<p>I just thought I'd mention..as a current college student at a small LAC looking to transfer.. that these rankings mean nothing. Everyone here is way, way above the average pool of applicants applying to colleges around the US. Every college and university discussed and debated here ALL have excellent facilities and depending on how much you personally make of your environment is what is going to come of it. Truthfully, with any of the LACs, if you're into that.. I would also take into account the student body and location, which I find is not being discussed nearly enough here.
Right now I'm at Kenyon and the classes are amazing..the professors basically live on campus and I'm still unhappy. Therefore, as you are all obsessively familiar with academics, I'd advice paying attention to supposedly less important factors as well. For example, the student body/location point I mentioned is the reason I'm transferring and soemthing I never even considered as a senior in high school last year on this board.<br>
Also, I'm applying to NYU, which I've seen argued back and forth as not being as great as other private universities but because I'm looking for a city rather than campus environemtn, that makes all the difference. Look into your own personal goals and needs before the general rankings....</p>
<p>Maybe you should have titled this "look at student body and location," as this seems to be your general argument. </p>
<p>But I think that rankings do matter, as long as you're not gullible enough to believe that just because x is ranked higher than y, x will serve you as a better college. They do reflect the general reputation of the school quite well, even though it has its flaws in many ways.</p>