There are many different ranking systems, each with its own methodology. Some are more quant based, using real data (income 6 months after grad, income 5 yrs after grad, graduation rates, etc.) Others use a lot of surveys (very subjective). However, what we found interesting was that, in general, there was a certain cohort of schools that surfaced near or at the top of every list. Although S didn’t base his decision on that, he certainly did use that information to create a list of schools in the geography that interested him (had no interest going out west so UCB and Stanford were never considered - but they’re highly ranked, didn’t want to be in NYC so Columbia and NYU were never considered, etc.) Other than your state safeties, why wouldn’t you consider the various rankings?
People get very defensive / protective about “their school” , especially if it’s not prominently ranked on most of the systems. Certainly doesn’t mean the school isn’t good or as good. That said, it also doesn’t mean you should discount the rankings and conclude that highly ranked schools aren’t as good as school X.