrific, and voila, before you know it, you’ve helped someone craft a list of match schools which are realistic and meet many of their criteria.
So yes for the rankings-- when helping to show something or other- unrecognized quality? “even if you don’t know it, this is a fantastic school” type of thing.
No on the rankings when they are used to craft an unrealistic list-- “If I can’t get into Dartmouth I’ll just get a job at Target” because the schools which ARE realistic are “too far down the list”.
So it depends.
No commercial list. Makes sense.
Enterprising, business major (not from a ranking source), urban, warm weather, quality of students, socially strong - and her choice.
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D22’s initial list included schools that had characteristics she liked, then she added on similar schools with higher rankings or generous merit aid for National Merit Finalists. So to that extent, rankings influenced APPLICATIONS.
Rankings did not impact her ACCEPTANCE. The post-application visits made all the difference.
The place she picked was one of her lower-ranked choices, but she liked the vibe better than higher-ranked options. She did not perceive she was getting anything significantly better at a higher-ranked school — at least not anything she cared about.
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Our S started with a broad set of schools that had programs in the very specific field he was interested in. He refined his list of lists by investigating curricula to see exactly what classes he would be able to take and research opportunities. He was fortunate in that he was very opinionated in what he wanted to study (something, frankly, I had never heard of).
He applied to a relatively long list of schools and after receiving several acceptances he refined the list further - which profs were teaching, which labs readily accepted undergrads etc.
For a high schooler I think he was as data driven as he could be.
We were aware of the USNWR but D23 was applying to film school so more concerned with Hollywood Reporter and other top film school lists. In the end, the one she chose, Emerson, was on every top 10 list but not the highest ranked film school she was accepted to, Chapman.
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There’s close to 4,000 colleges in the US. Having lists out there helps. They aren’t perfect but IMO they are better than nothing 
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I think that depends on how savvy the the people doing the vetting process are. This forum is littered with students who are looking to transfer out of their highly ranked “dream” school because they used one metric to choose it.
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I do wish more students weighed attributes other than rankings more heavily in creating their lists. It doesn’t serve a student to attend a school that is a good academic fit, but poor social/lifestyle fit. And it’s worse if it isn’t even a good academic fit but purely a prestige pick.
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Love Emerson
Daughter had to turn it down due to costs since her second choice gave her merit and it was to good to say no.
I think rankings are kind of like SAT scores–they’re not meaningless, but nor are they dispositive. They are just one more data point. You need to consider the context and decide what the data point means. The criteria might not be measuring what I value.
Just like an SAT score isn’t worthless, but it’s not telling you about a student’s creativity or what makes them unique. It might serve to verify a GPA or make a college wonder about the discrepancy between grades and scores.
I looked at rankings and considered why some schools on our list were ranked higher than others. The reasons might or might not matter in the assessment of fit for my D, but more data is better in my opinion.
Ultimately, though, I find unranked data more helpful–books like Fiske, Princeton Review, or Common Data Sets for various schools enabled me to find information that helped us create our own ranking.
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Haha, I literally did this. I searched all colleges between 1,200 and 10,000 students in states that were interesting to me and then weeded through them. Maybe not the most practical or linear way to complete a college search but there are a few of us who think that way.
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So to be perfectly honest. Yes! But within majors.
We the recovering helicopter parents, made a crazy list of the top 30 engineering programs. We made son read and learn and apply to schools outside the top 10. To him rank was important as it was with his selective enrollment public high school. It did matter.
Things he wanted to get out of his college experience he thought was really only available at certain schools. He would of been capable just about anywhere but certain great school just didn’t click. As good as Rose Hulman is even with their great merit it’s a tiny school. You got to want that. He really wanted Big Ten rah rah school with great engineering and reputation. His choices ended up being in the top 10. But was accepted to many great lower programs. He has friends in much lower ranked programs and friends in higher ranked programs and knows many at the Ivys and really doesn’t see this huge difference between them.
They all seem to like pizza. 
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I don’t know how it happened but my kid had a LOT of Massachusetts schools on their list.
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When starting S23’s school list, we looked at USNWR rankings within engineering. We did that mostly to get a sense of which schools/programs were best known for certain things. We ignored the rankings entirely after that, and he applied to a range of schools (most not highly ranked).
Most useful were all kinds of data on other factors, and doing virtual sessions and campus visits. That’s when things really started to gel for his application list. The data, combined with vibes, helped with decisions right up to the end.