If education was the only primary factor in college rankings, some of America’s “traditionally” top colleges wouldn’t hold the same or similar spots nationally and globally. If anything the current college rankings should be a judge of networking prowess. You aren’t sending your child to the “top ranked” schools for education, but rather to the colleges that have the top advertising power.
Be more specific. Who would fall, who would rise, and why?
There are many rankings, based on many different criteria.
Which ones are you referring to?
And to answer your question, yes, most people on CC are aware that the top-ranked school may not be the best school for every kind of student.
By what metrics?
You have to admit that USNWR has some head-scratching components to its methodology, such as measuring alumni giving rates and faculty salaries. Even their weighting correlative info such HS rank and standardized test scores does not really speak to how good of an education a school delivers. Other lists reflect faculty excellence in research, which does not necessarily translate to a quality undergraduate classroom experience. But that classroom experience is hard to put into numbers, as is teaching excellence and student satisfaction with their experience.
Nonetheless, there’s really no meat to this discussion unless the OP gives specifics of who should move up or down, and why.
I like the major rankings since my favorite schools are up there. (All of the other rankings are crap.)
On the minus side, USNews encourages spending (and thus tuition increases).
On the plus side, they incentivize merit scholarships.
“You aren’t sending your child to the “top ranked” schools for education, but rather to the colleges that have the top advertising power.”
There are a few highly rated LACs that might refute this argument.
I love it that the OP posts a ridiculous thread title and THEN disappears!
Obviously this is something he/ she really believes in?— not!
:))
Dang–my kids went to “top ranked” schools for the education, and totally forgot they were supposed to be networking. Oh well. LOL.
Rankings are like a lot of other tools we use to target possible schools for our kids. I by no means believe college rankings are foolproof, but they provide a useful filtering tool. Leaving aside very targeted searches, e.g., fine arts, athletics, or agriculture, searches for liberal arts colleges can benefit from reputable ranking systems. The differences I discerned are less number by number, e.g., the difference between #25 and #27, but between larger groupings. There is a qualitative difference between schools in the top 25 and those in the bottom 25. We used the USNWR rankings of both national universities and liberal arts schools to create a list of the top 60 from each or about 100-120 schools. When we applied filters including geography, size, and environment (city, suburban and rural), the list pared down remarkably quickly. Finer points including prospective majors and areas of study, specific programs (including international study and internship programs) and, of course, affordability, reduced the list to a manageable 15-20 schools which we eventually reduced to 10. Parents and students choose schools for many reasons, some of which are not quantifiable by rankings and reputation. That’s all good. The goal is for a good college experience, both academically and socially, and for the creation of potential to move on in the world post-graduation.
22.5% of USNWR’s ranking is based on a peer poll & HS guidance counselor poll:
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/ranking-criteria-and-weights
That’s about as objective as a popularity poll for voting for Homecoming Queen.
This is no surprise @PrimeMeridian. Other ranking systems are far worse. However, for the typical family exploring the wealth of colleges available in the US, there is not a lot of wholly objective guidance available. For better or worse, the USNWR have become something of a standard. Not perfect by any means, but IMHO they do offer some reasonable parameters, if only as a starting point. For those more skeptical of these ranking systems, am very curious as to how they went about their personal searches.