<p>the best pharmacy school, best business school, etc.</p>
<p>is it the number of people who graduate? how difficult it is?</p>
<p>it varies per 'ranking' system as there are several -- usually you can check what their criteria are... there is a lot that goes into it though, everything from admission selectivity to peer assessment</p>
<p>ohh k.....</p>
<p>Which breakfast cereal do you like the most? Yeah. Just like that. Pretty much the same reasoning.</p>
<p>What's important to you?<br>
1. Do you want great student peers?<br>
2. Do you want smaller classes sizes?<br>
3. Do you want a faculty dedicated to great classroom teaching?<br>
4. Do you want a faculty that is well-known for its research work?<br>
5. Do you want a college that provides a lot of student services?<br>
6. Do you want a college that is strong in a subject area important to you and/or do you want a breadth of strong offerings?<br>
7. What are you looking for outside of the classroom?<br>
8. Do you like a school with an active and diverse social life?<br>
9. Do you like sports? To play and/or watch?<br>
10. What are potential post-grad interests and will this school get you there?</p>
<p>And on and on....How you answer these questions will lead you to a subset of colleges that share many of the characteristics that you have identified as important to you. From that point, compare on these elements and you'll come up with the "best" for you. And that's really all that matters.</p>
<p>but when people talk about widespread rankings, they are usually referring to the US News and World Report taht comes out annually and ranks schools with a fancy calculation mechanism.</p>
<p>Beyond that its usually just peoples biases.</p>