I don’t know the details of how USNWR earns revenue from college info, but I doubt that public college alumni who happen to be shopping at magazine racks and make spur of the moment purchase based on seeing their college ranked well are a primary source of USNWR revenue, and I don’t see that changing if ASU or Penn State tops the rankings instead of HYPSM… Instead I expect that the vast majority of public college alumni who do not have kids looking at colleges are not especially concerned about USNWR college rankings.
I expect that their primary target audience in terms of number of purchases is students and parents who have kids that will be attending colleges. Among this group, it’s the ones who are especially focused on attending a highly selective “reach” type colleges that are most likely to purchase. USNWR helps confirm their beliefs about which “reach” colleges are most desirable. I expect students/parents who are interested in attending the not super selective nearest public are far less likely to be concerned with college rankings since their decision often has little to do with attending a “reach” , college prestige, or which colleges are ranked highest. We see a similar pattern on this forum, in terms of what types of students and parents are most likely to participate and which types of colleges are most frequently discussed. While ASU and Penn State may have the most alumni, they do not get the most discussion.
With the decline of print magazines, the bulk of purchases are probably for College Compass rather than print editions. Each entry in the USNWR best college page has a link to “Unlock with College Compass.” College Compass allows purchasers to unlock the full USNWR college rankings, as well as additional information about colleges for $40. $40 is peanuts compared to what many parents spend to help their kids in college admissions and search.
This fits with the College Compass advertisement on USNWR website. They quote a College Compass user who appears to be a parent of HS kid looking at colleges. They state in large bold letters that “parents trust college compass.” If a parent hoping for their kid to attend a highly selective “reach” no longer sees their most desired highly selective “reach” colleges towards the top of the rankings or rankings in a similar order to what they expect, that doesn’t bode well for the central “parents trust.” I expect it also wouldn’t inspire confidence in parents purchasing College Compass to assist in their child’s college admission and search.
Read Why Parents Trust College Compass I love U.S. News College Compass. I found it enormously valuable in Jane’s search process and highly recommend it to anyone who asks for college advice. .
I have really enjoyed the back and forth discussion on this topic. How much does the USNWR rankings matter to my family? The USNWR College issue was definitely purchased in our household and has lots of great data that can help perspective students. The rankings in particular majors can be helpful to review, but the overall rankings and HBCU rankings (since both of my kids chose a HBCU) had no bearing in either of my kids college decision.
I have met kids who chose the highest ranked school that they were accepted into regardless of overall “fit” and I have seen kids like mine who put a lot of time and effort into looking “holistically” at schools to find “The One” regardless of rank. Honestly, I have seen kids end up happy with very good outcomes using each philosophy (and some unhappy/less than optimal outcomes with each philosophy as well).
Now that D18 is months away from applying to grad school, I can see the Grad school rankings in her major mattering more, but not as much as applying to schools doing research in her areas of interest and wanting to live in a warm locale. The rankings preference is a personal one so there is not a right or wrong answer to the OP’s question. I also think that the influence of USNWR rankings matters a lot more on CC than anywhere else.
Even though there has been at least some level of diminished value with the US News rankings, colleges are using them somewhat regularly in their marketing materials. I mean, right now they are.
I have never directly known anyone who thinks that USNWR rankings are all that matters. My own perspective comes from occasionally mentoring/tutoring high school students over the years and having a wife (high school teacher) and parent (in college access business) who talk to me on a regular basis about the college bound student’s process. I don’t ever remember being a part of a conversation about USNWR rankings with anyone outside of CC over how the rankings are tabulated, whether the rankings are “right” or “wrong”, or how “important” those rankings are. That could be because the students and parents on CC are “self selecting” and care more about a school’s ranking than the students/parents that I interact with.
We’re all shaped by our own experiences. I’ve met people who have outsourced their college selections to USNWR. Moreover, the clearest evidence of the impact that USNWR has on college selections for a large segment of the general population is how it affects many of the colleges operate. They know the effects of USNWR on their applicants and they respond by better positioning their businesses in relation to the rankings.
Most colleges conformed over time. The publication, years back, had so much control. BU use to get crushed for not offering the data the way they wanted it. They may have also been playing games, not sure.
Somewhat related, so many colleges have these “do something different 1st semester programs” allowing fall students to be stronger. Some claim US News was the catalyst for those programs.
I definitely have seen the signs that colleges operate differently because of USNWR rankings. I have learned on CC about some of the calculations related to class size a couple of years ago and saw my kid’s university adjust class sizes to those smaller sizes (All Freshman English classes now have 18 student max when they used to have 50 students for example). Do you think that the USNWR college rankings factor as much in choosing a school for students at the lower end of the socio-economic spectrum and with students of color? Maybe that is where the disconnect is occurring in our observations?
I have both HBCU graduates and Ivy graduates in my family and, right now, no one has more bragging rights than my Howard alumni cousins. Pretty sure USNews would have been a non-factor in their selection process.
Hey @circuitrider, those Howard folks are always throwing out that ranking both Nationally and amongst HBCUs, but like you said, I have never heard of a Howard student who chose the school mainly (or partially for that matter) because of the USNWR ranking.
My S20 had no idea of the rankings of his final 4 schools (Tulane, Morehouse, NCAT, and Howard). He was able to visit each school and wrote his own algorithm (much like USNWR, it had weighted factors but those most important to him) to chose his school. In the ChangeTheGame rankings, Morehouse was #1, 2, and 3, but my son did not not use my biased rankings (nor did I share them with him).
“Among this group, it’s the ones who are especially focused on attending a highly selective “reach” type colleges that are most likely to purchase. USNWR helps confirm their beliefs about which “reach” colleges are most desirable. I expect”
Right, mentioned in my post that it would be sophs and jrs, however you can’t assume it’s only the highly selective reach colleges that people look at US News for. The regional college list, the engineering rankings are all looked at. And the alums wouldn’t buy it impulsively on a newsstand, but once word got around, they would buy it or get the online version.
“I have never directly known anyone who thinks that USNWR rankings are all that matters.”
I don’t think people think it’s everything but they use it decide where to apply, where to go. Internationally, it has a lot of clout, I was talking to a GC who said they’re told to accept the US rankings and don’t dissuade anyone from using it. However there are people outside the US who think it’s the official US govt list, and the GC said she has to remind them it’s private company.
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Even though there has been at least some level of diminished value with the US News rankings, colleges are using them somewhat regularly in their marketing materials. I mean, right now they are.
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Agree, that’s another part of their revenue stream, usage of their logo.
If you go to the USNWR website, and click on “colleges”, the resulting page has 3 prominent links. The first link is for a ranking of “National Universities.” The 2nd link is for a ranking of “Liberal Arts Colleges.” And the 3rd link is for “More Rankings & Lists”, which highlights their “best value” list. The engineering and “regional” rankings are clearly not the focus. I imagine the print edition works a similar way. Does the print edition even list engineering rankings and such? Those aren’t the main drivers of revenue. I think you overestimate how much typical public college alumni care about reviewing changes in how their college does in USNWR rankings.
